God bless Elon Musk and his Twitter account. While other companies rely on private press offices or hire PR giants to handle their communications, Musk happily uses the 140-character platform to break news about what’s happening at Tesla and SpaceX. On Wednesday, we learned that the Model 3—Tesla’s next electric car after the Model X SUV—will go into production in 2017, but only once the Gigafactory is up and running.
The Model 3, a small and low-cost sedan will begin production in about 2 years. A fully operational Gigafactory is required.
Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 2, 2015
The Gigafactory is a $5 billion plant that Tesla is building near Sparks, Nevada in partnership with Panasonic. The plan is to achieve significant economies of scale at the Gigafactory, which will make the 35,000 Model 3 price tag possible—something Musk also told us via Twitter yesterday.
@elonmusk $35k price, unveiled in March, pre-orders start then.
Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 2, 2015
When the Model 3 hits the streets in 2017 (assuming there are no Gigafactory-related delays) it won’t have as easy a time in the market as the Model S, which even now has no real competition. Chevrolet is launching the Bolt next year, a $30,000 EV that will match Tesla’s 200-mile (321km) range. However, Tesla has successfully positioned itself as a premium brand with the Model S (and the upcoming Model X). Moving that cassette to carry the Model 3s seemed like a no-brainer.