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Following its unveiling Thursday night, Tesla Motors, Inc.鈥檚 new Model 3 electric sedan now has tens of thousands of consumers paying $1,000 each to reserve their own car. But deliveries won't start until in late 2017.聽

The Model 3 is Tesla鈥檚 attempt at providing a lower-cost alternative to the automaker's premium electric vehicles. The base price is $35,000 before incentives, well below what Tesla's Model S sedan and Model X sports utility vehicle sell for.

Following its unveiling this week, hundreds of people lined up outside of Tesla stores around the world to reserve their own Model 3s. Tesla founder, chairman, and CEO Elon Musk said that demand for the electric cars is far outpacing his projections, with , according to Mr. Musk鈥檚 Twitter account.

Barclays analyst聽Brian Johnson had previously estimated the by June, Reuters reported, suggesting production and delivery of the vehicles on time could prove troublesome for Tesla.

The automaker has only delivered slightly more than 110,000 vehicles in its history, including its Roadster, Model S, and Model X. And delivery dates on those models kept slipping. 聽So despite the scheduled 2017 Model 3 release, customers may not see their reservations fulfilled for years, depending on how quickly Tesla can increase production capacity.

, there are tax credits on the line:

People questioned how quickly Tesla would be able to fill all those orders, and whether U.S. customers would be able to take advantage of the $7,500 federal tax credit for聽electric car buyers before it expired. The credit聽聽to phase out聽for Tesla around October 2018. The company's plan聽"should enable large numbers" of new customers鈥攏ot just current owners of Teslas鈥攖o receive the credit, Musk wrote. He also said production should ramp up in time for East Coast customers to qualify for the credit, even though deliveries will聽start near Tesla's聽factories in California so the company can quickly respond to any聽problems with the first cars off the line.聽if production capacity 聽

While Tesla has previously produced only luxury cars and still has a relatively limited vehicle charging and sales infrastructure, the wide release of the Model 3 could bring the company up to compete with more established automakers. Tesla has existed only since 2003, and it聽, but it has already made gains in the electric car market, with its only to Nissan鈥檚 Leaf.

Now, its Model 3 could be poised to reach an even larger audience than ever before. Its lower price and reported 215 miles of range per charge could open Tesla up to consumers who had never considered going electric before. The Nissan Leaf, Hyundai Ioniq, and BMW i3, for comparison, have ranges of around 80 to 110 miles at around the same cost. As of December, .

鈥渊辞耻'谤别 to purchase a Chevy Bolt, considering it comes out much sooner and the range is about the same,鈥� Edmunds.com analyst Jessica Caldwell told The Associated Press. The Bolt can go around 200 miles per charge, according to Chevrolet, and will retail for about the same price as a Model 3. She said that, despite the deposit and year-plus wait for Tesla鈥檚 vehicle, the Tesla's place in popular and consumer culture as well as its cars鈥� environmental impact have people interested in the motor company鈥檚 moves.

鈥淵ou felt like the lifestyle was attainable in his talk,鈥� Caldwell said of Musk鈥檚 Thursday night Model 3 announcement.

Tesla plans to expand its production in hopes of increasing its yearly capacity to 500,000 by the end of the decade. But can Tesla satisfy the demand for Tesla 3? When will customers who placed their orders now, actually get their cars?聽