Journalist Prods Elon Musk Into Closing the Model 3's Bulk Order Loophole

Like a sign next to the egg roll pit at a Chinese buffet, Tesla’s “two Model 3s per person” rule could have been ignored by hungry customers.

Tesla founder Elon Musk had to go on the defensive recently after a financial journalist reserved 20 units of the upcoming 215-mile electric sedan, Automotive News reports.

Anton Wahlman, writing for the investing website Seeking Alpha, published a story claiming that he placed 20 refundable orders for the $35,000 Model 3, casting doubt on the legitimacy of the model’s 400,000 reservations.

Musk said only two orders would be accepted from any one person, but Wahlman found that this actually meant two orders per order form, with no limits on the number of forms a customer could submit.

“I ask because I had no problem placing deposits for 20 cars myself, and I didn’t encounter any limit, causing me to reasonably assume that I could just have continued — placing 200 or 200,000 refundable deposits — you pick the number,” Wahlman wrote.

Called out over the apparent loophole on Twitter, Musk fired back to quell growing rumors of Model 3 speculation.

@MrBoylan Duplicates will be cancelled. Max of 2 will be delivered to any one person. Only ~5% of orders are 2, so speculation unlikely.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 29, 2016

Musk added to his message two hours later, stating that a system scan revealed only 0.2 percent of Model 3 orders had the same email and physical address. Those excess orders were purged, he said.

That puts the number of excess orders in the high hundreds, a number so low that the approximate reservation number of 400,000 can probably still stand. Musk still faces the problem of getting all of those Model 3s assembled and delivered in a timely fashion once production begins in late 2017.

Twitter conversations with Musk always reveal new nuggets of information, and this exchange was no different. When asked, Musk said the Model 3 will be offered with Tesla’s go-fast “Ludicrous” mode.

The Model 3 is expected to boast a 0–60 mph time of less than six seconds, meaning a Ludicrous upgrade could shave about two seconds off that figure.

[Image: Tesla Motors]