12,200 Tesla Model 3 Pre-Orders Officially Wiped Out

The Model 3 reception was phenomenal, but the 400,000 mark reported was inaccurate.

First, Tesla wiped out 4,200 reservations as duplicates; probably customers too eager to get in line making a mistake or a glitch in the company’s system.

On the other hand, 8,000 people had second thoughts and cancelled their pre-order. Still, the compact EV saloon’s launch remains a smash hit and it will be the one that will propel Tesla a tenfold increase in its annual sales, to 500,000 vehicles, by 2018.

According to AutomotiveNews, quoting Tesla Motors, the numbers are part of the brand’s filling to raise $1.4 billion in a share offering to ramp up production for the entry-level electric vehicle.

“If we wanted to, we believe that we could further increase the number of Model 3 reservations with minimal effort but believe it is better to guide customers to purchase products currently in production“, the manufacturer wrote.

The real challenge is how quickly Tesla will start production the Model 3. In spite of its previous not-so-clean-record for the Model S and Model X, which faced significant delays, Tesla claims it is on track to achieve volume production and deliveries for the Model 3, whose design will be wrapped up by the end of June. The EV will hit the assembly line in late 2017 and the first units are said to reach customers by the end of next year.