Tesla pushes delivery timeline for new standard Model 3 orders as demand soars

Tesla has updated the delivery timeline for new standard Model 3 orders – pushing new orders by 4 weeks as demand over the first week is expected to keep the production busy for a while.

When Tesla finally launched the base Model 3 for $35,000 just over a week ago, the automaker said that it was starting deliveries within the next 2 to 4 weeks depending on the configuration in the US.

Yesterday, Tesla updated the delivery timeline for the Standard Range Model 3 to “6 to 8 weeks”.

As for the Standard Range Plus version of the Model 3, it also saw its delivery timeline for new orders pushed – but only by 2 weeks.

When asked about the change, a Tesla spokesperson told Electrek that it was adjusted due to the order volume:

“We occasionally adjust delivery estimates based on order volume.”

It would mean that Tesla received about a month worth of Standard Model 3 orders within the first week.

We can’t say exactly how many vehicles it represents, but Tesla CEO Elon Musk said that Tesla shouldn’t reach volume Model 3 standard battery pack production until ‘mid-year’.

That said, we reported earlier this week that Tesla produced the first batch of standard Model 3 vehicles and it resulted in 550 vehicles in about 2 days.

Electrek’s Take

It’s hard to estimate how many orders Tesla received for the base Model 3 without more data points, but based on the first few days of production and the delivery timeline being pushed by a month, I think it’s safe to say that it is between 5,000 and 10,000 units.

Keep in mind that this is only for the US and over just a week.

For the first week, it’s not bad for Tesla. For any other automaker selling an electric vehicle, it would be an incredible achievement, but it’s nothing completely out of the usual for Tesla.

I think orders for the base Model 3 are going to come steadily at a higher rate once the vehicle gets into the hands of customers, word of mouth comes into play, and people start to see what you get for the price.

Assuming that it looks good in person, which I think it will (though I’d like to see it in person – hit me up fred@9to5mac.com), I can see it help push global demand for Model 3 to over 500,000 units per year, as originally predicted by Elon.