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Tesla Motors ( TSLA ) CEO Elon Musk tweeted Saturday afternoon “253k as of 7am this morning,” meaning reservations for the Model 3 that was unveiled Thursday night after reservations for it opened around the world that morning. It’s far more than expected and Musk said Friday “definitely going to need to rethink production planning.” This Is What It’s Like To Ride In A Tesla Model 3 “All efforts focused on accelerating the ramp,” he added Saturday on Twitter ( TWTR ). Musk gives frequent updates as @ElonMusk there. He continued: “Token of appreciation for those who lined up coming via mail. Thought maybe 20-30 people per store would line up, not 800. Gifts on order.” The strong reception for the Model 3 spurred a congratulatory tweet to the electric car maker’s CEO Friday night from Sundar Pichai, CEO of tech giant Google, a unit of Alphabet ( GOOGL ). He replied to Musk’s update on Model 3 reservations with: “congrats, exciting times!” . @elonmusk congrats, exciting times! — sundarpichai (@sundarpichai) April 2, 2016 The Model 3, like Tesla’s Model S and Model X, will have some Autopilot self-driving capabilities. Google famously has its Google Self-Driving Car in development, expected to be more a people transporter than a car that a human would drive some of the time. Tesla stock rose on Friday after Thursday night’s Model 3 launch party in Los Angeles tallied ramped-up reservations and revealed a good-looking design with glass on the back half of the roof clear all the way to the trunk. A reservations odometer actually spun at times during the event, moving past 134,000 while the afterparty was still going strong, outpacing the estimates of Tesla analysts. At $35,000 per car, that would amount to almost $4.7 billion in potential revenue when the Model 3 is actually delivered. The deposits are $1,000 a pop and said to be fully refundable. “According to management, reservation orders surpassed 150K during the evening (and presumably still growing beyond our two incremental reservations early this morning),” Stifel auto analyst James Albertine said in an overnight research note. That “is roughly 10x the 15-20K we expected in the first days of the launch and 50% greater than the 50-100K we expected by the end of this year.” He added: “Thoughts. We are simply awestruck by the demand surfacing for the Model 3.” CEO Musk tweeted out in early afternoon that reservations had nearly hit 200,000. Thought it would slow way down today, but Model 3 order count is now at 198k. Recommend ordering soon, as the wait time is growing rapidly. — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 1, 2016 Musk’s comment about the wait time is key. Model 3 production will take time to ramp up. Even if the deliveries begin in late 2017, as scheduled, it could be well into 2018 or beyond before people reserving today actually get their Model 3. Shares rose as high as 247.90 on the stock market Friday, the best since early October. But gains cooled, with Tesla stock closing at 237.59, up 3.4%. Tesla is not currently highly ranked by IBD, with a Composite Rating of just 34 out of a possible 99, factoring in its earnings growth record, stock market performance and other metrics. The Model 3 pre-order window opened around the world Thursday at Tesla stores. “Orders for the Model 3 in the last 24 hours have just passed 115,000,” Musk announced at the 8:30 p.m. Pacific Time launch on Thursday. Lines at some Tesla stores had stretched far. The rest of the Thursday reservations were racked up during the event, where a bevy of Tesla Model S, Model X and Roadster owners conversed over the din of a DJ. “Orders for the Model 3 in the last 24 hours have just passed 115,000,” Tesla CEO Elon Musk just said. $TSLA #Model3 pic.twitter.com/ZWWb9LmhGj — Donna Howell (@IBD_DHowell) April 1, 2016 Several people IBD spoke with who already own at least one Tesla also ordered a Model 3 at the launch party. PCs were set up to take reservations online, with the general window for online reservations opening shortly before Musk took the stage to introduce the new car. Sleek, fast (we took a test ride) and smaller than its siblings, the Model 3 is slated to roll off the assembly line in late 2017. It’s seen competing with the BMW 3 Series and similarly priced entry-to-midrange luxury vehicles from Volkswagen ‘s ( VLKAY ) Audi, Daimler ‘s ( DDAIF ) Mercedes-Benz and Toyota ‘s ( TM ) Lexus, as well as electrics like the General Motors ( GM ) Chevrolet Bolt and a variety of hybrids. Tesla’s challenge now is ramping up production to meet the better-than-expected demand on time, and pushing down battery costs enough to profit with a car half the price of its last two models. About half of the current Tesla owners that IBD spoke with at the launch event expect the Model 3 to come out on schedule. The others wouldn’t bet on it. Tesla’s last model unveiling, also at its design facility in Los Angeles, was the Model X crossover in February 2012. After delays, that finally started going to reservation-holders at the end of September 2015. Bob and Linda Ashmore of San Carlos, Calif., have a Roadster and a Model S, and just put in a reservation for a Model 3. “We ordered one today here, so we’re looking forward to seeing what it’s actually going to look like,” Bob Ashmore told IBD as the launch party was getting started. He expects it to be built on time, and he and Linda have visited the factory several times. “They’ve got plenty of capacity,” Bob Ashmore said. “This has been a dream and vision of Tesla from the beginning,” Linda Ashmore said. “To get an affordable car for the masses.” RELATED: Tesla Motors Model 3 Revealed . Scalper1 News
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