Tesla has made a decision to rapidly respond to accelerating demand for its first mass-market sedan, the Model 3. It involves Panasonic and may may speed up your Model 3 delivery.
Tesla Motors Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) knows about emotions, excitement and anxiety of its Model 3 reservation holders. As you may know Tesla has formed a joint venture with Panasonic to make lithium-ion battery cells at the Gigafactory, near Reno, NV. This is not going to be your average batter manufacturing, but rather Tesla and Panasonic will make batteries for Model 3, Model S and Model X on a gigantic scale.
Now Tesla and Panasonic have decided to speed up the start of the production and have moved it from the beginning of 2017 to November of 2016.
According to Nikkei Asian Review Panasonic will jump-start the battery production for Tesla and begin to mass produce batteries for Tesla Model 3 ahead of the schedule.
Tesla's Gigafactor Grand Opening date is scheduled for July 29. The automaker has already sent out invitations to guests who will attend the Grand Opening of the Gigafactory on July 29. Panasonic will start the battery production with Tesla in November of 2016 moving it from early 2017. This, in turn, means that Tesla may start to deliver Model 3 pre-orders ahead of the schedule. If you are a Model 3 reservation holder this means that you can probably expect your Model 3 delivered few months ahead of the schedule.
No wonder yesterday people saw and videoed an actual Tesla Model 3 being test driven on California roads. It was escorted by two Model S cars. I thought to myself, "isn't this too early for road tests if the production and deliveries of Model 3 are scheduled at the end of 2017?" And then today this news surfaced that a decision has been taken by Tesla to rapidly respond to accelerating demand for Model 3. Tesla has nearly 400,000 Model 3 pre-orders.
What do you think, how early Tesla Model 3 pre-orders will be delivered ahead of the schedule given they move the battery production from early 2017 to November of 2016? Here are two other things Tesla can do for Model 3 reservation holders to clear the backlog.