NEW YORK: With the aim to attract middle class car lovers, Tesla is going to introduce the Model 3.
Tesla Motors, until now a purveyor of luxurious all-electric cars with equally luxurious price-tags, plans to sell the Model 3 for $35,000, half the base price of the flagship Model S.
The Model 3 will be unveiled at Tesla’s Design Studio in Hawthorne, California, on March 31. Now only putting out 50,000 cars a year, Tesla plans to use the Model 3 to turn itself into a mainstream automaker selling 500,000 electrics annually by 2020.
Analysts say the new car is critical to Tesla at a time when cheap gasoline is challenging all green cars, and as rival General Motors stakes its claim on the electric vehicle middle market with its new Chevrolet Bolt.
“The Model 3 is really the measure if Tesla is going to make it long-term as a car company,” said Jessica Caldwell, an analyst at the auto industry website Edmunds.com. “If they want to bring the EV to the mass market they need the Model 3 to be successful.”
The Model 3 will be about 20 percent shorter than the S, placing it in the same segment as the Audi A4. It will also have four-wheel drive, according to people close to the matter.
The car is expected to be able to travel up to 300 miles (500 kilometers) without being recharged, depending on the battery system chosen, and will include modern safety systems such as Autopilot.
The first Model 3s are to be delivered by the end of 2017 in the US, and 2018 in Europe. Consumers can pre-order the vehicles starting March 31 for a deposit of $1,000 or 1,000 euros ($1,100).
Tesla launched its electric car campaign in 2008 Roadster sports car, constructed on the chassis of a Lotus. It then moved into luxury vehicles with Model S, followed by the Model X crossover. The Model 3 is the logical next step.
“This is their chance to prove that they are not just a specialized niche automaker, but actually a long-term volume automaker,” said Karl Brauer, analyst at Kelley Blue Book. “They have to establish that they can build a high-quality volume vehicle.”