The light at the end of the tunnel has finally been reached for the many waiting for Tesla to ready its performance edition Model 3. CEO Elon Musk took to Twitter today, posting a photo of the first production vehicle to roll off Tesla’s brand-new assembly line.
Underneath the beautiful “signature red” paint job sits not one, but two electric motors to propel all four wheels. This extra boost of power allows the Model 3’s performance variant to sprint from zero to 60 miles per hour in just 3.5 seconds and will carry the car up to its top speed of 155 miles per hour, Musk said in an earlier Tweet. Combined with its superior handling and 310 mile range per charge, this makes the Model 3 performance edition quite the desirable competitor when sitting next to most German performance sedans like BMW’s current-generation M3.
Musk didn’t just share this photo because he was proud of the car; in his own words, he’s proud of his workers. Tesla started building its newest assembly line only three weeks ago, all while still producing its flagship economy sedan and its other luxury models. Using the limited resources it had available to its automation department, the company geared up to meets its long-stretched goal of several thousand Model 3s per week.
Historically, Tesla has had a difficult time ramping up production of the Model 3, but this doesn’t come as a surprise. Musk warned that with the creation of any new vehicle comes an up-hill battle known as an s-curve, meaning that as the company’s production of any one particular model matures, the process will become more efficient and easier to produce larger volumes. As consumers reportedly become impatient waiting for their own Model 3, Musk showing that Tesla is actively working to remedy its backlog of orders should act as some form of solace to those anxiously waiting their turn in line.
Despite the recent announcements from Tesla to restructure its company and lay off approximately nine percent of its workforce (a large number of which appears to be retail-related), Tesla expects its Model 3 production to remain strong. Musk appears confident that Tesla’s production staff is diligently working to fulfill orders. Should the number of Model 3s being produced increase over the next several weeks, it would appear that the continue up the s-curve climb is proving to be successful.