The highly anticipated Tesla Model 3 has hit a new milestone, with Tesla CEO Elon Musk sharing photos of the first production example via his Twitter account. The lucky owner of Serial Number 1" Musk himself, who explained that Ira Ehrenpreis, a Tesla board member who placed the first deposit on the Model 3 and thus had the right to purchase the car, had gifted the opportunity to Musk as a 46th birthday present. Musk even claims that he paid full price for the Model 3.
Tesla has thus met its target to begin production of the Model 3 in mid-2017, although the company reportedly followed a different launch cadence and prototype phase compared with traditional automakers. Next up is a party on July 28 where Tesla will hand over the next 30 Model 3s to customers. Musk said last week that the company is looking to quickly ramp up production of the Model 3, with expectations of 100 cars produced in August, 1500 cars in September, and 20,000 cars per month starting in December. Given that Tesla has received, at last count, around 400,000 reservations for this new, more affordable all-electric model, there still will be a long wait for many of those people who placed the $1000 refundable deposit. The company’s website currently states a delivery estimate of mid-2018 or later for any new reservations.

We don’t know much about the pricing structure or specifications for the Model 3 yet. The basic facts are that, in base form, it costs around $35,000, can go at ...