Tesla Confirms U.S. Model 3 Milestone
Elon Musk and Tesla have announced that the much talked about Model 3 (with a still as yet unknown Australian sale date) will now be available in the United States for a barrier breaking US$35,000. A change of name has been added, and Tesla offers the Standard range and Standard Range Plus. Deliveries will start within weeks.
Tesla preempted the announcement by stopping orders, before reopening the system with the two variants being listed. The Standard Range Plus will add an extra US$2,000 to the hip pocket hit. What a buyer will get is either 355 kilometres or 386 kilometres of range, 0 to 96 km/h (0 to 60mph) of either 5.6 seconds or 5.3 seconds, and either 210 km/h or 225km/h for top speeds.
It won’t be far off the same overall size as the Model S; it’s 4694mm in length, sits on a 2875mm wheelbase, and is 1933mm wide with the wing mirrors folded. Front and rear track is 1580mm.
As has already been seen, Tesla don’t skimp on equipment. satnav, Bluetooth, 4 USB charging points, and a skin friendly tinted glass roof are listed as standard. It’ll roll on 18 inch alloys, and they’ll come with battery saving aero coverings.The interior will feature a large touchscreen mounted up high on the dash, and this will be the only screen made available for the vehicle.
Tesla have made much of their semi-autonomous driving system or Autopilot. Tick that option box and you’ll need to find an extra $3,000 in American money. A work in progress is the next level system, which purportedly offers self parking and a “Summon” system. The latter needs a smartphone app in order to operate it.
However Tesla have made a change to their bottom line by announcing they’ll be closing their current dealership network, and the estimate is that prices should drop by six percent as a result of the expected savings. Any knock on to the Australian network isn’t currently known.
Tesla Australia can be reached via the link.
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