Elon Musk Announces $35,000 Tesla Model 3 Electric Car

Elon Musk has officially unveiled the Tesla Model 3 electric car at the company's facility in Hawthorne, California. The Model 3 is being dubbed as a "mass market affordable car." The base-model Model 3 will be able to travel 0-60MPH in less than 6 seconds, with "versions of the Model 3 that go much faster." In terms of range, it features an EPA range of at least 215 miles per charge. All Model 3's will come standard with autopilot hardware and autopilot safety features. The Model 3 will also fit five adults comfortably, thanks largely in part to the large, rear piece of glass on the roof area. You'll find front and rear trunks, offering more cargo capacity than any cargo gas car with the same external dimensions. Safety is a big concern for Tesla so they've manufactured the Model 3 with a 5 star safety rating in every category. The Model 3 starts at $35,000 with a release date scheduled for 2017. Tesla will take your preorder now for a $1,000 down payment.

Comments

Re:"mass market affordable car"

[Kjella]

I'll go there. Seriously, how many Americans can truly afford to buy a $35k car?

Don't know, but the average new price of a car is $33560 so with inflation to 2017 it's well... average? And I'm guessing there's somebody buying them so eventually there's cheaper second hand cars on the market. Of course it comes with the range limitations, but from the prices I've looked at tanking up a Tesla is cheaper than a gas guzzler, the value drop-off because of the aging battery is a bit unknown but overall I don't think it should have a higher total cost of ownership. It's not exactly a bargain either but he only needs mass market appeal, not mass market dominance.

I preordered one but that's mostly due to Norway's crazy high tax rates on ICE cars while EVs get a lot of benefits, but I'll see how much of that stays way until 2018, it might help that 2017 is an election year. If not, well it's a reservation so I can still cancel... but just to give you an idea, with our tax incentives the EV market share is about 15% and hybrids 22% and I think the Tesla 3 is a much better price/performance car than the current crop of Nissan Leaf, BMW i3, Renault Zoe and Tesla S that currently make up most of those 15%. It'll sell real well here.

Re:"mass market affordable car"

[lokedhs]

Here in Singapore you can't even get a really cheap car for that price. A new Toyota Camry costs the equivalent of 103000 USD here.

So yeah, anyone complaining about the price of this car will get laughed in the face by not only Anonymous Coward above, but also by me.

Re: "mass market affordable car"

[OutSourcingIsTreason]

Little do they realise that while their ZEV doesn't pollute, the power they used to charge their cars came from sources that did. All they did was move the pollution upstream. Out of sight, out of mind I guess.

Nuh-uh. EV drivers are not responsible at all for ANY of the pollution produced by power companies run by businessmen who choose to keep burning dirty fossil fuels rather than switch to clean renewable energy sources. You burn it you own it.