---
title: "Tesla Says New Model 3 Deliveries Will Arrive “Mid-2018 or Later”"
description: "There’s a reason all those people stood in line back in March, folks."
date: "2016-10-18"
modified: "2016-10-18"
authors:
  - name: "Will Sabel Courtney"
    job_title: "Contributor"
    link: "https://www.thedrive.com/authors/will-sabel-courtney"
url: "https://www.thedrive.com/news/5605/tesla-says-new-model-3-deliveries-will-arrive-mid-2018-or-later"
categories:
  - "Car Tech"
  - "Electric Vehicles"
  - "News"
  - "News by Brand"
  - "Tesla News"
tags:
  - "compact"
  - "Electric Cars"
  - "Electric Vehicle"
  - "model 3"
  - "sedan"
  - "Tesla"
---

# Tesla Says New Model 3 Deliveries Will Arrive “Mid-2018 or Later”

![](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/images-by-url-td/content/archive-images/tesla-model-3-side-view-hero.jpg>)
*\<em\>www.thedrive.com</em>*

If the only thing keeping you from ordering [a Tesla Model 3](<https://www.thedrive.com/new-cars/2817/a-first-look-at-the-brilliant-tesla-model-3>) has been the fact that you’d have to wait until 2017 to park it in your driveway...well, we have some bad news. [Tesla now says new orders for the Model 3 won’t arrive until mid-2018](<https://www.cnbc.com/2016/10/18/tesla-quietly-pushes-back-model-3-delivery-estimate-to-mid-2018-or-later.html>)—at the earliest.

The carmaker posted the change as [an addendum to its Model 3 page](<https://www.tesla.com/model3>) last Sunday, quietly sliding a line in between the $35,000 starting price and the button that invites the reader to reserve one of the midsized electric cars for a refundable deposit of $1,000. Previously, the website declared that orders would begin arriving in late 2017.

While certainly disconcerting to anyone who’s been waffling over whether to bring one of [Elon Musk’s future mass-market electric cars](<https://www.thedrive.com/news/4104/tesla-model-3-caught-on-video-cruising-down-the-highway>) into their lives, the news isn’t exactly a surprise. By its own accounts, Tesla has roughly 400,000 pre-orders for the Model 3; even if the carmaker can successfuly ramp up overall production [to 500,000 units per year, as it hopes to do by 2018](<https://www.thedrive.com/article/3358/drive-wire-tesla-ramps-up-production-drastically-by-2018>), simple math suggests it’ll take the better part of a year to run through the existing queue of Model 3 orders. As Tesla’s website says the $35,000 electric car will enter production in mid-2017, the new date aligns neatly with that sort of lag time.

That, of course, is assuming [Tesla manages to keep the Model 3’s development and production plans on schedule](<https://www.thedrive.com/new-cars/2881/tesla-likely-to-struggle-meeting-model-3-production-demands>)—and as devoted readers of *The Drive* should know by now, [Tesla doesn’t exactly have the best track record when it comes to delivering new cars on schedule](<https://www.thedrive.com/news/4187/tesla-just-settled-a-lawsuit-over-several-reported-model-x-flaws>).

***Update, 4:55pm:** A Tesla spokesperson has issued the following statement to The Drive: "Today’s website update does not reflect any change in our plans. We still plan to begin Model 3 deliveries in 2017, and we adjusted the delivery date on our marketing page to reflect more accurate timing for new/future reservation holders."*

## Author
Will is the former managing editor of *RIDES Magazine* and the former online editor for *0-60 Magazine*. He has worked for *Time Out New York* and *Rolling Stone*, and was the creator of *College Cars Online*, the first automotive blog specifically targeted at college students and young professionals.

### Author social links  
[Instagram](<https://instagram.com/willsabelcourtney>)  
[Twitter](<https://twitter.com/willscourtney>)