Tesla Wants To Blow Away Mercedes And BMW Sales

Elon Musk wants to outdo Mercedes and BMW sales in the United States within a year of the Model 3 launching. We’re not talking sales of the C-Class and 3 Series, but total brand sales.

You can’t say Musk doesn’t aim high.

As Bloomberg calculates, Tesla will have to churn out 430,000 Model 3s by the close of 2018 to hit the goals Musk has set. That’s more than all EVs sold worldwide during 2016.

Most people think this plan is crazy. While it’s not impossible, it certainly is unlikely. Investors are already betting against Tesla.

The thing is, people have been saying Tesla would be late to market with the Model 3, but it looks like it’ll be on time. The new “release candidate” video Musk tweeted proves that we’ll see Model 3s rolling off production lines this summer, right on time. That’s because these tester vehicles are being made using the actual production lines. Yes, that’s right, Tesla is locked, loaded and ready to start firing out Model 3s once the test vehicles are vetted.

Back to gunning for BMW and Mercedes, apparently Tesla’s cutting features on the Model 3, so blowing away the Germans might prove to be difficult. Sure, some people will love having a cutting-edge EV that means they can kiss gas pumps goodbye. Others will be disappointed to know there will be zero gauges or displays, other than the 15-inch touchscreen in the center stack. Also, the all-wheel-drive models are being delayed as much as nine months.

Is Tesla shooting for the stars? Yes. Will it hit them? Not bloody likely.