Tesla may finally be ready to plan for production of the long awaited $35,000 version of the Model 3. Since the Model 3 started its production phase, reservation holders and doubters alike have been anxious to see what the base version of the car will look like. Production of the entry level Model 3 is estimated to begin in the first quarter of 2019 according to Martin Viecha, head of Tesla’s investor relations. Currently, the only Model 3s available for purchase cost $50,000 or more.
With some new equipment additions the Gigafactory, Tesla will be able to produce up to 8,000 Tesla Model 3 battery packs a week according to an article by Inside EVs. Elon Musk believes that the “production hell” for the Model 3 may finally be coming to an end as Tesla ramps up its Model 3 production.
The investment firm, Worm Capital, was invited to visit the Gigafactory earlier this month by the automaker. According to its report, new machines from Grohmann Automation have arrived to help remove the production bottlenecks that Tesla was facing.
The Model 3 was one of the top five best selling cars in the United States in August, outselling every passenger car but the Toyota Camry, Honda Civic, Honda Accord, and Toyota Corolla. This is thanks in part to the large backorder of reservation holders that have been eagerly awaiting their Model 3s to be built. In June Tesla opened up orders for reservation holders and the demand stayed strong as the electric carmaker worked to ramp up production of the Model 3 with an ultimate goal of doubling the production over the course of the third quarter.
While some of the production issues for the Model 3 have been resolved, Tesla has entered a “logistics hell” according to a recent tweet by Elon Musk. The Drive has been covering this ongoing issue of the Model 3s that are being held in the Union Pacific rail yard in Salt Lake City, Utah.