American electric carmaker Tesla Motors Corporation will be officially rolling out the Tesla Model 3 sedan late next year.
As the company’s entry-level model and first true mass-production electric car with mainstream appeal, the Tesla Model 3 promises to deliver the same ownership experience as the company’s earlier and more expensive electric vehicles, reports The Week of UK.
Mass production of the Tesla Model 3 is expected to begin in the summer of 2017 but with a target of 200,000 units during its first year, it looks like the carmaker would be under pressure to meet its own production target.
Another topic that has been making the rounds online with regards to the Tesla Model 3 is its potential for self-driving. The company has previously confirmed that a new autonomous driving system will completely replace its autopilot program in the near future.
Tesla Motors Corporation has said that all its electric cars beginning with the Model 3 shall come with the necessary hardware for full self-driving capabilities as standard. Critics are also saying that the feature or system may not be ready by next year though so it can either be that the Model 3 will come out without it or the Model 3 would be released in 2018 and not in 2017.
Features new design traits
The Tesla Model 3 is distinctively Tesla but it comes with new design traits including the flat, grille-less face at the front.
The Model 3 is actually a smaller car than the Model S and looks much stubbier, the short front and rear overhangs downsizing the overall profile.
The glass roof stretches from the bottom of the windshield into the hunched rear end, although the Model 3 does not have a hatchback boot. Instead, a second storage space lies under the bonnet.
The Model 3 looks set to be more practical than the pre-production prototype Tesla has shown. The car’s tiny boot opening is also set to change.
Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk has taken on board customer complaints that it was too small to be practical and the company claims it has addressed the issue, meaning it should be easier to load larger items.
There are no official dimensions for neither boot nor passenger space yet, but the Model 3 is a smaller car than the Model S saloon.
Revelations in stages
Tesla prefers to reveal its cars in stages rather than in one fell swoop at motor shows, and earlier this year the company held the first part of the Model 3’s reveal.
Then the second part came in October when Tesla revealed that there would be a hardware to support fully autonomous driving in all its cars, including the Model 3.
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Asked about part three of the Model 3’s reveal, Musk said it could happen around the beginning of spring, possibly a few months from now.
The final production version of the vehicle is also expected to be revealed, as well as information on battery pack options and a closer look at the car’s final interior design, notes the Autoexpress of UK.
Incidentally, it is likely because Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk supported the candidacy of Hillary Clinton that a top propagandist of US president-elect Donald Trump has launched a campaign against the American electric carmaker.
The PR man said that Tesla Model 3, the company’s first mass-produced electric vehicle, would not make it to the market until the end of 2018 which is actually more than a year of push-back from Tesla’s projection of a 2017 release date.
This assessment seems consistent with a recent report from Morgan Stanley who also said that the Tesla Model 3 might not arrive until the very end of 2018.
Tesla Motors has yet to comment on the allegations of the conservative public relations specialists from the Trump camp and the report from Morgan Stanley but the company is officially closing in on its acquisition of SolarCity.