Tesla reportedly hits Model 3 production milestone

Tesla Inc. claimed it reached its goal of producing 5,000 Model 3 sedans in a week, according to multiple reports Sunday.

According to Reuters and Bloomberg News, the electric-car company celebrated its production milestone in the early hours of Sunday morning. Reuters reported that the last car rolled off the assembly line around 5 a.m., technically missing Chief Executive Elon Musk’s self-imposed midnight deadline by hours, but apparently that was close enough.

According to an internal email obtained by Reuters, which Tesla confirmed, Musk on Sunday congratulated his team for hitting the 5,000 goal. “I think we just became a real car company,” Musk wrote, according to Reuters.

Tesla did not immediately respond for comment Sunday.

In a tweet Sunday afternoon, Musk touted “7000 cars in 7 days.” But he did not break down the production numbers for each Tesla car — Model 3, Model X and Model S.

Tesla is expected to officially announce second-quarter production numbers this week.

Musk had vowed to produce 5,000 Model 3 sedans a week by the end of June, and production was heavily ramped up over the past month, helped in part by the addition of a third assembly line, built in a tent outside Tesla’s Fremont, Calif., factory.

But even if the 5,000-a-week goal was reached, is it unclear if that rate is sustainable. Instinet analysts said last week that they expected Tesla to hit its end-of-June goal, but did not expect sustained production at that rate until some point in the third quarter.

Tesla shares   are up almost 18% over the past month, and are up 10% year to date, compared to the S&P 500’s   0.6% decline over the past month and 1.7% gain this year.