When the first Model 3 rolled of the assembly line in July 2017, Tesla had delivered 183,000 cars in the preceding five years – a number that some of the larger car manufacturers in the world match in a week. The affordable Model 3, marketed as the first mass-market Tesla, was supposed to change that and bring Tesla one step closer to reaching its goal of “accelerating the advent of sustainable transport by bringing compelling mass market electric cars to market”.

And while it took the company nearly three years to make good on its original promise of offering a version of the Model 3 for as little as $35,000, the production ramp-up following the Model 3’s launch in 2017 has been quite impressive. In 2019, Tesla delivered 367,500 vehicles to customers around the world, more than doubling the combined total for the years preceding the Model 3’s production launch (2012-2016).

In the fourth quarter of 2019 alone, Tesla delivered 112,000 vehicles, beating its 2017 total and setting a new benchmark for itself. Analysts are predicting that the company could deliver as many as half a million vehicles in 2020, thanks in part to the opening of its first Gigafactory in China.