If you haven’t heard about the Elon Musk’s Model 3 Teslas then…. well, I’ll let you fill in the blank. Could this possibly be this generation’s most anticipated car release? I see no information to indicate otherwise. Families and aspiring tree-huggers will be picking up one of these bad boys as soon as, well, wait, what exactly do we know about the Tesla Model 3 up to this point? Here is what I have come up with so far:

• With shares of Telsa’s stock (SYMBOL: TSLA) up over 50% this year, you’d think that it would be difficult to find anyone that is pessimistic about the company meeting its orders, right? Well, to be fair, Elon has over-promised on a number of projects in the past. It should come as no surprise that he tends to shoot for the stars and has shown to, figuratively, land on the moon (or maybe Mars?). How does this impact you and your $1,000 (refundable) deposit? Don’t expect your new car to be shipped out in Q1 of 2018 and, instead, remember the old saying: Good things happen to those who wait. What does this mean for those of us that don’t have a $1,000 deposit on the line? Expect to see your friends that ARE waiting for the delivery of their Model 3 to be writhing in agony for at least a few extra months. Investors are concerned about Tesla’s slower than expected “ramp” in production, so Elon’s biggest Tesla issue right now is meeting the demand for his new cars… that’s a good problem to have.
• Just a few days ago, we were introduced to our very first “In-depth” review of the model 3, which you can check out here if you want: https://youtu.be/_DT0vDMWsq4. This is the first time we’ve had a really good look at the new Model 3.

Alright, well, what exactly do we know about the delivery times? I know that there are reports of a delay of at least few months but what else?

• It is looking like people that have made their deposits will start receiving their vehicles at the beginning of 2018 (a small handful having already theirs). Now, if you have opted to trick your new ride out with all of the extended range and performance enhancements, you could be looking at a slightly longer timetable. The stock model 3 buyers are likely to get their cars relatively quickly. If you want the stock ride straight from the factory, I just hope you are happy with the color black!
• With approximately 500,000 people that have made the $1,000 deposit to save their place in line, it is unlikely that anyone that places their deposit down today will be receiving their vehicle until early-mid 2019, especially if the ramping issues are a continuing trend.
• To be fair, even though the production targets were missed this quarter, we are still really early in this process. It was expected that Elon would produce over 1,000 Model 3’s at this point but we are looking at numbers well below 300 vehicles produced. As investors crack the whip, I couldn’t imagine Elon Musk not making the Model 3 ramp up a top priority.
• The information on upgrades should soon be available on Tesla’s website. Until then, I found a really good resource that can give you ballpark pricing on a lot of the expected upgrades that we expect: https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/tesla-model-3-everything-know-far

The takeaway:  Don’t wait, run to https://www.tesla.com/model3/ to reserve to save your space in line for the new Model 3. The worse case scenario is you get your $1,000 back. Let me know what you think about the new car. Would you rather see Elon Musk prioritizing something other than the Model 3 production ramp? I would be interested to hear your thoughts in the comments below! Thanks for stopping by!