It looks like the first Tesla Model 3 will be leaving the factory this Friday

Elon Musk has tweeted that the Tesla Model 3 has passed its regulatory requirements for production ahead of schedule, with a tantalizing end of the tweet that looks like an actual Model 3 will be leaving the factory this Friday.

The tweet ends “Expecting to complete SN1 on Friday”, which people are taking to mean ‘serial number one’, the first ever Model 3 to leave the factory.

In typical Musk fashion, he then followed up with tweets about a handover party and then went on to talk about the “exponential” growth of the production schedule from that point on.

Tesla will need to keep pumping out the vehicles, as Electrek reported that there had been over 400,000 pre-orders of the Model 3 back in August of last year.

Get the motor running

The Model 3 is a change of direction for the electric car manufacturer. Up until this point, Tesla cars have been the aspirational toys of the elite. Coming in at an eye-watering $90,700 (£61,880, AU$123,483), the Model S comes with unlimited free charging, 0-60 in 4.3 seconds, and a range of 298-392 miles on a single charge.

The Model 3 on the other hand, is almost one third the price of its big brother at $35,000 (official UK and AU prices yet to be released, although UK will likely be £30,000). Customers will have to pay per charge, the 0-60 will take 5.6 seconds, and it will do closer to 215 miles per charge, but still, those are pretty impressive credentials for a car that is getting closer to an average user’s budget.

If this all sound like something you want a piece of, you can get yourself on the pre-order list on the Tesla website.