Musk: We produced 5,000 Model 3s in one week – now we are a real car company

Tesla has finally become a “real car company,” said the company’s CEO Elon Musk after they achieved the production goal of 5,000 Model 3s in one week.

Musk addressed employees via email, praising them for reaching the long-delayed goal, which they accomplished thanks to, among other things, expanding production into a tent on the company’s parking lot in Fremont, California, reports BBC.

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The Model 3 is Tesla’s more affordable electric car aimed at the mass market, and they had announced their intention to produce 5,000 units per week by the end of the second quarter of this year, which they achieved last week, with the five-thousandth car rolling off the factory line on Sunday morning.

“We did it!!! What an incredible job by an amazing team. I couldn’t be prouder working with you,” Musk told his employees, adding – “the level of dedication and creativity is ‘mind-blowing’. Either we found a way or, with desire and inventiveness, we found entirely new solutions that were thought to be impossible.”

When the production of the Model 3 is added to Tesla’s Model S and Model X SUV production, the company reached a combined production of 7,000 vehicles per week. “I think we just became a real car company,” Musk concluded.

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In response to Musk’s email, Steven Armstrong, a director at Ford, stated that his company can produce 7,000 vehicles in four hours, compared to Tesla’s 7,000 per week.

Musk claims that the Model 3 is “the best car for the price, electric or fuel.” The starting price of the Model 3 is $35,000. It can travel up to 350 kilometers on a single charge.