US electric vehicle maker Tesla Motors says it will use $1.7 billion raised last week in a share offer to ramp up production of its $US35,000 Model 3 sedan to half a million cars a year by 2018.
The California-based company raised the money last Thursday, through the sale of 6.8 million shares priced at $215 each by the lead managers Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank, Citigroup and Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
The move to bolster production of the Model 3 follows massive pre-order sales of the fully electric vehicle, which is the luxury car-maker’s first attempt at a mass-market offering.
Earlier this month Tesla’s chief executive Elon Musk admitted he would have to “rethink production planning” of its electric cars after the company was inundated with pre-orders for the Model 3, which opened in March around the world, including in Australia.
Tesla says it received 276,000 pre-orders in the first three days after the launch and, to date, has accepted around 375,000 $US1,000 deposits from customers – amounting to $US14 billion ($A18.5 billion) in implied sales – wanting to purchase a Model 3, which is not due to hit the roads until late 2017.
“We’ve now received more than 325,000 reservations, which corresponds to about $14 billion in implied future sales, making this the single biggest one-week launch of any product ever.”
Australia has the highest rooftop solar penetration on earth because we wrote sensible rules early…
Perth-based home battery maker named as one of three businesses awarded funding to help grow…
The former PM – once one-eyed in his support of pumped hydro storage – is…
State tips $500,000 into local family-owned electric motor specialist to support delivery of a state-of-the-art…
Energy market operator reinforces need for more flexibility, storage and transmission as electricity demand is…
As the NT marks first gas from the huge Beetaloo "carbon bomb," the Pacific Islands…