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Comment by Brakenshire | Hacker News Reader

This is about deliveries, not demand. They still have a large backlog of orders, and they haven't even entered the European market yet.

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Model 3 isn't back ordered. When I was ordering mine last week everything showed a 2-week delivery date(mid-range, long range, performance). After ordering I picked mine up two days later. Later after reading the Tesla forums, I could have called up Tesla and got a discount on the car if they had it sitting in inventory since they are trying to move inventory.

Ok, but doesn’t that just mean they’re not backlogged on the middle and high trims? They only just released the low end model, I can’t really see how those orders could have been fulfilled. Although it seems to be up for debate whether they’re able to make the low end model without a loss.

They started delivery of the Model 3 in Europe in February. But Tesla's cars are quite a bit too bulky for many European countries, where Nissan Leaf and Renault Zoe dominate sales.

LOL... do you live in Europe?

The model 3 is (to within a couple of cm) the same size and class as the Audi A4 and BMW 3-series. And I can assure you that they are very very common cars here.

Likewise, the X is similar to (say) the Audi Q7, the BMW X5, and the Porsche Cayenne, and again, those are pretty common.

The most common size in France (where I'm originally from) is the B-segment: Renault Clio, Citroën C3, etc. So 4.1~4.2 meters in length and 1.7~1.8 meters in width. Model 3 is much longer: 4.7 meter in length and quite a bit larger at 1.9~2 meter in width. Don't get me wrong, BMW 3-series or Audi A4 are not rare in France, but it's not the mass market.

So I don't have the beginning of a clue as to why you are laughing. If you are French then you probably live in an affluent neighborhood. I suspect you live in a different country with different car habits.

Just wanted to confirm what you are saying, that is that the standard-ish car size in Europe is represented by the models you mentioned: the Clio, the Citroen C3, I'll add the VW Polo, Skoda Fabia or Seat Ibiza, cars like Audi A4 or BMW Series 3 are seen as large-ish.

is there any evidence they still have a backlog?? Seems like the only backlog left is countries they just began delivering to or haven't started deliveries there yet..no one knows how big that backlog is

No, there is no evidence of a backlog, outside of certain trims. The model 3 SR still has a backlog, by virtue of not having been made yet.

In Ontario Canada there are real wait times that are over a month for long range and AWD options for Model 3, even though the website falsely proclaims delivery within two weeks. I would define a wait time over a month (and counting) a backlog.

Thanks for that. I appreciate the additional data-point, as most of what I was seeing before was that there was pointing towards a possible inventory buildup in North America. If even the high end trims are actually in shorter supply than indicated, then maybe demand isn't so soft after all.

It still leaves me with a lot of questions about Model X and S, but I think there are more reasonable theories there than a demand cliff.

I’m just working from previous articles which said that a large percentage of their orders were at the lower price point, which has only opened up recently.

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