Tesla’s most-affordable car is still a long way away, though.
The internet has turned up a preliminary list of kit for the upcoming Tesla Model 3, the third model (who would’ve guessed it) in the Tesla lineup, that promises to bring the cost of admission into the Tesla EV club down by some margin.
Initially posted on the Model 3 Owners Club by founder Trevor Page, a comparison sheet was handed out purportedly to Tesla employees, to get them to ‘upsell’ potential customers from a Model 3 to a Model S. The comparison isn’t particularly favourable to the lesser car, because obviously, the Model S packs more kit.
The comparisons being drawn are somewhat unfair, as you really shouldn’t expect a car that’s designed to be cheaper to be as specced-up as a full-fat luxury limousine. But Tesla still wants their sales executives to upsell customers to the Model S, no matter how illogical. That said, the comparison sheets do bring some new details: We now know the Model 3 measures in at 4694mm in length, which is quite a bit shorter than the 4978mm Model S.
On top of the length differences, the Model 3 also gets the more traditional boot opening of a normal saloon car, rather than the 5-door liftback setup of the Model S. The cargo capacity of the Model 3 was listed at 396L, as opposed to the total 850L offered by the Model S between its boot and ‘frunk.’
A 346km range is listed for the Model 3 with its smaller battery pack, which pales in comparison to the 540km maximum range offered by the Model S. With that, the Model 3 goes from rest to 100km/h in 5.6-seconds, which is by no means slow, unless you’re racing a Model S P100D that can do that sprint in 2.3-seconds. The Model 3 will only come with a 15-inch centrally-mounted screen, and will do away with a secondary instrument cluster altogether.
The Model 3 will also lose out on free Tesla Supercharger access, with a pay-per-use model coming into play to allow Model 3’s to go further. The comparison sheet also lists down Model S features that won’t be offered with the Model 3 at launch, like a HEPA air filtration system, a panoramic sunroof, or 21-inch performance alloys.
Further lobbying for the Model S’ cause is the a statement at the end of the sheet: “As we continue to build out our production capacity to meet the high number of advanced reservations, deliveries for the Model 3 orders placed today are not expected until mid-2018.” In comparison, the Model S can be delivered in 30-days.
If this is indeed training material to get Tesla execs to push Model 3 buyers toward the Model S, and they do aggressively as the time comes, we can’t help but wonder how many people will simply get turned off by the whole thing and buy something else instead.
