Tesla updated today the delivery window of many Model 3 reservation holders in the US – resulting in delays for many and a confirmation Model 3 will be available with a dual motor powertrain before the standard battery pack.

The move came right after Tesla gave an update on Model 3 production to state that they are still on track for 2,500 units per week by the end of next month.

Therefore, the updated timelines seem to be mainly related to the previous delay in the production ramp-up, which was confirmed during the first week of January, after which they didn’t update many delivery windows.

Now a month later, we received many reports from US-based Model 3 reservation holders who had outdated or about to be outdated delivery windows for the current Model 3 configuration (Long Range Battery Pack with premium interior).

Their timelines have been updated to March or later:

Tesla sent us the following statement about the updated timelines:

“We’ve made significant progress in Model 3 production, having delivered Model 3 to customers in more than 20 states, and we continue to target weekly production rates of 2,500 by the end of Q1 and 5,000 by the end of Q2. We have been inspired by the response to the car and appreciate the continued support of our reservation holders. We are working hard to deliver more cars soon.”

Delivery timelines for other configurations of the Model 3 were also updated today with the Dual Motor powertrain being expected for delivery in “mid-2018” while the Standard Battery Pack has been pushed to ‘late 2018’.

Electrek’s Take

The updated delivery windows for the current configuration is not too surprising considering the previously announced delay.

But the new standard battery pack timeline is more of a surprise and it is interesting for a few reasons.

First off, it’s a bummer because that means that Tesla will not come close to reaching its promised $35,000 starting price for the Model 3 in the first full year of production.

Even if Tesla makes the standard interior available, the Model 3 will still start at $44,000 until the standard battery pack is available.

Secondly, it gives us an interesting insight into the demand Tesla is seeing for the Long Range battery pack – presumably from people deciding to order versus waiting for the less expensive options or dual motor.

If Tesla is still planning to reach 2,500 units per week by the end of next month and 5,000 units by the end of next quarter, but it doesn’t plan to make the standard pack available until ‘late 2018’, it means that they plan to deliver a lot of Long Range Model 3 vehicles.

As for the dual motor all-wheel-drive, it’s not really a surprise that it is being released first since Tesla has been building more Model 3 vehicles with dual motor ahead of launch and they recently updated the design studio with an image of the powertrain.

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