Tesla Model 3 2019: Musk hits build target, now boss of "real car company"

Tesla has belatedly hit its Model 3 production goal, building 7000 cars in seven days to reach its target a handful of hours after the self-imposed deadline expired.

It’s been quite the saga, with company boss Elon Musk publicly promising that Model 3 production - which had been plagued by delays and missed deadlines - would reach 5000 units a week before June 30.

Musk himself held the goal up as proof Tesla, which was yet to post any sort of profit, could produce enough vehicles to fight its way into the black. So it must have been particularly uncomfortable at Tesla’s HQ when it looked for all the world like it would miss it.

But in a last-minute run to the finish line, including opening a new production line inside a giant tent at the company’s factory in Fremont California, the brand averaged 1000 cars a day for seven days, sending Model 3 number 5000 through the quality control checking staton at about 5am on July 1 - five hours after the midnight deadline expired - along with 2000 units of its Models S and X over the same period.

The moment clearly wasn’t lost on Musk, who reportedly sent an email to staff praising their work.

“We did it!! What an incredible job by an amazing team. Couldn’t be more proud to work with you. It is an honour,” Musk wrote in an email quickly leaked to the media.

“The level of dedication and creativity was mind-blowing. We either found a way or, by will and inventiveness, created entirely new solutions that were thought impossible. Intense in tents. Transporting entire production lines across the world in massive cargo planes. Whatever. It worked.

“I think we just became a real car company…”

Never one to shy away from upping the ante, Musk has now promised Model 3 production will hit 6000 vehicles a week in August.

The production push helped Tesla to build a total 53,339 vehicles in the second quarter of 2018 (28,578 units of the Model 3 and 24,761 units combined of the Models S and X).

Has Tesla become a "real car company"? Tell us in the comments below.