The electric sedan Tesla Model 3 from American electric carmaker Tesla Motors Corporation will officially make its way to American car dealers later next year.
The Model 3 has been a long-promised vehicle so it is unlikely to face delay again lest Tesla Motors gets a serious backlash from its anxiously waiting consumers and the entire American motoring industry.
So far, the only competition that the Tesla Model 3 shall be facing in the electric car market would come from the 2017 Chevrolet Volt which shall come out later this year. Although a 2016 edition of the Chevy Volt was already released late last year, the American car manufacturer decided to do a relaunch later this year since the erstwhile release was initially made available in only 11 American states.
When it finally makes it to the US market later this year, the 2017 Chevy Volt shall be available in all of the 50 American states.
The 2017 Chevy Volt shall be retailed for a starting price of $37,500, which makes it even slightly expensive than the base model of the Tesla Model 3 whose retail price shall be $35,000, reports Electrek.
Tougher competition in Europe
Because of the price difference between the Volt and the Model 3, Tesla Motors is confident that it shall overcome the initial market foray of its competition, which is likely to make a splash on the market ahead of its electric sedan by almost a year.
That’s in addition to the fact that Tesla shall have more charging stations all over the US than that of GM and Chevrolet. After all, the key to marketing electric cars is the presence of charging stations all over the country and Tesla promises to make sure that they have plenty of Superchargers, the company’s term for charging stations.
However, when the company starts to foray into Europe within six months to one year after its official unveiling in the US, the Tesla Model 3 shall have a surprise competition from German luxury carmaker BMW.
It shall come as a surprise since BMW is known more for producing luxury vehicles rather than electric vehicles.
Reports have it that the German carmaker is now working on the development of an all-electric version of its next-generation BMW 3 Series, which could come out on the market in 2018, or about the time when the Tesla Model 3 starts arriving in European motoring markets.
According to the same reports, BMW’s next-generation 3 Series is codenamed G20 and shall be based on an all-new architecture called CLAR or Cluster Architecture.
It is the same platform which brought in carbon-fiber construction techniques to the BMW 7 Series when it was introduced in the car earlier this year.
The next-generation all-electric BMW 3 Series shall come out as the limousine’s smaller brother while keeping the same elements and aesthetics of the brand intact.
Same energy capacity as Tesla Model S and Model X
Reports also have it that the all-electric BMW 3 Series shall have a battery pack of 90 kWh to fit on the CLAR platform, which would make it comparable to the energy capacity of Tesla’s current model line the Model S, and the up and coming Model X SUV. It would also be much higher than that of the Model 3, which packs a 60 kWh battery.
The only advantage of the Tesla Model 3 over the next-generation all-electric BMW 3 Series is likely the price. As it is, it is nearly impossible for BMW to release its all-electric luxury sedan at a price range of only $35,000 so the advantage already goes to the Model 3.
Back in the US, there are now about 373,000 Americans who are officially waiting for the Tesla Model 3. All of these people already made initial deposits of $1,000 each.