We have been wondering why only a few people have received an invitation for the Model 3 unveiling, which is now only 3 weeks away. As of now, only the winners of the referral program have reported having received the invite for the event taking place in Los Angeles.

The last event Tesla held in Los Angeles, the “D event”, was at the company’s design studio and over 4,000 people were in attendance, including hundreds of Model S owners and Tesla employees, but this time around, long-time owners who usually get invited to these events have yet to hear from the company.

There are two simple explanations: either Tesla simply didn’t send all the invites yet or the company is actually planning for a smaller event with only a small group of people.

A recent report from a Tesla owner suggests the latter to be true. Tesla Motors Club member calisnow, who attended the D event in 2014, contacted his Tesla sales representative to request an invite to the Model 3 unveiling and he shared the email response in a post on the TMC forums:

“Hey [redacted], I am afraid I have no way of getting you tickets to this event. From what I was told, it will be a small group of people selected by Elon and his immediate team. Sincerely, [redacted] “

I would take this with a grain of salt since based on our past experience, sales people at Tesla are often kept in the dark about upcoming unveilings in order to minimize the risk for leaks.

With this said, a small group of people could be an interesting solution for Tesla which had problems with getting started on time during its last two major events. The company could invite a smaller group of people, which should be easier to manage, and actually start the event on time for a change.

Assuming that all the referral program winners come to the event, add some Tesla employees, Musk’s VIPs and a few media, and it could still add up to decent crowd.

More details on Model 3 unveil in coming weeks. That's it for now. — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 11, 2016

There could be a bigger focus on the livestream of the event, which Tesla has yet to confirm, but CEO Elon Musk said that more details about the event will be revealed in the coming weeks and we are pretty much in the “coming weeks” now so we are ready whenever you are Elon!

FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.

Subscribe to Electrek on YouTube for exclusive videos and subscribe to the podcast.