Tesla has brought in $180M (not $7.5B) on Model 3 pre-orders

Tesla just had an amazing 24 hours — both ahead of and following the unveiling of its mass-market Model 3.

However, the upstart EV automaker has not brought in as much cash as the company co-founder and CEO Elon Musk wants you to think.

On Friday morning, Musk tweeted that, based upon an average retail price of $42,000 for the Model 3, the company has effectively netted around $7.5 billion in a single day.

While Musk is a gifted entrepreneur, he has some problems with math on this one. Let's start with the deposit.

First off, Tesla did bring in a good chunk of cash: a fully refundable $1,000 for each pre-order, which was limited to two per person. That calculates to $180 million — nothing to sneeze at. Read more...