See All 61 Photos Immediately after Tesla revealed the all-new Model 3 last month and gave us a ride, we iPhoned Tesla's PR department and asked if we could shoot the Model 3 at the Gigafactory in Reno, Nevada with CEO Elon Musk. The answer came back: "Maybe. Please hold." As Model 3 pre-orders shot from 180,000 on the first day to nearly 400,000 at last count, we checked back in, pleaded, cajoled, and finally secured two out of three: a slick silver Model 3 at the Gigafactory. Turns out the guy who lands rockets on barges floating in the Atlantic is a little too busy for us. 0:00 / 0:00 But that's more than OK. We're honored to be the first media outlet of any kind to get time with the Model 3, especially at the much-talked-about Gigafactory. So we've pulled out all the stops. We're flying inMotor Trendtesting director and resident Tesla expert Kim Reynolds for the day so that he can make his sage observations and insightful analysis. Yesterday, we stuffed a crack team ofMotor Trendstaffers into our long-term Honda Pilot and Kia Sedona and drove nearly 500 miles north to Reno. Update 9: Martini shot Watch the Tesla Model 3 quick walkaround tour from the Gigafactory RIGHT HERE: Update 2 After passing through security, we park in the gravel lot that Tesla has kindly cleared for us and walk up to the lobby. And boom, there she is: a gleaming Model 3 surrounded by stanchions connecting red and white barrier tape and signs saying "Please Do Not Touch or Share the Images." Reynolds and social media lead Chris Bacarella inform me that this is the same Model 3 that was used for rides at the Tesla Design center reveal. See All 61 Photos First impressions are key in the auto business, so as our shoot got underway, I took a quick survey of theMotor Trendteam: "It looks much better in person; pictures don't do it justice," saidMotor Trendstaff photographer Robin Trajano, without one trace of irony. "The proportions don't really work in picture but in person looks really good. I wouldn't mind owning one." His boss,Motor Trend's visuals manager Brian Vance, went for specifics, "It really does have a lot of his Mazda concepts in it, like the lines." Vance is referring to Franz von Holzhausen, Tesla's head of design, who was at Mazda prior to joining the company. "I can't believe the entire roof is glass. It's two pieces (three if you count the windshield) but in the right light, looks like one piece." See All 61 Photos Video producer Travis Labella quipped, "My first impression? That I'm going to be seeing a lot of these on the road very soon. It's the future. It's my kind of future." Our always thoughtful Reynolds remarked that the Model 3 is a "well-metered blend of classical automotive cues and future-car fantasies. The nose has attitude and its flanks are streaked with athletic, visual tendons -- but it's the tall greenhouse and glass-bubble roof that will define this car. This is not another slot-window sedan saying 'Don't see me.' The Model 3's square yards of glazing shatter that isolation, opening you to the whole, passing world. Taken together, its this new visual vocabulary for the modern electric car." See All 61 Photos We finished with Bacarella, who echoed Trajano; "In daylight, it definitely looks better. Seeing it up close, the lines look a lot better, crisper. At the nighttime design center reveal, it was super dark and there was a DJ light show going on." "I think it's pretty sexy. I want one," Bacarella said with a smile, while gripping the two iPhones he's using to push out a constant stream of updates toMotor Trend's Twitter, FaceBook, Instagram, and Snapchat accounts. Follow us there for more behind the scenes action. Update 1 Our first ever, exclusive photo shoot of the Model 3 is taking place at Tesla's Gigafactory 1. This is not actually in Reno -- that's just the biggest little city nearby. Tesla's massive battery factory is 29 miles east of Reno near the town of Sparks, Nevada. Sparks. Yes. Purely coincidental I'm sure. See All 61 Photos Having read about Tesla's plans for the Gigafactory, it's quite an amazing sight to see up close. In the metric system, giga means billion (1,000,000,000), which is the scale that comes to mind as you approach the security booth. Billions of dollars, billions of pounds of earth moved, steel assembled, and billions of feet of electric wiring. The Gigafactory is currently only about 14 percent complete, yet its footprint so far is about 800,000 square feet, with 1.9 million square feet of manufacturing space spread across four stories, according to the local newspaper, theReno Gazette-Journal. When completed in 2020, the Gigafactory's footprint will be 5.8 million square feet, or about the same area as 100 football fields. This will give it one of the largest footprints of any building in the world, although according to Wikipedia, it will be behind the Aalsmeer Flower Auction building in the Netherlands which has a whopping 10.6 million square feet. What's Tesla going to do with all of this space? Produce lithium-ion batteries for use in Tesla vehicles and home/business storage products. Currently, battery cell partners include Panasonic. According to Reynolds, the automotive equivalent is akin to Ford's iconic River Rouge plant. Currently no cells or batteries are being produced at the Gigafactory, they're shipped in from Tesla's Fremont, California facility. Workers at the Gigafactory are assembling Tesla Powerwall battery packs (for home use) and Powerpacks (for industrial use). Eventually, when this $5 billion dollar investment is complete, Tesla hopes to produce 35 gigawatt-hours of battery power. That would be enough to power 500,000 Teslas. More updates coming, including a Facebook Live broadcast in a couple hours. Find tons of behind the scenes footage on Snapchat (motor.trend). On board with us are ace shooters -- Brian Vance and Robin Trajano handling still photography, master storyteller/producer Travis Labella on video and drone, and social media manager Chris Bacarella, who will be broadcasting our shoot across Twitter and Instagram. Speaking of broadcast, we will be updating live from the shoot via Snapchat (motor.trend) and Facebook Live, as we did yesterday: We're honored to be the first media outlet of any kind to get time with the Model 3, especially at the much-talked-about Gigafactory. See All 61 Photos