DETROIT — Tesla Inc. was riding high as it hosted its annual shareholders’ meeting Tuesday.

The automaker’s shares are trading at record levels, and it has surpassed General Motors and Ford in market value. It’s about to introduce its first mass-market electric car, the Model 3 sedan, as well as a line of solar panels that look like roof tiles.

CEO Elon Musk is also enticing fans with new vehicles, including a semi-truck it plans to show this fall and the Model Y SUV, which he said will go on sale in 2019.

But the company is not without its challenges. Or, as Musk put it at the hour-long meeting, “Tesla’s like a drama magnet.”

Shareholders voted Tuesday to continue electing Tesla’s board members to three-year terms, rejecting a proposal to elect them annually.

A group of Connecticut pension funds had called for annual elections, saying it would improve accountability. They also say conflicts of interest “plague” Tesla’s board. Musk’s brother, Kimbal, is a board member. Tesla’s lead independent director, Antonio Gracias, also serves on the board of Musk’s rocket company, SpaceX, and is the CEO of a private equity fund backed by Musk.

But shareholders sided with Tesla, which says its mission requires long-term strategic planning and three-year terms ensure that board members aren’t distracted by short-term returns. Official results of the vote will be released within a few days, the company said.

The Model 3 is Tesla’s first non-luxury sedan, with a starting price around $35,000. Production is on track to start next month, Musk said. Tesla is aiming to make 5,000 Model 3 sedans per week by the end of this year and 10,000 per week in 2018.

Tesla hasn’t said how many people have put down $1,000 refundable deposits for the Model 3, but Musk said Tuesday people who put down a deposit now won’t get a car until the end of 2018, indicating it could be close to 500,000.

Whether Tesla can meet its production goals is an open question. The company’s vehicles have often faced delays getting to market. Its last new vehicle, the Model X SUV, was delayed nearly 18 months. Musk says the Model 3 is much simpler to make, but 14-year-old Tesla has no experience producing and selling vehicles in high volumes. Tesla made just 84,000 cars last year. Bigger rivals like GM, Volkswagen and Toyota routinely sell more than 10 million per year.

“It’s crazy hard to make cars,” Musk said Tuesday. “There’s 10,000 unique items, and it only moves as fast as the slowest item.”