The Model 3 is key to California-based Tesla’s plans to take on established auto industry giants.

In April Tesla overtook Ford by market value, despite Ford having a more than century-long pedigree of building cars. It produced 6.6m cars in 2016, compared with Tesla’s 76,000.

Ford is currently worth $44.5bn, while Tesla now has a market cap of $59bn, placing it ahead of GM at $52.7bn.

While demand for the Model 3 may be strong, the key for its success is the ramp-up of production to meet demand.

Tesla has previously faced criticism for failing to meet delivery deadlines with earlier vehicles, and in a statement released later on Monday, the group detailed yet more issues in the recently-ended second quarter.

Tesla just about managed to meet its guidance for the first half of between 47,000 and 50,000 deliveries of its Model S and Model X vehicles, with the figure coming in at around 47,100.