The world’s most closely watched electric producer is known for its talent to generate suspense. Producer’s most closely watched car continues to be the Model 3, which was treated as a make-or-break model for Tesla even before production began less than a year ago. The Model 3 is Tesla’s most affordable car and its first truly “volume” EV. But when it comes to assembly it has also been the most difficult right from the start. Needs to present challenges with everything from steel welding to battery module assembly to panel fit.

Tesla worked overtime and burned through billions in cash as Model 3 production crawled along. Producer appeared to be in its most vulnerable position in years as it repeatedly pushed back production goals. By December 2017, Tesla had pushed that 5,000 target back to the end of the second quarter of 2018.

Tesla produced 2,020 Model 3s in the past seven days

The first quarter ended three days ago, and Tesla has shared its output figures, reporting that it produced 2,020 Model 3s in the past seven days, falling a little short of a 2,500 cars per week target but making rapid progress just in the month of March alone. Tesla says that production has grown by 40 percent over the last quarter of 2017 when all models are taken into account: 34,494 vehicles were produced during the first quarter, including 9,766 Model 3s alone. The automaker delivered 8,180 Model 3 sedans, 10,070 Model X crossovers and 11,730 Model S sedans to customers in the first quarter.

“Given the progress made thus far and upcoming actions for further capacity improvement, we expect that the Model 3 production rate will climb rapidly through Q2,” said producer. “Tesla continues to target a production rate of approximately 5,000 units per week in about three months. As a result, Tesla does not require an equity or debt raise this year, apart from standard credit lines.”

Tesla indicated that Model 3 production has settled around 2,000 cars per week. It lans to produce 2,000 examples of each of its three models in the next seven days.

This is positive news for the producer. The market certainly agreed this morning as Tesla shares jumped almost 7 percent for a time, before falling slightly. It has not reached the announced target. In March, Elon Musk said that a battery module assembly line simply was on the wrong side of the globe, in Germany instead of Nevada.

“It has been extremely difficult to pass the 2,000 cars per week rate for Model 3, but we are finally there,” Musk said. “If things go as planned today, we will comfortably exceed that number over a seven-day period!”

The next target?

Tesla still aims to produce 5,000 Model 3 sedans per week by the end of June. Will target  be easier to reach than getting to 2,000 after nine months?