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Highest production VIN in the wild
- Thread starter insaneoctane
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- Model 3
@dennis @MP3Mike , what are you disagreeing with? i was off couple of weeks, 313 and 316 were produced mid-july. who cares about mid july VIN 3xx when 259 is only been delivered 22-Sep?
source (vin - pic date - link)
309 - july 23 - Model 3 Owners Club on Twitter
313 - aug 7 - Pictures of production Model 3s
316 - july 17 - Tesla: Reports of supply issue with Model 3 display screen ‘absolutely false’
Relax guys. Tesla does not produce in vin order. They batch like cars If you go back in the Model S/X threads you will find guys griping because people got their cars with vins a thousand or more higher before they did. Especially true with 5 seat X’s
There is no setting to make a thread allow pictures or not.
There are some threads where people do request mostly pictures as they want to see images of something, but it is not something the forum software does, just a matter of etiquette.
So, I think the only thing stopping people from posting VIN pictures to this thread is their lack of ability or the feeling that it would be rude to the owner.
( So it could include "I didn't get a chance to take a picture", or "I didn't feel comfortable taking a picture", or "I got a picture but I don't know how to post it", or "I got a picture, but I don't feel comfortable posting it." )
rxlawdude
Active Member
The assumption has been that 3xx cars were RCs/production validation, but we haven't seen any hard proof of that. It sounds like, if people are to be believed, some of the 3xx cars are absolutely production vehicles that will/are going to customers.
He let's all remember that the commitment, such as it is, is for 1500 PRODUCED not delivered. So there are scenarios, however unlikely that they have a bunch in route or sitting in the factory for QA or whatever and technically meet it.
https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/881755501905588226
Start of Production (SOP) cars VINs #3xx are not RCs.
IMHO completely confirmed if that #310 is in customer's hands.
rxlawdude
Active Member
Hmmm...
309 - july 23 - Model 3 Owners Club on Twitter
313 - aug 7 - Pictures of production Model 3s
316 - july 17 - Tesla: Reports of supply issue with Model 3 display screen ‘absolutely false’
Seeing as how the first 30 were delivered on 7/28, please explain how the July 23 and July 17 sightings above are production vehicles.
I am guessing that the RCs had a different prefix in the VIN from production cars. For example (not real Tesla VINs):
RC: 5YxxxxL22FF000313
Prod: 5YxxxxA25FA000313
(Again, those are just illustrating that there may indeed be two "0313" serial numbers, but different VINs.)
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The first 30 cars were delivered to customers on 7/28. The first picture of a production car was on July 9th:
Take a look at the very first production Tesla Model 3
rxlawdude
Active Member
Isn't it odd that all subsequent production cars (even one delivered recently) have had VINs under S/N 200?
Not worth arguing about.
I don't think there ever was a 0313 RC.
Only a production model that was made 07/2017. A few 3xx then 001,002,003,etc. IMHO - Tesla simply made sure that the production line produced acceptable cars.
Lower numbers, yes. There certainly are two "0007" for example.
We have pictures (IIRC with its RC type VIN too) of a black RC 007 nicknamed "bond's car" and a production model with VIN ...0007 (blue I think) was one of the first 30 delivered.
Isn't it odd that all subsequent production cars (even one delivered recently) have had VINs under S/N 200?
Not worth arguing about.
No, these were internal Tesla production cars with a special VIN sequence. They will probably build test drive cars with a special VIN sequence as well (they did with the Model S). That doesn't make them Release Candidates.
I am only aware of one sequence of VINs and not some separate RC designation.
I think they put out some xxxxxxxx3xx type VINs early to test their ability to produce functional vehicles.
Seeing an engineer driving one doesn't mean it is a delivered / customer car. They have built a bunch for testing.
I don't know if they would crush those after testing, or if they are in a position to just sell them (as used?) after they are done testing.
If you see a (California) registration paperwork in the front windshield then it is sold to someone.
If you see a dealer / manufacturer type plate on the back it is likely a test / demo car, and not a customer car.
I think they put out some xxxxxxxx3xx type VINs early to test their ability to produce functional vehicles.
Seeing an engineer driving one doesn't mean it is a delivered / customer car. They have built a bunch for testing.
I don't know if they would crush those after testing, or if they are in a position to just sell them (as used?) after they are done testing.
If you see a (California) registration paperwork in the front windshield then it is sold to someone.
If you see a dealer / manufacturer type plate on the back it is likely a test / demo car, and not a customer car.
By special sequence I just meant a range of numbers in the production sequence they reserved for internal cars. However, there was definitely a separate RC designation with an R in the 12th digit, but that is totally different than the 300 series cars. RC cars they need to crush, but I'm pretty sure they could sell the 300 series cars as used when they are done (if they haven't modified them). Here is the VIN from an RC Model 3:
I was afraid you were going to drag out one of those dummy VIN plates to prove some point.
The year digit in that is 2009. I don't think it would be right to drive that vehicle on public roads.
I am guessing they made some "throw away" test cars with internal / dummy VIN plates that don't fit any normal sequence.
Here it says that VIN is a 2009 Toyota Corolla LE Plus (but manufactured by Tesla):
5YJ3A1E109FR00042 | Toyota Corolla LE Plus - Check the history of this vehicle - autoDNA
Really, I don't know what they are up to with those, but I think there are plenty of test cars being driven around with the "normal" 2017 non-RC VIN sequence.
We saw cars with the 2017 3xx production VIN sequences being driven cross country on dealer plates before customer deliveries started. I assume those were all test cars.
Note, back in the Roadster days, they had a "V" digit for validation prototype... They ended up selling some of those. As long as the VIN fits what they registered with the DOT, I think they can still sell the car event if it was used for testing, test drives, press reviews, whatever.
The year digit in that is 2009. I don't think it would be right to drive that vehicle on public roads.
I am guessing they made some "throw away" test cars with internal / dummy VIN plates that don't fit any normal sequence.
Here it says that VIN is a 2009 Toyota Corolla LE Plus (but manufactured by Tesla):
5YJ3A1E109FR00042 | Toyota Corolla LE Plus - Check the history of this vehicle - autoDNA
Really, I don't know what they are up to with those, but I think there are plenty of test cars being driven around with the "normal" 2017 non-RC VIN sequence.
We saw cars with the 2017 3xx production VIN sequences being driven cross country on dealer plates before customer deliveries started. I assume those were all test cars.
Note, back in the Roadster days, they had a "V" digit for validation prototype... They ended up selling some of those. As long as the VIN fits what they registered with the DOT, I think they can still sell the car event if it was used for testing, test drives, press reviews, whatever.
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But we have zero evidence of any normal VINs before start of production in July. The only two VIN pictures we have prior to July are the weird VINs (one in the US and one in New Zealand). If they used the normal VINs for RC cars I would think we would have evidence of at least one in the months leading up to start of production. Tesla stated that they built 20 internal production cars in July in addition to the 30 customer cars, so since we started seeing the 300 series VINs in July it seems logical those were the 20 cars.
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