Elon Musk has ingeniously turned Tesla Motors into the automotive version of Apple — drumming up unprecedented buzz around the newly revealed Model 3 as “the best car you can buy for $35,000.”

But make no mistake: The stakes have never been higher for the maker of the world’s most sought-after electric car. Tesla said yesterday that its reservations for the Model 3 have surpassed 276,000. Musk said the average purchase price including extras is about $42,000, meaning that Tesla has taken about $12 billion in pre-orders in a weekend, setting the stage for a potentially overwhelming production hurdle that will be a major test for the 13-year-old company.

There’s no room for error here: Tesla’s Model 3 has to be able to meet production. If, for instance, Tesla delays Model 3 shipments, which are scheduled for next year, into 2018, they’re kaput as a company. This is the vehicle that Musk said would take electric driving to the masses, and they have to be able to deliver.

The main reason for this do-or-die scenario is the competitive nature of the auto industry. Competitors Ford and Chevy are doubling down on electric vehicles. Heads are likely rolling at the highest levels as auto industry veterans watch Tesla drive away with their market share. General Motors may not have the whiz-bang technology of Tesla, but give them a few years to catch up and they surely will.

In fact, deliveries of the new electric Chevy Bolt are expected later this year, and it also advertises an electric range of over 200 miles and a price after tax incentives of roughly $30,000. Tesla will have a hard time keeping up with the speed of GM in churning out new model cars year after year.

Musk, although not the most personable guy, is doing a great job ginning up interest for his most important project yet. He spent the weekend chatting with customers on Twitter, promising mailed gifts to the people who showed up for lines that were hundreds of people long just to pre-order the Model 3. Following his Twitter feed this weekend, I felt like a puppy near a dinner table waiting for scraps.

“Wait until you see the real steering controls and system for the 3. It feels like a spaceship,” Musk tweeted.

From the so-called spaceship steering control to the contiguous pane of glass that spans the car roof to the 0-60 mph acceleration in less than six seconds to an all-wheel drive version to autopilot hardware, the features are enough to make even a casual driver salivate.

Musk thanked purchasers of the high-end Model S and Model X cars for paying a premium that allowed him to subsidize the Model 3. That strategy puts Tesla where Apple was when it made the shift to Intel chips and was able to drive down costs and make its products more accessible. It used to be the cheapest Mac computers would cost you a 50 percent premium compared to competitors. Once they got their materials costs down, the core of their products were accessible to the medium end of the market.

That’s what Tesla is doing today. And if they can be first to market with the best mainstream electric vehicle, Tesla will be the Apple of cars for the foreseeable future. And that means, by the way, that Apple won’t be able to be the Apple of cars. Condolences to Tim Cook’s experimental vehicle division.