Tesla says Model 3 orders hit 325,000 in first week

Tesla said it has received more than 325,000 reservations for the upcoming Model 3 during the past week — a number that it claims is headed for the history books.

The Elon Musk-led maker of electric cars said on Thursday the tally represents the “single biggest one-week launch of any product ever,” reckoning that the figure “corresponds to about $14 billion in implied future sales.”

Tesla may have a point. By comparison, Apple’s iPhone 6 launch in September 2014 sold 10 million phones in three days. Each iPhone netted about $600, according to Credit Suisse, implying a $6 billion haul.

Assuming iPhone sales slowed in the days that followed, they probably fell well short of Tesla’s full-week figure of $14 billion. Still, the iPhone sales were real, not implied, and likely carried far better margins than the Model 3 will.

Tesla shares — which had surged 16 percent since the Model 3 launched last week, drawing spectacular lines outside its stores — closed down 3.1 percent at $257.20.

By Tesla’s math, each Model 3 buyer will be shelling out an average of $43,000 for the mid-price sedan, which Tesla has promised to put on the streets by late 2017.

That’s well ahead of the $35,000 sticker price that Tesla has advertised for a basic model, and just above the $42,000 average that CEO Elon Musk published in a tweeted last week, when he predicted that most customers will opt for $7,000 worth of options.

From a different angle, the 325,000 reservations are impressive because federal and state tax incentives that can lower the sticker price by $7,500 or more are slated to sunset quickly after Tesla after sales surpass 200,000 cars in the US.

That’s an indication that many prospective owners consider the Model 3 a bargain even without the tax break, which leaves the price at levels on par with comparable models from the likes of BMW and Mercedes-Benz.

Key selling points, critics say, are the Model 3’s ability to go from zero to 60 mph in less than six seconds, a range of at least 215 miles on a charge, a surprisingly roomy interior and a racy body design.

In any case, the past week’s worth of pre-orders — which require a refundable deposit of $1,000 — means Tesla has collected $325 million in cash. That’s nearly $100 million more than the company raised when it went public in 2010.

“We would write more, but we need to get back to increasing our Model 3 production plans!” Tesla said in a brief statement on Wednesday.

Indeed, iInvestors have grown are increasingly concerned about Tesla’s ability to deliver all of these cars in a timely fashion — a metric where Musk’s track record has been spotty in the past.

The Model X SUV, for example, finally hit the streets in late 2015, about a year and a half later than initially promised. While Tesla says its factory in Fremont, Calif., will produce 500,000 cars a year by 2020, it cranked out just 50,580 vehicles last year.

“Definitely going to need to rethink production planning…” Musk tweeted last Friday, after Tesla logged 180,000 pre-orders within the first 24 hours of its launch.

Earlier this week, Tesla said it delivered 14,820 Model S and Model X cars during the first quarter, missing its initial target of 16,000. Still, it backed its earlier goal to produce 80,000 to 90,000 cars this year.