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Tesla is targeting a much larger market at the end of 2017 when the Model 3 is expected to make its debut.
Announced this week in Los Angeles and like Tesla’s previous three designs completely electric, the Model 3 is pitched as the company’s first ‘affordable’ car.
Tesla says that it will sell from $35,000 before incentives in America, and while UK prices have yet to be announced analysts believe they will likely be in the £30,000-£35,000 bracket. At such a rate, the Model 3 will offer a viable alternative to the major sellers in the premium fleet segment such as the BMW 3 Series and Audi A4.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk unveiled the Model 3 at a special event held at the company’s SpaceX facility in Los Angeles – home of one of the entrepreneur’s other projects to build a reusable space rocket. Tesla later claimed to have taken more than 115,000 orders for the Model 3, each secured with a $1,000 deposit, in the first 24 hours on sale.
Musk described the Model 3 as the electric car he set out to build at the start, and added that it had evolved from the company’s previous three previous models, the initial Roadster and the Model S large saloon and Model X crossover.
Detailed technical information on the Model 3 is currently scarce, but Tesla says it is a car with space to carry five adults in comfort, the rear cabin space in particular benefitting from being able to move the front seats forward into the area occupied by the powertrain in a conventional car. Like the Model S the Model 3 boasts boostspace both front and rear and Tesla claims that it will have a five-star safety rating.
The electric drivetrain will offer a 0-60mph time of under six seconds and provide a range of up to 215 miles before charging, owners able to use the brand’s growing network of fast-rate ‘Supercharger’ outlets.
Such a quoted range is significantly more than potential rivals to the Model 3 currently on sale and thus should attract attention from the fleet market, though the almost two-year period between the car’s announcement and its likely on-sale date is likely to see the emergence of potential new challengers.
Andrew Charman
