The shares of Tesla Motors (NASDAQ:TSLA) are trading higher today as investors were encouraged by the strong pre-orders for the Model 3 electric car, which was unveiled on Thursday night in Hawthorne, California.
The stock price of electric car manufacturer gained 3.5% to $238.27 per share at the time of this writing around 2:04 in the afternoon in New York. Earlier today, the stock traded as much as $247.90 per share.
Tesla Model 3 buyers wait in long lines to place deposits
Before the unveiling of the Model 3, many people waited in long lines at the showrooms of Tesla Motors in different parts of the United States and around the world to place their $1000 deposits or reservations for the new electric car. The deposit is fully refundable.
The Model 3 costs $35,000, and it is intended for mass market. Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk promised that buyers will not be disappointed by the new electric car because it received the highest safety rating and it has a range of at least 215 miles per charge.
According to Musk, the Model 3 is equipped with semi-autonomous driving features such as automatic lane changing and lane keeping. It can accelerate from zero to 60 miles per hour in less than 6 seconds. The electric car has extra headroom and seats five people.
Musk said, “You will not be able to buy a better car, any better car for less than that.”
Tesla received 180,000 pre-orders for Model 3 in 24 hours
An hour after Tesla Motors unveiled the Model 3 last night, the company announced that it already received 137,760 pre-orders Today, Musk tweeted that the pre-orders for the Model 3 reached 180,000 in 24 hours and the average selling price with options was around $42,000. He estimated that Tesla Motors raised ~$7.5 billion in a day.
Wall Street analysts expected Tesla Motors to receive more than 100,000 reservations for the Model 3 over the next two weeks. The electric car manufacturers surpassed their expectations.
In an in interview with ABC News, Jack Nerad, executive editorial director for Kelly Blue Book, said the Model 3 is a “critical vehicle for Tesla. This is their effort to become more than a niche. A lot is riding on this.”
“The electric vehicle market is getting more and more crowded, and as the months go by, there will be more competition from major manufacturers, so time is of the essence. I think based on their history, they are not noted for exactly hitting the mark right on the money in terms of delivery, so I think there are some concerns about that, and some of those pre-orders will fall away because of that,” added Nerad.
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