Tesla said that revenues more than doubled in the past quarter compared with a year ago, as the electric carmaker prepared for production of its new mass-market vehicle. In its update for the first quarter Tesla said its Model 3 development "is nearly complete." The company expects to produce 5,000 of these cars per week at some point this year and 10,000 per week in 2018. The California firm led by tech entrepreneur Elon Musk had previously announced first-quarter deliveries of more than 25,000 vehicles, a jump of more than 60 percent from a year ago.

But the company - which is jockeying for position with General Motors as the most valuable U.S. carmaker - is now gearing up to compete in the mass market with a vehicle priced around $35,000, less than half the cost of most of its previous models. Tesla reported a net loss for the quarter for shareholders of $330 million, wider than the $121 million deficit a year earlier.

Total revenues more than doubled to $2.7 billion from $1.15 billion last year.

Musk said that as part of the Model 3 launch preparations, "we are significantly expanding our infrastructure to support Tesla owners by increasing the density and geographic footprint of our presence."