Tesla Model 3 gets 134,000 pre-orders in 24 hours

Tesla customers have reserved at least 134,000 of its much-anticipated Model 3 electric cars within the first 24 hours of pre-orders.

The majority of those orders occurred before the car was even unveiled Thursday night to a raucous crowd in Hawthorne, California.

During the presentation, Elon Musk, Tesla's CEO, revealed Tesla had received 115,000 orders for the vehicles, and that figure quickly climbed to 129,000. 

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Translated, that's $129 million in pre-order deposits --  buyers had to put down $1,000 before seeing or touching the car, which starts at $35,000.

People were able to order the car at Tesla stores throughout the day, but to cope with the additional demand, the company opened its online order forms before Musk took the stage.

He also opened pre-orders to more countries in the afternoon. 

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The Model 3, meant to be the company's first mass-market offering, is not expected to go into production until late 2017. 

Correction: The story initially characterized the pre-orders as "sales," but the wording has been changed to reflect that customers are only required to put down a $1,000 deposit.

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