Tesla CEO Elon Musk took to Twitter late on Monday to congratulate the team on Tesla building its one-millionth car.
He also posted photos of the car which reveal that it was a Model Y finished in red.
Congratulations Tesla team on making our 1,000,000th car!! pic.twitter.com/5M99a9LLQi
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 10, 2020
The small electric SUV has been in production since January and is due to start deliveries at the end of March. It is currently assembled at Tesla's plant in Fremont, California, and will eventually be added to the production lines at Tesla's plant in Shanghai, China, and the planned plant in Berlin, Germany. The German plant is scheduled to open in 2021.
There are currently two Model Y grades to order, both of them with all-wheel drive. The more affordable option is the Model Y Long Range priced from $52,990 and the other is the range-topping Model Y Performance priced from $60,990. Both have an EPA-estimated range of 315 miles according to Tesla's website.
More affordable Model Ys are coming. A Standard range previously announced to start at $41,200 and offering 230 miles of range is due to enter production in early 2021.
Tesla celebrates building its one-millionth car - Photo credit: Elon Musk/Twitter
The latest milestone is a major one not only for Tesla but also the industry in general as it is the first time that any manufacturer has built a million electric cars.
Tesla has come a long way since it started production of its first model, the Roadster based on a donor Lotus platform, back in 2008. Since then it's switched to production of the Model S, Model X and Model 3 and more recently the Model Y. The company has also revealed three additional models due to enter production in the near future. They include a redesigned Roadster, the Cybertruck pickup truck, and the Semi semi-trailer truck.
The news also comes a little more than a month after Tesla announced its first full year of profits, albeit based on the accounting rules followed by most analysts and investors and not generally accepted accounting principles which in fact showed Tesla still running at a loss. Tesla is also confident it will exceed 500,000 sales this year.
There are some headwinds, though. Tesla is just starting to face real competition in the EV space as the major automakers introduce their first credible rivals. And the new competition is arriving just as Tesla loses the federal tax credit on new EV purchases.
