You're right, because he told me it was $1000 rebate for it.
....
I believe they're gonna struggle with that mass order since they had $0 on marketing... is there money for the mass production?
Quote:
"Mr. Musk realizes things haven’t always gone as planned, but said he wants to hit targets. “I do feel fairly confident it will be next year,” Mr. Musk said, laughing. The company has struggled to launch vehicles on time under his watch."
1) It is NOT a rebate, it is a $7500 Tax Credit (if you don't have a tax liability >=$7500 in the year of purchase, you cannot claim the entire amount and any surplus does not roll over)
For vehicles acquired after December 31, 2009, the credit is equal to $2,500 plus, for a vehicle which draws propulsion energy from a battery with at least 5 kilowatt hours of capacity, $417, plus an additional $417 for each kilowatt hour of battery capacity in excess of 5 kilowatt hours. The total amount of the credit allowed for a vehicle is limited to $7,500.
2) It phases out after a manufacturer hits 200K vehicles sold (when Title passes to the taxpayer under applicable state law).
The qualified plug-in electric drive motor vehicle credit phases out for a manufacturer’s vehicles over the one-year period beginning with the second calendar quarter after the calendar quarter in which at least 200,000 qualifying vehicles manufactured by that manufacturer have been sold for use in the United States (determined on a cumulative basis for sales after December 31, 2009) (“phase-out period”). Qualifying vehicles manufactured by that manufacturer are eligible for 50 percent of the credit if acquired in the first two quarters of the phase-out period and 25 percent of the credit if acquired in the third or fourth quarter of the phase-out period. Vehicles manufactured by that manufacturer are not eligible for a credit if acquired after the phase-out period.
3) 0$ on market = MORE money to spend on production (and their bank balance is about $200 million more than it was a couple of days ago)
4) To me it appeared that Elon didn't even believe it himself when he said late 2017. Plus the first 50K+ will be delivered to current Tesla owners followed by those those that order higher spec configurations - if you want the $35K version, you're gonna have to wait. Elon figures the average price will be $42K.
Your other option is to buy one off of ebay when deliveries start. Many (most) people placing early reservations put down money for 2. They are probably planning on selling for a profit (reservations aren't transferable, but once you buy the car it's yours to do with as you please.
I'll wait for the dust to settle (and likely drive a Bolt in the meantime) before looking very closely at the Model 3. Who knows what else will be on the market in 3 years.