Tesla has made 1 million electric cars, CEO Elon Musk announced on Twitter on Monday evening. Musk shared an image of the vehicle, a red Model Y—Tesla’s forthcoming lower-cost crossover.
It’s a remarkable milestone. The carmaking business is notoriously competitive and capital-intensive. Before Tesla, it had been decades since anyone had built a substantial American carmaker.
But Tesla is clearly here to stay. Wall Street now values the company at almost $120 billion—more than GM and Ford put together. The company has big expansion plans, with a recently launched factory in China and another planned for Germany. If all goes according to plan, Tesla will make its 2 millionth car in just a couple of years—far faster than the decade-plus it took to make the first million.
But Tesla does face some potential headwinds in China. The novel coronavirus has interfered with Tesla’s manufacturing operations there. And a weak Chinese economy may limit demand for Tesla’s luxury vehicles.
Model Y seems to be ahead of schedule
Musk’s tweet featured the Model Y, a new lower-cost crossover Tesla announced a year ago. When Tesla unveiled the Model Y in March 2019, the company said the car would go into production in Fall 2020. Given Tesla’s habit of missing deadlines, it was easy to imagine the Model Y not arriving until 2021.
But now Tesla seems to actually be ahead of schedule. Tesla has evidently already produced at least one Model Y. Tesla’s Model Y order page states that “first deliveries begin in March 2020.” So that millionth Tesla could be in a customer’s hands in the next few weeks.
The Model Y is based on Tesla’s Model 3 platform and dispenses with complex features like the Model X’s falcon-wing doors. The Model Y’s simplicity and reuse of existing technology may have helped Tesla bring the car to market quickly.
Prices on Tesla’s Model Y order page currently start at $52,990 for the Long Range model. Tesla says a cheaper Standard Range model will become available in early 2021.
