The Tesla Model 3 is going to be the company’s first attempt at a reasonably priced, mass-market car. But Tesla made its name making electric cars that could smoke the fossil-fueled competition, so even though it’s cheap, the Model 3 won’t be a slouch.
Leaked specs from Electrek claim that the Model 3 will have a 300kW power inverter, which implies that the Model 3 will have power — and, hopefully, 0-60 times — close to the current Tesla Model S. Let’s remember, this is a $35,000 family car we’re talking about here.
Although Tesla has officially launched the Model 3 (and hundreds of thousands of people have put down $1,000 to reserve one), we still don’t know exactly what it looks like.
Helping to fill in the gaps are some new prototype photos, leaked yesterday on Reddit, which show off the interior surprisingly clearly.
There’s probably no objective way to quantify the value of tweets, but when the social network is used by execs to express official business-related opinions, tweets can be incredibly valuable. Take Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who recently clarified via Twitter that Tesla is working exclusively with Panasonic for Model 3 batteries. That single tweet is valued at either $580 million or $800 million, depending on whom you ask. More →
Tesla’s Model 3 has been a huge success from the moment the company started preorders in early April. In the weeks that followed, Tesla execs kept saying the reservations number is approaching 400,000 units, without revealing an exact figure. More information has been made available since, and it looks like Tesla has some 373,000 Model 3 reservations, well below that 400,000 mark.
Tesla’s affordable new Model 3 electric car is the talk of the town at the moment, but you can’t actually play with a real one just yet. More than 400,000 excited fans already paid $1,000 towards the purchase of a Model 3, which is an impressive accomplishment for the relatively young carmaker (even though not all of them will end up buying the Model 3). One especially eager Model 3 buyer took it upon him to build the first interactive 3D render of the Model 3, and it’ll keep you occupied while you wait for the Model 3 to become a reality. More →
Even Tesla has been surprised by just how popular its Model 3 has been. With around 400,000 preorders, Tesla recently adopted a new production plan that would see it manufacture half a million vehicles a year in 2018, or two years faster than initial projections. Tesla also set an internal deadline for producing the Model 3, one that it confirmed it won’t be able to meet. As Tesla said, Model 3 production will actually depend on a lot of factors, many outside its reach.
And in a recently filed SEC document, Tesla went into further details about the challenges it will face when producing the Model 3.
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Regardless of how long it will actually take to ship, the Tesla Model 3 is definitely the talk of the auto industry so far this year. After racking up over 400,000 reservations, the Model 3 has shown it has the potential to significantly disrupt the auto industry and pave the way for the future of electric cars.
Motor Trend recently took a trip to Tesla’s Gigafactory in Nevada and got some exclusive photos and video footage of the Model 3, while also getting some new commentary from Tesla representatives explaining the car’s design. More →
At $35,000, the Tesla Model 3 is a lot more affordable than its siblings. The car will be even cheaper to some early buyers based in the U.S. as they’ll be eligible for huge savings in the form of a $7,500 federal tax credit. That much was known before Tesla started taking orders for the car, and could explain the huge number of preorders registered in the first days. The faster you order one, the more likely to have a chance of scoring that tax cut, as this program expires after a certain sales milestone is reached.
However, Tesla had to readjust its manufacturing plan after about 400,000 people ordered the Model 3, which means that more Americans might be eligible for the tax break than initially believed. More →
Tesla received a record number of preorders for the affordable Model 3 electric car, but buyers will have to wait more than a year to get their hands on it. Tesla recently said that preorder numbers reached the 400,000 units mark, yet the company will produce less than 90,000 total Tesla cars this year.
Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk said on Wednesday during the company’s earnings call that Tesla will likely miss the first Model 3 production deadline. The statement came just minutes after Musk set the deadline. More →
Tesla has always had the vision to deliver the car of the future, but does it have the production chops? Bloomberg is reporting that two major Tesla executives — vice president of production Greg Reichow and vice president of manufacturing Josh Ensign — will be leaving the company. This is not a good look for Tesla, which has had to deal with an unprecedented number of reservations for its potentially game-changing Model 3 car that it unveiled last month. More →
