Last month, Tesla unveiled a prototype of the Model 3 electric car and started taking preorders for the Model 3. The results were remarkable. In just four days the company received 276,000 orders with an estimated retail value of $10.6 billion. Why are so many people enthusiastic about a car not expected to really be available until 2018
The reason is quite clear. It is Tesla's first reasonably priced, high-performance mass-market model. The Model 3 is priced at $35,000. It will sell at an average price of $42,000, including the price of options and additional features. Given that its predecessors, the Model S sedan and Model X SUV, sold for $70,000-$80,000, the Model 3 is coming in at roughly half the price of Tesla’s two other models. If the Model 3 were available for the same price in S. Korea, Korean consumers could buy it for roughly 20 million won since the government and each municipality offer EV subsidies.
The Model 3 can go 215 miles on a single charge. The Model 3 can go from zero to 60 mph in less than 6 seconds, which will be reduced to 4 seconds for its premium version. The Model 3 has received the highest 5-star safety rating from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
Tesla CEO Elon Musk is called Silicon Valley's most audacious businessman. He sank his teeth into the EV business in order to help free people from their dependence on fossil fuels.
When Tesla went through financial difficulties, he sold PayPal and Zip2 and spent the majority of his fortune on keeping Tesla afloat. He successfully obtained a government loan needed for the mass production of the Model S.
His risky investment was frowned upon. Few supported Elon Musk shelling out a fortune for a failed business. However, Tesla paid off the government loan nine years early. In 2013, Tesla Motors announced that it had paid off the entire loan ($465 million) awarded to the company by the Department of Energy, plus interest on it.
On top of that, Tesla promised buyers of the Model S permanent charging stations and expanded charging stations across the nation. As Elon Musk went to great lengths to build trust with customers, customers responded by opening their wallets.
He said he would make EVs that people really want to drive. He had the foresight to see what would happen in 20 years' time and had the gut to make bold bets on the future. He also targeted specific market segments in developing and marketing EVs.
First of all, Tesla developed its first EV, the Roadster, targeting wealthy customers. After that, Tesla came out with the Model S and X, cheaper than the Roadster, to create some demand for EVs. Then, Tesla moved onto the final stage, i.e. developing a reasonably-priced mass-market EV, so as to popularize EVs. It is the Model 3. Tesla plans to raise the annual production of the Model 3 to 500,000 units by 2020.
When Elon Musk was young, he was an unsociable boy who read everything he could get his hands on. Musk showed evidence of his genius from an early age. At age 12, he created a video game called Blastar and sold it.
Elon Musk emigrated to Canada in part to avoid conscription in the South African army before he became an American citizen.
At age 28, he spearheaded the digitalization of newspapers and walked away from his first Internet company, Zip 2. He sold Zip2 to Compaq's AltaVista division, therefore becoming a millionaire. The first thing he did after the sale was buy a pricy sports car for himself. He may have developed an interest in cars from the moment.
However, his venturesome spirit never cooled down.
He set his sights on the financial sector to add a little innovation to its relatively less innovative system. In 1999, he co-founded X.Com with the specific aim of facilitating cheap and easy Internet payments for e-commerce web sites.
Later, Elon Musk joined hands with Peter Thiel to found PayPal. In 2002, Elon Musk sold PayPal to eBay for $1.5 billion and Elon got $100 million from the sale. He was only 30 years old.
Then, his curiosity extended into sustainable energy and outer space. As a result, Electric car company Tesla, rocket firm SpaceX and solar installer SolarCity were created. SpaceX is the first private company to launch a rocket into orbit. His goal is to build a colony in Mars by 2030.
According to the Forbes, Elon Musk is worth $13.6 billion. Elon Musk, a three-times-divorced billionaire, was also the model for billionaire-genius Tony Stark, played by Robert Downey Jr in the Iron Man movies.
