Cancelled
“Looks like we can reach 20,000 Model 3 cars per month in Dec”
— Elon Musk · Jul 3, 2017 · Musk tweet, Jul 2 2017 ↗
See his original post on XLoads Elon's actual tweet, right here.
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What actually happened
Tesla missed its December 2017 target of ~20,000 Model 3s per month (5,000/week); it built only about 793 in the final week of 2017. The 5,000-per-week rate was first reached in the last week of June 2018 (5,031 units), roughly six months after the original deadline. Green Car Reports ↗
The Progression
Jul 3, 2017
The promise: “Looks like we can reach 20,000 Model 3 cars per month in Dec” · Musk tweet, Jul 2 2017 ↗
Jul 1, 2018
Delivered · Late — 0.5 years late. Tesla missed its December 2017 target of ~20,000 Model 3s per month (5,000/week); it built only about 793 in the final week of 2017. The 5,000-per-week rate was first reached in the last week of June 2018 (5,031 units), roughly six months after the original deadline. Green Car Reports ↗
Today · Jul 16, 2026
Status: Delivered · Late · 0.5 years late. It happened — eventually.
In a July 2017 tweet, Musk wrote, 'Looks like we can reach 20,000 Model 3 cars per month in Dec' — about 5,000 cars per week. Actual December 2017 output ran at roughly 202 cars per week. Tesla eventually hit the 5,000-per-week rate in July 2018, about seven months late, making this one delivered late.
Receipts
LAST CHECKED 2026-06-22- [TWEET] Musk tweet, Jul 2 2017
- [REPORT] inverse.com
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