Elon Musk Compares Model 3 To Hamburgers

Image courtesy of Tesla

Listen, Elon Musk is not worried that around 63,000 people have decided against buying the Model 3 so far. Why? Because that’s nothing in the grand scheme of things and besides, the car is just like a hamburger. Wait, what?

While Musk noted that total orders for the Model 3 — which is positioned as the company’s most affordable car yet with a starting price of $36,000 — dropped from 518,000 to 455,000, those cancellations were over the course of the year and so there’s nothing to worry about.

“I think this is inconsequential because with a small amount of effort we could easily drive the Model 3 reservation number to something much higher, but there’s no point,” Musk told investors. “It’s like if you’re a restaurant and you’re serving hamburgers and there’s an hour and a half wait for the hamburger, do you really want to encourage more people to come order hamburgers? It doesn’t make sense.”

We’re not sure if it makes sense or not — is Musk the cook in this restaurant scenario? — but now we’re pretty hungry for a hamburger.

He’s not wrong about the wait, though: If you place a reservation right this very minute, you probably won’t get your car until the middle of 2018 or even later, Wired.com notes. And those who reserved the Model 3 at the first chance in March 2016 still have to wait a few months, as delivery begins this fall.

Our colleagues at Consumer Reports have not yet tested the Model 3, but predict that it will score just two points out of five for reliability, but five out of five for owner satisfaction.

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