Tesla’s latest vehicle, the Model 3 Performance, is proving to be selling especially well based on new data obtained by Electrek.

The automaker is currently trying to become profitable and in order to make that happen, it needs to increase the gross margin of the Model 3.

Production efficiency improvements are expected to help, but the average sales price is also increasing thanks to the introduction of the Model 3 performance, which is expected to help the gross margin.

Last month, executives said that 50% of Model 3 orders were for Dual Motors version, standard all-wheel-drive and the Performance version, but now we have actual numbers just for the Performance version.

A source familiar with Tesla’s sales told Electrek that the automaker sold 1,124 new Model 3 Performance vehicles over the past two weeks.

Unsurprisingly, California is the strongest market with more than a third of the orders by itself. It is followed by the North East and the whole west (including Canada and exclusive of California) comes in third.

At a starting price of $64,000, that’s at least $72 million in orders, but more likely over $80 million after options.

Tesla is expected to release its production and delivery numbers for the third quarter in less than two weeks.

Electrek’s Take

What’s most impressive about those numbers is that it’s now more than 4 months after they first opened the order book for the Model 3 Performance.

Tesla first opened orders for the Model 3 Performance back in May and released the specs.

That’s when the automaker received the biggest influx of orders for the new version, but now months later, it is still getting a significant amount of new orders.

It’s a good sign for Tesla because I believe the gross margin on the Model 3 Performance is quite significant.

That said, I think Model 3 Performance orders were temporally boosted due to the end of the free unlimited Supercharger access with the referral program.

Orders should now drop in the next few weeks, but they might remain somewhat strong as the deadline to order and get the car by the end of the year in order to take advantage of the full federal tax credit in the US is approaching quickly.

Nonetheless, it’s going to be an exciting end of the year for Tesla.

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