Elon Musk said offering the $35,000 base model immediately would have damaged the company’s financial health. Hollis Johnson/Business Insider
On Sunday, Tesla CEO Elon Musk explained why the automaker hasn’t made the $35,000 base model of its Model 3 sedan available yet and gave a timeline for when it will arrive.
After a Twitter user asked Musk when Model 3 customers would be able to order the base model, Musk wrote that Tesla will need three-to-six months after hitting a production rate of 5,000 Model 3 vehicles per week before starting to deliver the base model. If Tesla had shipped the base model immediately, it would “lose money & die,” according to Musk.
