Photo by Vladimir Gorshkov

This post has been updated with additional information from people who waited on line today.

The cookie fans already had their day. The line du jour is for a rather more elusive thrill: Tesla’s first mass-market vehicle, the Model 3.

The car won’t go into production until the end of next year, though that didn’t seem to dent the enthusiasm of hundreds of people who came out to the D.C. and Bethesda dealerships this morning to put their name on the waiting list. Some even signed up online to share plans for lining up. One person, who planned to come to the D.C. dealership, wrote: “Flying into DC. Will be heading to store after landing.”

D.C. resident Sam Gonzales knew he had to travel to Minneapolis today, so he spent two hours in line at the delearship yesterday afternoon trying to convince a supervisor to let him put his deposit down early for the Model 3.

“It is the iPhone of cars,” Gonzales explained, giving Musk credit for driving up demand by first releasing highly regarded luxury models.

After test driving the Model S recently, Gonzales thought about moving to the suburbs just to justify the cost. “My girlfriend was like, ‘you’re crazy, you’re not buying a $100,000 car when live in the city,'” he recalled.

Gonzales isn’t really trading his Waterfront home for one of the high-end Teslas, and was unsuccessful on getting on the Model 3 waitlist yesterday, so he’s planning to try at the Minneapolis dealership this afternoon.

Meanwhile, today at the Tesla outpost on K Street, which became D.C.’s only new car dealership with the departure of Tenleytown’s Ourisman Volkswagen last year, most of the line standers seemed to be in their 30s, said Vladimir Gorshkov, who joined a queue of about 100 giddy people at 9:30 a.m. Within 10 minutes of arriving, the line already stretched around the block. “Everyone is laughing and excited, guessing on rumors and speculations,” he said.

Today is the first of a two-part launch, with the second coming closer to production, Elon Musk said. But those in line—who are putting down $1,000 refundable deposits—don’t even have those details yet; the company isn’t unveiling the Model 3 until 11:30 p.m. (8:30 p.m. PST). Supposedly the base price of Tesla’s most affordable vehicle will be around $35,000 before tax credits, with a range of at least 200 miles, but not much else is known.

Over in Bethesda, people started packing the halls of the Montgomery Mall, where Tesla staffers eventually started handing out cookies, in the wee hours of the morning.

Jeff Siegel, who was 11th in line when he arrived at 5 a.m., had never camped out for a product before. But he has been following the company for more than a decade for Green Chip Stocks, the socially responsible investing newsletter that he runs, and felt that the announcement of Tesla’s mass-market electric vehicle is a significant one.

“I really think this was a historical day, though maybe a lot of people don’t realize it right now,” Siegel said. “It puts the complacent auto industry on notice.”

So he joined other “Tesla geeks” who waited for hours to get their name on the list. By the time Siegel handed in his deposit and walked out, he estimated that there were about 300 people in line, waiting to do the same.

“I just spent $1,000 on a car that I’ve never even seen,” he said, somewhat incredulously. “But it’s because it’s Tesla. Everything they’ve done thus far is above bar.”

Filed Under: car dealership, cars, electric car, Elon Musk, model 3, tesla,