All the Tesla naysayers who’ve accused the electric-vehicle maker?s mass-market compact sedan, the Model 3, of being vaporware?or who’ve predicted that it will be vastly more expensive or arrive late to market?now have a reality to face: Tesla announced that it?s producing the first Model 3 this week and that deliveries will start this month.
According to CEO Elon Musk, the Model 3 has passed all regulatory requirements, and the first production car will be completed on Friday, July 7. The automaker also has scheduled a handover party for the first 30 Model 3 customers at its Fremont, California, assembly plant three weeks later, on July 28.
It will be slow going at first: Tesla will produce 100 cars in August, Musk said, but 1500 cars are anticipated in September, and by December, the Model 3 will reach a production rate of 20,000 per month. The car isn?t just a make-or-break vehicle for Tesla but a litmus test for whether the electric-vehicle market can go mainstream at more than niche sales levels. Tesla has reportedly gathered more than 400,000 refundable deposits for the Model 3, at $1000 per car.

Development of the Model 3 appears to have moved along at a rate unprecedented for the auto industry?and even faster than what Musk and company said they expected. It?s been just over 16 months since March 2016, when the Model 3 was given a splashy debut as a rolling concept car with a newly conceived body structure. Even as of March 2017, Tesla reporte...