At a reveal event at its headquarters in Hawthorne, California, Mr Elon Musk took to the stage in a very succinct presentation to finally pull the wraps off the Model 3, the company’s most important vehicle yet.
There’s been a river of speculation surrounding this car, as it required the collective resources and expertise obtained through the development and sale of Tesla’s previous cars - the Roadster, Model S, and Model X – to bring into existence.
The car does look like a smaller version of the company’s Model S, with shorter overhangs, a cleaner nose and a hatchback-like rear profile. Inside, the Model S looks very airy and has a very large central touchscreen – positioned in lanscape this time as opposed to the portrain orientation of Model S screens.
The Model 3 will also have built-in support for Tesla’s supercharger network -with plans to double charging point by the end of 2017 - as well as their suite of Autopilot functionality as standard.
The Model 3 sits at the base of Tesla’s vehicle hierachy, but paradoxically is the most amibtious car they are to make as it will be manufactured in much larger volume and for around half the price of a base Model S sedan.
The production scale of lithium ion battery cells for the Model 3 alone would exceed the current global output, and will be concentrated at Tesla’s newly opened Gigafactory in the Nevada desert.
At US$35,000 (roughly AU$46,000, or close to $60,000 once the taxes are factored in), the Model 3 is positioned as an all-electric alternative to the premium executive sedans such as the BMW 3 Series and Audi A4, but will boast performance such as a sub-6-second 0-100km/h sprint time and an expected EPA-certified range of 215 miles (or 346km).
While that figure isn’t all that surprising given the inherently high torque generated by electric motors, Musk said that Tesla plans to make even faster versions and that all figures provided during the initial reveal are minimal, and will likely be improved upon as the car nears release.
Tesla say that despite the more compact dimensions of the Model 3, the car can fit five adults comfortably and has more storage volume than any other car of its size.
Musk said on stage that the car will be delivered to customers by the end of 2017, which should be some relief to the droves of customers who have already placed an order 24 hours prior to the Californian unveil which is reported to be at 115,000 orders each costing US$1000 for a car they had not seen.
Things do look bright for the Model 3 so far, but with other manufacturers forging their own paths down the the route of fully electric cars, by the time the Model 3 reaches showrooms it might not have the market to itself.
