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Tesla’s Elon Musk reveals when customers can pre-order the cheaper Model 3

By
Kirsten Korosec
Kirsten Korosec
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By
Kirsten Korosec
Kirsten Korosec
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September 2, 2015, 6:17 PM ET
The Tesla Gigafactory is shown under construction outside Reno, Nevada
Construction of the Tesla Gigafactory outside Reno, Nevada is shown February 18, 2015. Once known primarily for its casinos and quickie divorces, the Reno area has made impressive strides in its attempt to transform itself into a technology hub in the high-desert of Nevada. In the last few years, it has attracted big Silicon Valley names, including Tesla, Apple and Amazon. But now a new challenge has arisen for Reno: managing its success. Even as the region celebrates its economic wins, it is struggling to cope with the additional demands that the new businesses -- and the new residents they draw -- will place on Reno?s infrastructure, schools, and city services. To match Insight USA-RENO/TECH Picture taken February 18, 2015. REUTERS/James Glover II (UNITED STATES - Tags: TRANSPORT BUSINESS SOCIETY) - RTR4R9MNPhotograph by James Glover — Reuters

The Model 3, the lower cost all-electric car that Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk has mentioned in interviews and shareholder letters, isn’t expected to be in full production for a couple more years. The public doesn’t even know what this car will look like.

But according to the latest tweets by Musk, customers will be able to start pre-ordering the $35,000 vehicle in March.

In other words, you won’t have to be Oprah to own a Tesla.

Musk has used Twitter in the past to tease future products, debunk claims about Tesla products, and even his management style. His latest string of tweets offers a few tidbits on the Model X sport utility vehicle as well the Model 3, an electric car that’s supposed to be half the price of the luxury Model S.

To be clear, not everything in these tweets is new. In a second quarter letter to shareholders, Musk said Tesla (TSLA) planned to reveal the Model 3 design in early 2016 with deliveries expected in late 2017.

And the $35,000 price has been batted around before, although unofficially. A timeline for pre-ordering a Model 3—albeit a seemingly tentative and vague one—is new.

@elonmusk $35k price, unveil in March, preorders start then.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 2, 2015

Of course, before the Model 3 can be produced, the company must be able to make a cheaper lithium-ion battery to put into the car. The electric automaker is building a $5 billion factory outside of Reno that it has said is designed with enough capacity to reduce the per-kilowatt-hour cost of its lithium-ion battery packs by over 30%. The factory is scheduled to be complete by the end of 2017.

Also on Wednesday, Musk dropped another date, this time for the first deliveries of the highly anticipated Model X sports utility vehicle. Deliveries of those will begin September 29.

First production cars will be handed over on Sept 29 at our Fremont factory

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 2, 2015

For more about Tesla, watch this Fortune video:

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By Kirsten Korosec
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