A few hundred-thousand folks who have been waiting impatiently for their preordered Tesla Model 3 might see this as a bad sign: Tesla, in a
stock filing with the feds, reported that at year-end 2016, it had not put a Model 3 beta test car on the road.
That was as of two-plus months ago, of course. There may well be a prototype running around out there at this very moment, built from – and being used to test – factory production parts. In early February, the company said it would begin
pilot production of a few Model 3s on Feb. 20, and presumably a beta car or cars would be chosen from that run. But keep in mind the company reiterated late last month that it intends to begin
producing Model 3s in July – and that’s right around the corner.
The beta-car mention in the annual filing with the Security and Exchange Commission is the second cautionary sign this week, after
a Goldman Sachs analyst said the company is unlikely to meet its summer production goal and he
downgraded the automaker’s stock to “sell.”
The California-based electric-vehicle maker reiterated in its
investors note last week that Model 3 vehicles would
start rolling off the production line as soon as July. Tesla said it would be producing 5,000 Model 3 vehicles a week by the end of the year and will double that pace to an annualized rate of more than a half-million Model 3 vehicles by the end of 2018.
Tesla shares, however, are off by $30 a share after hitting a 52-week high of more than $287 earlier this month, which was a 29-percent jump year over year. Goldman Sachs set a six-month price target as low as $185.
Tesla has been notorious with missing deadlines, and the Model 3 is particularly notable because of its advance interest. Within 24 hours of
going on sale last spring, the Model 3 generated about 180,000 pre-orders, and the total is now closer to 400,000 – it’s sold out through 2018. Unlike the
Model S and
Model X, the five-seat Model 3 is priced for the masses at about $35,000, and it offers a single-charge range of 215 miles.
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