Tesla is practically drowning in Model 3 pre-orders

The Model S is one of the best electric vehicles on the market at the moment, if not THE best, but it’s price puts it well out of reach for many drivers, which is why there was so much hype surrounding the Model 3 announcement on Thursday. A starting price of $35,000 puts the Model 3 well within the reach of most drivers, so it’s shouldn’t come as a surprise that Tesla is practically drowning in pre-orders for the car at the moment. CEO Elon Musk announced on Saturday that Tesla has received 253,000 pre-orders, which is more than twice what it was expecting and amounts to about $9.7 billion in sales.

The hype was palpable watching the live unveiling of Tesla’s Model 3, and company CEO Elon Musk says pre-order numbers for the all-electric vehicle backup it up. The latest figure Musk announced is 253,000 units as of Saturday morning increasing sales to more than $10 billion. Musk says he’ll give another update Saturday night for the three day total as well as one Wednesday for the week. Musk simply tweeted “Now 232k orders” in his latest update on the preorder sales, which have steadily been increasing before the vehicle was ever even revealed. The previous figure was 198,000 pre-orders and in less than 24 hours the company added an additional 34,000 to that figure. In the first day, Musk tweeted 180,000 consumers had placed orders for the Model 3, generating what he estimates is $7.5 billion in sales. Applying the same logic Musk used in assuming an average cost of $42,000 per car, the new total of 232,000 preorders would mean the company made $9.7 billion in sales in just 48 hours. In comparison to other mainstream car manufacturers though, the company has a long way to go yet. Toyota, the No. 1 selling automaker in the world, sold roughly 10.1 million units across the globe in 2015. However, among all electric vehicles Tesla certainly leads the pack.