The first cars off Tesla's California assembly line will be high-end Signature Series cars with an advertised 320 mile range on a full charge and a sticker price around $80,000. However, the base Model S will start at about $57,000 and will go about 160 miles on a charge.
The first year's production is already spoken for, CEO Elon Musk said, but that's only expected to be about 5,000 cars. Tesla is now taking orders for the second year's production, which is planned to be around 20,000 cars.
The Model S is being built in the same Fremont, Calif. factory that Toyota and General Motors used to share. Tesla purchased the plant last year.
To keep an eye on quality, Musk said he, himself, will be walking the line and that every Model S will be carefully inspected for quality before leaving the plant.
With Tesla's future riding these cars, he knows they'll need to be perfect.
Join Tesla CEO Elon Musk on a ride in the electric car company's 7-seater prototype.
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