Hollis Johnson/Business Insider
- Tesla's US website is allowing customers to order the Model 3 again.
- For a brief period Monday morning, the website was not allowing Model 3 orders.
- Last week, Tesla started allowing all customers to configure and order the Model 3, though the $35,000 base model is not yet available.
Tesla's US website is allowing customers to order the Model 3 again. For a brief period Monday morning, the website was not allowing Model 3 orders.
After clicking the "Order Now" button for the vehicle, users were shown the following message:
"Designed to attain the highest safety ratings in every category, Model 3 achieves 220 miles of range while starting at only $35,000 before incentives. Model 3 deliveries are beginning in the US based on whether you are an employee, if you own a Tesla, and when you placed your reservation, and will continue by country."
Next to the message was an image of a blue Model 3. At the time, the page contained no other information about the vehicle or any prompts that lead to other pages.
The Model 3 is Tesla's first mass-market vehicle, designed to broaden the company's customer base beyond the luxury segment and increase the rate of electric vehicle adoption. But Tesla struggled to ramp up production after it was launched in July 2017 due to excessive automation at its factories.
In May 2016, Musk said he estimated the company would make 100,000 to 200,000 Model 3s during the second half of 2017. Tesla made 2,685 Model 3 vehicles in 2017.
The company twice missed its self-imposed deadline to produce 5,000 Model 3s in a week, but hit that rate at the end of June. On July 2, the company said it had made 5,031 Model 3s during the final week of June and 28,578 during the second quarter, more than it had made in the prior three quarters combined.
Last week, Tesla started allowing all customers to configure and order the Model 3, though the $35,000 base model is not yet available. In late June, a Tesla representative told Business Insider it would be available in six to nine months for those who had already made reservations. That's longer than a timeline given by CEO Elon Musk in May, when he said the $35,000 option could become available between September and December.
See Also:
- I tried Tesla's Autopilot for the first time — and it was nerve-racking at first
- 'We were huge idiots and didn't know what we were doing': Elon Musk blames Tesla's Model 3 production issues on being 'naive'
- Tesla customers will start losing a $7,500 tax credit in 2019
SEE ALSO: I tried Tesla's Autopilot for the first time — and it was nerve-racking at first
