After confirming that Tesla completed the first Model 3 production unit at the Fremont factory late on Saturday, CEO Elon Musk has now released the first picture of the historic vehicle and a few more shots have leaked.
The vehicle seen in the pictures is actually Musk’s own Model 3 since he was gifted the first place in line by Ira Ehrenpreis, an early Tesla investor and board member, for his birthday.
He apparently chose black for the color and the bigger 19″ wheels though his options were supposedly somewhat limited. As he himself confirmed earlier this year, Tesla is limiting the number of options on the early versions of the Model 3 in order to limit the number of possible different configurations to fewer than 100 compared to the Model S’ more than 1,500.
Tesla is attempting to simplify the ordering process and the production in order to facilitate the ramp-up of the mass market electric vehicle. More options are expected after they reach higher volumes.
Here is the first picture released by Musk today:
What do you think of the first production Model 3? Let us know in the comment section below.
He clearly made sure that the picture is not showing too much ahead of the launch planned for the end of the month. (Update: he shared a second picture embedded further down that is a bit more revealing, but still no roof, badges, or interior)
But Nan Lin on the TESLA Owners Worldwide group on Facebook also caught the Model 3 VIN1 while they were taking the picture:
Obviously, there’s not much to see from the pictures that we didn’t already see on the release candidates spotted over the last few months.
Now Tesla plans to build about 30 more units for the delivery event planned for July 28th. That’s when they will hand them over to first customers and open up the online configurator to more reservation holders as they start to ramp up production of the $35,000 all-electric sedan and work through their backlog of reservations.
In the meantime, it looks like Musk will be the first to enjoy what is undeniably the most anticipated car in a long time – maybe of all time.
Update: Musk shared a second official picture of Model 3 VIN1:
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