Fresh Tesla Model Trio: Elon Musk confirms battery pack sizes

Fresh Tesla Model three technical specifications have landed by way of fresh information imparted by CEO Elon Musk – the boss has exposed the battery pack sizes available at launch on the firm’s fresh car in a conference call with investors.

According to Musk, basic 220-mile rated versions of the Model three are fitted with a battery pack “just over” 50kWh in capacity, while the ‘Long Range’ 310-mile Model three receives a larger pack around 75kWh in size.

The latest car from the EV rigid has only just begun to roll off the production line, but Tesla’s chief executive Elon Musk is already openly talking about a range topping, ‘P’ badged spectacle variant.

At launch, the Model three line-up is two models strong – two rear-wheel-drive options with ranges of two hundred twenty miles and three hundred ten miles are suggested with moderate spectacle specs. Tesla claims that the quicker of these two cars – the ‘Long Range’ Model three – manages 0-60mph in Five.1 seconds and goes on to a top speed of 140mph.

On Twitter, Musk has confirmed that the line-up will grow in the middle of two thousand eighteen with a high-performance Model Trio. It’s not the very first time the Tesla boss has said that we’ll get a hot version of the firm’s entry level car, but rather it places a specific window of arrival on it.

No further details or specifications have been confirmed, but it’s likely that the Model three ‘P’ will take after hot versions of the larger Model S and will be tooled with dual motors, turning it into an all-wheel-drive all-electric spectacle saloon.

For now, the boss says that the firm’s concentrate is on “getting out of Model three production hell”. Based on reservation figures, Tesla could have a considerable backlog of over 400,000 orders to clear once Model three production has ramped up to total speed at the firm’s factory in Fremont, California.

Tesla Model Trio: launch specifications and information

In two thousand six Tesla CEO Elon Musk published a ’top secret masterplan’ on Tesla’s website. It was low on detail but the groundbreaking electrified car company has stuck to it. Tesla, it said, was going to ‘create a low volume sports car, use that money to develop a medium volume car at a lower price and use that money to create an affordable, high volume car’.

The Tesla Model three is that ‘affordable, high volume car’. It joins the current Tesla range alongside the Model S executive saloon and the Model X SUV and it’s been launched to an audience of Tesla employees and customers at a special event held outside the Tesla factory at Fremont, California. The very first thirty customers collected their Tesla Model 3s at the event with Elon Musk exposing that fifty cars had been built so far.

Two core versions of the Tesla Model three are being suggested from launch, the standard and Long Range models. The standard car comes in at a price of $35,000, that translates as £26,650. The standard Model three has a 220-mile range, a Five.6s 0-60mph time and a 130mph top speed but for $44,000 (£33,500) you can have the Long Range model. That car ups the ante with an official range of three hundred ten miles, a Five.1s 0-60mph time and a 140mph top speed.

Official UK prices have yet to be announced and it’s expected that the Model three entry price will be closer to £35,000 when it arrives in the UK, with that figure then lowered by the £4,500 plug-in car grant. These ballpark figures put the Tesla Model three in direct competition with the household names in the European compact executive car market with a BMW 320d opening around the £31,000 mark and the likes of the Audi’s A4 , Jaguar’s XE and the Mercedes C-Class coming in at a similar level. The Model three l ooks even more competitive next to other unspoiled electrical cars and plug-in hybrids.

With a waiting list over 400,000 long, the vast majority of buyers will have to wait until two thousand eighteen to get their cars. With Musk exposing that: “If you order a Model three now you’ll very likely get it towards the end of next year”. UK customers will have a longer wait, however, with production of right-hand drive models not set to begin until early in 2019. The Tesla CEO has laid out a two thousand seventeen production schedule for the Model three stating that he expects Tesla to produce a petite batch of around one hundred cars in August, ramping up to over 1,500 in September. By the end of the year, the company could be in a position to manufacture 20,000 cars per month.

Dimensions and technical details

The Tesla Model three is a little bit broader and longer than a BMW three Series with a Four,694mm length and 1,849mm width. It’s 1,443mm tall and has a long wheelbase of Two,875mm (the three Series’ is Two,810mm) to help maximise interior space. Most surprising however is the weight with Tesla claiming a kerb weight of 1,610kg that compares well with the 1,475kg of a BMW three Series considering the batteries the Tesla needs to haul about.

That weight is distributed with forty seven per cent over the front axle and fifty three per cent over the rear wheels that deploy the power. All Model 3s are rear-wheel drive from launch but a 4×4 dual-motor version is said to be in the pipeline. There’s a variable, speed sensitive power steering set-up and the suspension system uses dual wishbones at the front with an independent multi-link arrangement at the rear end.

The curving roofline helps the Model three achieve an awesome 0.23 haul coefficient but not at the expense of passenger space. The 5-seat interior has decent gam and headroom but not on the level of the larger Model S and X. In the two luggage compartments, one front and one rear, there’s a total of four hundred twenty five litres of space. It’s fairly a bit less than the 480-litre a three Series can get in its boot but there are 60/40 split rear seats to help fit larger explosions inwards.

Specifications and Autopilot options

All Tesla Model three cars come with a basic specification that includes 18-inch alloy wheels, the spectacular 15.4-inch infotainment screen, dual-zone climate control, wi-fi internet connectivity, keyless entry via your smartphone or a credit card-style key, voice activated controls and the total array of sensors needed to enable autonomous driving. The specification can then be upgraded with a $Five,000 (£3,800) Premium pack. This produces upgraded materials in the cabin with a wood-veneered dash, 12-way electrically adjustable front seats, a 12-speaker stereo upgrade, heated rear seats, and two inductive phone chargers. That panoramic glass ceiling that is such a hallmark of the Model Three’s design is also included in the deal.

To what extent you can use Tesla’s Autopilot self-driving technology depends on the local laws in your country but Elon Musk says that every car has the hardware to drive itself where the legislation permits, if not the software. This hardware includes eight cameras, twelve ultrasonic sonar sensors and forward radar as well as the processing power to use all the data. The software to make use of it all comes at a cost however with the Enhanced Autopilot package costing an extra $Five,000 and the Total Self-Driving Capability option needing an extra $Trio,000 on top of that.

Interior and exterior design details

In terms of exterior design, little has switched compared to the pre-production Tesla Model three exposed in March 2016. The Model three adopts a more conventional hatchback figure, but retains the sleek sloping roofline Teslas has become known for. A larger glasshouse than that seen on the fatter Model S creates a higher roofline, while the sunken bonnet gives it a very distinct profile.

Appearance-wise, it’s no surprise that the Tesla Model three looks like a downsized Model S. With electrical gear taking up so little space, downsizing the Model three was mostly a matter of shrinking the completes of the car and shifting the front seats forward to provide more rear-seat room.

Like other Teslas, the Model three offers two boots, front and rear. The Model three has no grille, save for a puny scoop at the bottom edge of the bumper. While this is no doubt good for aerodynamics, it gives the car a rather unfinished look when seen from the front, albeit the facelifted Model S and Model X both now have a similar look.

The Model Three’s interior is exceptionally ordinary in its design. Musk explained that the design team “aim for a very elementary clean design because in the future the cars will be increasingly autonomous. You won’t truly need to look at an instrument panel all that often, you’ll be able to do what you want.”

A fresh three-spoke steering wheel is found on the production car and the dashboard is still sparse, with just a 15.4-inch landscape infotainment screen mounted centrally. Speed and gear selection are displayed in the upper corner of the screen, with a unwrap of climate controls at the bottom. The rest of the screen real estate is split inbetween the map display and stereo controls.

Unlike other Tesla models, that’s it for instrumentation—in fact, that’s it for anything. Aside from a puny squared-off steering wheel, the dash is nothing more than an unadorned unwrap of black and white, with a centre console bisecting the front bucket seats. It’s the kind of interior we expect to see in a concept car, but Elon Musk has confirmed this is very close to the production version – it’ll remain naked and operated through the central display.

The Model Three’s rear window extends right up over the roof to the car’s B-pillars, while a large sunroof over the front seats completes the illusion of a nearly-all-glass roof. The glass roof also improves rear-seat headroom, and the front seats have been shoved forward for more legroom. The six-footers railing in the back get legroom that’s acceptable and headroom remarkably generous.

Tesla Model three Ludicrous Mode and supercharger access

Musk has confirmed in a tweet that the Model three will be getting Tesla’s ‘Ludicrous Mode’ – a software tweak which unlocks even more potential from the car’s electrified drivetrain. When employed on the most powerful Model S, the P100D, it can accelerate from 0-60mph in just Two.Three seconds – albeit we don’t expect the Model three to be fairly that rapid as it won’t recieve the 100kWh battery pack, again confirmed by Musk on Twitter.

Tesla’s smallest car won’t come with free Tesla Supercharger access either – the company is ending the practice of permitting fresh customers to top up for nothing at the stations. Model S and X owners will get Supercharger credits, but any freebies for Model three owners look unlikely.

What do you think of Tesla’s plan to attack the compact executive car market with the Model Three? Can it succeed where so many have failed? Tell us your thoughts in the comments section below or join the debate on Twitter and Facebook.

Fresh Tesla Model Trio: Elon Musk confirms battery pack sizes, Auto Express

Fresh Tesla Model Three: Elon Musk confirms battery pack sizes

Fresh Tesla Model three technical specifications have landed by way of fresh information imparted by CEO Elon Musk – the boss has exposed the battery pack sizes available at launch on the firm’s fresh car in a conference call with investors.

According to Musk, basic 220-mile rated versions of the Model three are fitted with a battery pack “just over” 50kWh in capacity, while the ‘Long Range’ 310-mile Model three receives a larger pack around 75kWh in size.

The latest car from the EV stiff has only just begun to roll off the production line, but Tesla’s chief executive Elon Musk is already openly talking about a range topping, ‘P’ badged spectacle variant.

At launch, the Model three line-up is two models strong – two rear-wheel-drive options with ranges of two hundred twenty miles and three hundred ten miles are suggested with moderate spectacle specs. Tesla claims that the quicker of these two cars – the ‘Long Range’ Model three – manages 0-60mph in Five.1 seconds and goes on to a top speed of 140mph.

On Twitter, Musk has confirmed that the line-up will grow in the middle of two thousand eighteen with a high-performance Model Trio. It’s not the very first time the Tesla boss has said that we’ll get a hot version of the firm’s entry level car, but rather it places a specific window of arrival on it.

No further details or specifications have been confirmed, but it’s likely that the Model three ‘P’ will take after hot versions of the larger Model S and will be tooled with dual motors, turning it into an all-wheel-drive all-electric spectacle saloon.

For now, the boss says that the firm’s concentrate is on “getting out of Model three production hell”. Based on reservation figures, Tesla could have a considerable backlog of over 400,000 orders to clear once Model three production has ramped up to utter speed at the firm’s factory in Fremont, California.

Tesla Model Trio: launch specifications and information

In two thousand six Tesla CEO Elon Musk published a ’top secret masterplan’ on Tesla’s website. It was low on detail but the groundbreaking electrical car company has stuck to it. Tesla, it said, was going to ‘create a low volume sports car, use that money to develop a medium volume car at a lower price and use that money to create an affordable, high volume car’.

The Tesla Model three is that ‘affordable, high volume car’. It joins the current Tesla range alongside the Model S executive saloon and the Model X SUV and it’s been launched to an audience of Tesla employees and customers at a special event held outside the Tesla factory at Fremont, California. The very first thirty customers collected their Tesla Model 3s at the event with Elon Musk exposing that fifty cars had been built so far.

Two core versions of the Tesla Model three are being suggested from launch, the standard and Long Range models. The standard car comes in at a price of $35,000, that translates as £26,650. The standard Model three has a 220-mile range, a Five.6s 0-60mph time and a 130mph top speed but for $44,000 (£33,500) you can have the Long Range model. That car ups the ante with an official range of three hundred ten miles, a Five.1s 0-60mph time and a 140mph top speed.

Official UK prices have yet to be announced and it’s expected that the Model three entry price will be closer to £35,000 when it arrives in the UK, with that figure then lowered by the £4,500 plug-in car grant. These ballpark figures put the Tesla Model three in direct competition with the household names in the European compact executive car market with a BMW 320d opening around the £31,000 mark and the likes of the Audi’s A4 , Jaguar’s XE and the Mercedes C-Class coming in at a similar level. The Model three l ooks even more competitive next to other unspoiled electrified cars and plug-in hybrids.

With a waiting list over 400,000 long, the vast majority of buyers will have to wait until two thousand eighteen to get their cars. With Musk exposing that: “If you order a Model three now you’ll very likely get it towards the end of next year”. UK customers will have a longer wait, however, with production of right-hand drive models not set to begin until early in 2019. The Tesla CEO has laid out a two thousand seventeen production schedule for the Model three stating that he expects Tesla to produce a petite batch of around one hundred cars in August, ramping up to over 1,500 in September. By the end of the year, the company could be in a position to manufacture 20,000 cars per month.

Dimensions and technical details

The Tesla Model three is a little bit broader and longer than a BMW three Series with a Four,694mm length and 1,849mm width. It’s 1,443mm tall and has a long wheelbase of Two,875mm (the three Series’ is Two,810mm) to help maximise interior space. Most surprising tho’ is the weight with Tesla claiming a kerb weight of 1,610kg that compares well with the 1,475kg of a BMW three Series considering the batteries the Tesla needs to haul about.

That weight is distributed with forty seven per cent over the front axle and fifty three per cent over the rear wheels that deploy the power. All Model 3s are rear-wheel drive from launch but a 4×4 dual-motor version is said to be in the pipeline. There’s a variable, speed sensitive power steering set-up and the suspension system uses dual wishbones at the front with an independent multi-link arrangement at the rear end.

The curving roofline helps the Model three achieve an astounding 0.23 haul coefficient but not at the expense of passenger space. The 5-seat interior has decent gam and headroom but not on the level of the larger Model S and X. In the two luggage compartments, one front and one rear, there’s a total of four hundred twenty five litres of space. It’s fairly a bit less than the 480-litre a three Series can get in its boot but there are 60/40 split rear seats to help fit larger explosions inwards.

Specifications and Autopilot options

All Tesla Model three cars come with a basic specification that includes 18-inch alloy wheels, the spectacular 15.4-inch infotainment screen, dual-zone climate control, wi-fi internet connectivity, keyless entry via your smartphone or a credit card-style key, voice activated controls and the total array of sensors needed to enable autonomous driving. The specification can then be upgraded with a $Five,000 (£3,800) Premium pack. This produces upgraded materials in the cabin with a wood-veneered dash, 12-way electrically adjustable front seats, a 12-speaker stereo upgrade, heated rear seats, and two inductive phone chargers. That panoramic glass ceiling that is such a hallmark of the Model Trio’s design is also included in the deal.

To what extent you can use Tesla’s Autopilot self-driving technology depends on the local laws in your country but Elon Musk says that every car has the hardware to drive itself where the legislation permits, if not the software. This hardware includes eight cameras, twelve ultrasonic sonar sensors and forward radar as well as the processing power to use all the data. The software to make use of it all comes at a cost tho’ with the Enhanced Autopilot package costing an extra $Five,000 and the Utter Self-Driving Capability option needing an extra $Trio,000 on top of that.

Interior and exterior design details

In terms of exterior design, little has switched compared to the pre-production Tesla Model three exposed in March 2016. The Model three adopts a more conventional hatchback figure, but retains the sleek sloping roofline Teslas has become known for. A larger glasshouse than that seen on the thicker Model S creates a higher roofline, while the sunken bonnet gives it a very distinct profile.

Appearance-wise, it’s no surprise that the Tesla Model three looks like a downsized Model S. With electrical gear taking up so little space, downsizing the Model three was mostly a matter of shrinking the finishes of the car and shifting the front seats forward to provide more rear-seat room.

Like other Teslas, the Model three offers two boots, front and rear. The Model three has no grille, save for a puny scoop at the bottom edge of the bumper. While this is no doubt good for aerodynamics, it gives the car a rather unfinished look when seen from the front, albeit the facelifted Model S and Model X both now have a similar look.

The Model Three’s interior is amazingly ordinary in its design. Musk explained that the design team “aim for a very plain clean design because in the future the cars will be increasingly autonomous. You won’t indeed need to look at an instrument panel all that often, you’ll be able to do what you want.”

A fresh three-spoke steering wheel is found on the production car and the dashboard is still sparse, with just a 15.4-inch landscape infotainment screen mounted centrally. Speed and gear selection are displayed in the upper corner of the screen, with a disrobe of climate controls at the bottom. The rest of the screen real estate is split inbetween the map display and stereo controls.

Unlike other Tesla models, that’s it for instrumentation—in fact, that’s it for anything. Aside from a petite squared-off steering wheel, the dash is nothing more than an unadorned unwrap of black and white, with a centre console bisecting the front bucket seats. It’s the kind of interior we expect to see in a concept car, but Elon Musk has confirmed this is very close to the production version – it’ll remain naked and operated through the central display.

The Model Three’s rear window extends right up over the roof to the car’s B-pillars, while a large sunroof over the front seats completes the illusion of a nearly-all-glass roof. The glass roof also improves rear-seat headroom, and the front seats have been shoved forward for more legroom. The six-footers railing in the back get legroom that’s acceptable and headroom remarkably generous.

Tesla Model three Ludicrous Mode and supercharger access

Musk has confirmed in a tweet that the Model three will be getting Tesla’s ‘Ludicrous Mode’ – a software tweak which unlocks even more potential from the car’s electrical drivetrain. When employed on the most powerful Model S, the P100D, it can accelerate from 0-60mph in just Two.Trio seconds – albeit we don’t expect the Model three to be fairly that prompt as it won’t recieve the 100kWh battery pack, again confirmed by Musk on Twitter.

Tesla’s smallest car won’t come with free Tesla Supercharger access either – the company is ending the practice of permitting fresh customers to top up for nothing at the stations. Model S and X owners will get Supercharger credits, but any freebies for Model three owners look unlikely.

What do you think of Tesla’s plan to attack the compact executive car market with the Model Three? Can it succeed where so many have failed? Tell us your thoughts in the comments section below or join the debate on Twitter and Facebook.

Fresh Tesla Model Three: Elon Musk confirms battery pack sizes, Auto Express

Fresh Tesla Model Trio: Elon Musk confirms battery pack sizes

Fresh Tesla Model three technical specifications have landed by way of fresh information imparted by CEO Elon Musk – the boss has exposed the battery pack sizes available at launch on the firm’s fresh car in a conference call with investors.

According to Musk, basic 220-mile rated versions of the Model three are fitted with a battery pack “just over” 50kWh in capacity, while the ‘Long Range’ 310-mile Model three receives a larger pack around 75kWh in size.

The latest car from the EV rigid has only just begun to roll off the production line, but Tesla’s chief executive Elon Musk is already openly talking about a range topping, ‘P’ badged spectacle variant.

At launch, the Model three line-up is two models strong – two rear-wheel-drive options with ranges of two hundred twenty miles and three hundred ten miles are suggested with moderate spectacle specs. Tesla claims that the quicker of these two cars – the ‘Long Range’ Model three – manages 0-60mph in Five.1 seconds and goes on to a top speed of 140mph.

On Twitter, Musk has confirmed that the line-up will grow in the middle of two thousand eighteen with a high-performance Model Trio. It’s not the very first time the Tesla boss has said that we’ll get a hot version of the firm’s entry level car, but rather it places a specific window of arrival on it.

No further details or specifications have been confirmed, but it’s likely that the Model three ‘P’ will take after hot versions of the larger Model S and will be tooled with dual motors, turning it into an all-wheel-drive all-electric spectacle saloon.

For now, the boss says that the firm’s concentrate is on “getting out of Model three production hell”. Based on reservation figures, Tesla could have a considerable backlog of over 400,000 orders to clear once Model three production has ramped up to utter speed at the firm’s factory in Fremont, California.

Tesla Model Three: launch specifications and information

In two thousand six Tesla CEO Elon Musk published a ’top secret masterplan’ on Tesla’s website. It was low on detail but the groundbreaking electrical car company has stuck to it. Tesla, it said, was going to ‘create a low volume sports car, use that money to develop a medium volume car at a lower price and use that money to create an affordable, high volume car’.

The Tesla Model three is that ‘affordable, high volume car’. It joins the current Tesla range alongside the Model S executive saloon and the Model X SUV and it’s been launched to an audience of Tesla employees and customers at a special event held outside the Tesla factory at Fremont, California. The very first thirty customers collected their Tesla Model 3s at the event with Elon Musk exposing that fifty cars had been built so far.

Two core versions of the Tesla Model three are being suggested from launch, the standard and Long Range models. The standard car comes in at a price of $35,000, that translates as £26,650. The standard Model three has a 220-mile range, a Five.6s 0-60mph time and a 130mph top speed but for $44,000 (£33,500) you can have the Long Range model. That car ups the ante with an official range of three hundred ten miles, a Five.1s 0-60mph time and a 140mph top speed.

Official UK prices have yet to be announced and it’s expected that the Model three entry price will be closer to £35,000 when it arrives in the UK, with that figure then lowered by the £4,500 plug-in car grant. These ballpark figures put the Tesla Model three in direct competition with the household names in the European compact executive car market with a BMW 320d opening around the £31,000 mark and the likes of the Audi’s A4 , Jaguar’s XE and the Mercedes C-Class coming in at a similar level. The Model three l ooks even more competitive next to other unspoiled electrified cars and plug-in hybrids.

With a waiting list over 400,000 long, the vast majority of buyers will have to wait until two thousand eighteen to get their cars. With Musk exposing that: “If you order a Model three now you’ll most likely get it towards the end of next year”. UK customers will have a longer wait, however, with production of right-hand drive models not set to begin until early in 2019. The Tesla CEO has laid out a two thousand seventeen production schedule for the Model three stating that he expects Tesla to produce a petite batch of around one hundred cars in August, ramping up to over 1,500 in September. By the end of the year, the company could be in a position to manufacture 20,000 cars per month.

Dimensions and technical details

The Tesla Model three is a little bit broader and longer than a BMW three Series with a Four,694mm length and 1,849mm width. It’s 1,443mm tall and has a long wheelbase of Two,875mm (the three Series’ is Two,810mm) to help maximise interior space. Most surprising however is the weight with Tesla claiming a kerb weight of 1,610kg that compares well with the 1,475kg of a BMW three Series considering the batteries the Tesla needs to haul about.

That weight is distributed with forty seven per cent over the front axle and fifty three per cent over the rear wheels that deploy the power. All Model 3s are rear-wheel drive from launch but a 4×4 dual-motor version is said to be in the pipeline. There’s a variable, speed sensitive power steering set-up and the suspension system uses dual wishbones at the front with an independent multi-link arrangement at the rear end.

The curving roofline helps the Model three achieve an extraordinaire 0.23 haul coefficient but not at the expense of passenger space. The 5-seat interior has decent gam and headroom but not on the level of the larger Model S and X. In the two luggage compartments, one front and one rear, there’s a total of four hundred twenty five litres of space. It’s fairly a bit less than the 480-litre a three Series can get in its boot but there are 60/40 split rear seats to help fit larger geysers inwards.

Specifications and Autopilot options

All Tesla Model three cars come with a basic specification that includes 18-inch alloy wheels, the spectacular 15.4-inch infotainment screen, dual-zone climate control, wi-fi internet connectivity, keyless entry via your smartphone or a credit card-style key, voice activated controls and the utter array of sensors needed to enable autonomous driving. The specification can then be upgraded with a $Five,000 (£3,800) Premium pack. This produces upgraded materials in the cabin with a wood-veneered dash, 12-way electrically adjustable front seats, a 12-speaker stereo upgrade, heated rear seats, and two inductive phone chargers. That panoramic glass ceiling that is such a hallmark of the Model Three’s design is also included in the deal.

To what extent you can use Tesla’s Autopilot self-driving technology depends on the local laws in your country but Elon Musk says that every car has the hardware to drive itself where the legislation permits, if not the software. This hardware includes eight cameras, twelve ultrasonic sonar sensors and forward radar as well as the processing power to use all the data. The software to make use of it all comes at a cost however with the Enhanced Autopilot package costing an extra $Five,000 and the Total Self-Driving Capability option needing an extra $Three,000 on top of that.

Interior and exterior design details

In terms of exterior design, little has switched compared to the pre-production Tesla Model three exposed in March 2016. The Model three adopts a more conventional hatchback assets, but retains the sleek sloping roofline Teslas has become known for. A larger glasshouse than that seen on the thicker Model S creates a higher roofline, while the sunken bonnet gives it a very distinct profile.

Appearance-wise, it’s no surprise that the Tesla Model three looks like a downsized Model S. With electrical gear taking up so little space, downsizing the Model three was mostly a matter of shrinking the completes of the car and shifting the front seats forward to provide more rear-seat room.

Like other Teslas, the Model three offers two boots, front and rear. The Model three has no grille, save for a puny scoop at the bottom edge of the bumper. While this is no doubt good for aerodynamics, it gives the car a rather unfinished look when seen from the front, albeit the facelifted Model S and Model X both now have a similar look.

The Model Three’s interior is amazingly plain in its design. Musk explained that the design team “aim for a very elementary clean design because in the future the cars will be increasingly autonomous. You won’t truly need to look at an instrument panel all that often, you’ll be able to do what you want.”

A fresh three-spoke steering wheel is found on the production car and the dashboard is still sparse, with just a 15.4-inch landscape infotainment screen mounted centrally. Speed and gear selection are displayed in the upper corner of the screen, with a undress of climate controls at the bottom. The rest of the screen real estate is split inbetween the map display and stereo controls.

Unlike other Tesla models, that’s it for instrumentation—in fact, that’s it for anything. Aside from a petite squared-off steering wheel, the dash is nothing more than an unadorned disrobe of black and white, with a centre console bisecting the front bucket seats. It’s the kind of interior we expect to see in a concept car, but Elon Musk has confirmed this is very close to the production version – it’ll remain nude and operated through the central display.

The Model Three’s rear window extends right up over the roof to the car’s B-pillars, while a large sunroof over the front seats completes the illusion of a nearly-all-glass roof. The glass roof also improves rear-seat headroom, and the front seats have been shoved forward for more legroom. The six-footers railing in the back get legroom that’s acceptable and headroom remarkably generous.

Tesla Model three Ludicrous Mode and supercharger access

Musk has confirmed in a tweet that the Model three will be getting Tesla’s ‘Ludicrous Mode’ – a software tweak which unlocks even more potential from the car’s electrical drivetrain. When employed on the most powerful Model S, the P100D, it can accelerate from 0-60mph in just Two.Trio seconds – albeit we don’t expect the Model three to be fairly that quick as it won’t recieve the 100kWh battery pack, again confirmed by Musk on Twitter.

Tesla’s smallest car won’t come with free Tesla Supercharger access either – the company is ending the practice of permitting fresh customers to top up for nothing at the stations. Model S and X owners will get Supercharger credits, but any freebies for Model three owners look unlikely.

What do you think of Tesla’s plan to attack the compact executive car market with the Model Three? Can it succeed where so many have failed? Tell us your thoughts in the comments section below or join the debate on Twitter and Facebook.

Fresh Tesla Model Trio: Elon Musk confirms battery pack sizes, Auto Express

Fresh Tesla Model Three: Elon Musk confirms battery pack sizes

Fresh Tesla Model three technical specifications have landed by way of fresh information imparted by CEO Elon Musk – the boss has exposed the battery pack sizes available at launch on the firm’s fresh car in a conference call with investors.

According to Musk, basic 220-mile rated versions of the Model three are fitted with a battery pack “just over” 50kWh in capacity, while the ‘Long Range’ 310-mile Model three receives a larger pack around 75kWh in size.

The latest car from the EV rock-hard has only just begun to roll off the production line, but Tesla’s chief executive Elon Musk is already openly talking about a range topping, ‘P’ badged spectacle variant.

At launch, the Model three line-up is two models strong – two rear-wheel-drive options with ranges of two hundred twenty miles and three hundred ten miles are suggested with moderate spectacle specs. Tesla claims that the quicker of these two cars – the ‘Long Range’ Model three – manages 0-60mph in Five.1 seconds and goes on to a top speed of 140mph.

On Twitter, Musk has confirmed that the line-up will grow in the middle of two thousand eighteen with a high-performance Model Three. It’s not the very first time the Tesla boss has said that we’ll get a hot version of the firm’s entry level car, but rather it places a specific window of arrival on it.

No further details or specifications have been confirmed, but it’s likely that the Model three ‘P’ will take after hot versions of the larger Model S and will be tooled with dual motors, turning it into an all-wheel-drive all-electric spectacle saloon.

For now, the boss says that the firm’s concentrate is on “getting out of Model three production hell”. Based on reservation figures, Tesla could have a considerable backlog of over 400,000 orders to clear once Model three production has ramped up to total speed at the firm’s factory in Fremont, California.

Tesla Model Trio: launch specifications and information

In two thousand six Tesla CEO Elon Musk published a ’top secret masterplan’ on Tesla’s website. It was low on detail but the groundbreaking electrical car company has stuck to it. Tesla, it said, was going to ‘create a low volume sports car, use that money to develop a medium volume car at a lower price and use that money to create an affordable, high volume car’.

The Tesla Model three is that ‘affordable, high volume car’. It joins the current Tesla range alongside the Model S executive saloon and the Model X SUV and it’s been launched to an audience of Tesla employees and customers at a special event held outside the Tesla factory at Fremont, California. The very first thirty customers collected their Tesla Model 3s at the event with Elon Musk exposing that fifty cars had been built so far.

Two core versions of the Tesla Model three are being suggested from launch, the standard and Long Range models. The standard car comes in at a price of $35,000, that translates as £26,650. The standard Model three has a 220-mile range, a Five.6s 0-60mph time and a 130mph top speed but for $44,000 (£33,500) you can have the Long Range model. That car ups the ante with an official range of three hundred ten miles, a Five.1s 0-60mph time and a 140mph top speed.

Official UK prices have yet to be announced and it’s expected that the Model three entry price will be closer to £35,000 when it arrives in the UK, with that figure then lowered by the £4,500 plug-in car grant. These ballpark figures put the Tesla Model three in direct competition with the household names in the European compact executive car market with a BMW 320d opening around the £31,000 mark and the likes of the Audi’s A4 , Jaguar’s XE and the Mercedes C-Class coming in at a similar level. The Model three l ooks even more competitive next to other unspoiled electrical cars and plug-in hybrids.

With a waiting list over 400,000 long, the vast majority of buyers will have to wait until two thousand eighteen to get their cars. With Musk exposing that: “If you order a Model three now you’ll very likely get it towards the end of next year”. UK customers will have a longer wait, however, with production of right-hand drive models not set to begin until early in 2019. The Tesla CEO has laid out a two thousand seventeen production schedule for the Model three stating that he expects Tesla to produce a petite batch of around one hundred cars in August, ramping up to over 1,500 in September. By the end of the year, the company could be in a position to manufacture 20,000 cars per month.

Dimensions and technical details

The Tesla Model three is a little bit broader and longer than a BMW three Series with a Four,694mm length and 1,849mm width. It’s 1,443mm tall and has a long wheelbase of Two,875mm (the three Series’ is Two,810mm) to help maximise interior space. Most surprising however is the weight with Tesla claiming a kerb weight of 1,610kg that compares well with the 1,475kg of a BMW three Series considering the batteries the Tesla needs to haul about.

That weight is distributed with forty seven per cent over the front axle and fifty three per cent over the rear wheels that deploy the power. All Model 3s are rear-wheel drive from launch but a 4×4 dual-motor version is said to be in the pipeline. There’s a variable, speed sensitive power steering set-up and the suspension system uses dual wishbones at the front with an independent multi-link arrangement at the rear end.

The curving roofline helps the Model three achieve an astounding 0.23 haul coefficient but not at the expense of passenger space. The 5-seat interior has decent gam and headroom but not on the level of the larger Model S and X. In the two luggage compartments, one front and one rear, there’s a total of four hundred twenty five litres of space. It’s fairly a bit less than the 480-litre a three Series can get in its boot but there are 60/40 split rear seats to help fit larger fountains inwards.

Specifications and Autopilot options

All Tesla Model three cars come with a basic specification that includes 18-inch alloy wheels, the spectacular 15.4-inch infotainment screen, dual-zone climate control, wi-fi internet connectivity, keyless entry via your smartphone or a credit card-style key, voice activated controls and the utter array of sensors needed to enable autonomous driving. The specification can then be upgraded with a $Five,000 (£3,800) Premium pack. This produces upgraded materials in the cabin with a wood-veneered dash, 12-way electrically adjustable front seats, a 12-speaker stereo upgrade, heated rear seats, and two inductive phone chargers. That panoramic glass ceiling that is such a hallmark of the Model Three’s design is also included in the deal.

To what extent you can use Tesla’s Autopilot self-driving technology depends on the local laws in your country but Elon Musk says that every car has the hardware to drive itself where the legislation permits, if not the software. This hardware includes eight cameras, twelve ultrasonic sonar sensors and forward radar as well as the processing power to use all the data. The software to make use of it all comes at a cost however with the Enhanced Autopilot package costing an extra $Five,000 and the Total Self-Driving Capability option needing an extra $Trio,000 on top of that.

Interior and exterior design details

In terms of exterior design, little has switched compared to the pre-production Tesla Model three exposed in March 2016. The Model three adopts a more conventional hatchback assets, but retains the sleek sloping roofline Teslas has become known for. A larger glasshouse than that seen on the fatter Model S creates a higher roofline, while the sunken bonnet gives it a very distinct profile.

Appearance-wise, it’s no surprise that the Tesla Model three looks like a downsized Model S. With electrical gear taking up so little space, downsizing the Model three was mostly a matter of shrinking the completes of the car and shifting the front seats forward to provide more rear-seat room.

Like other Teslas, the Model three offers two boots, front and rear. The Model three has no grille, save for a petite scoop at the bottom edge of the bumper. While this is no doubt good for aerodynamics, it gives the car a rather unfinished look when seen from the front, albeit the facelifted Model S and Model X both now have a similar look.

The Model Trio’s interior is amazingly elementary in its design. Musk explained that the design team “aim for a very plain clean design because in the future the cars will be increasingly autonomous. You won’t indeed need to look at an instrument panel all that often, you’ll be able to do what you want.”

A fresh three-spoke steering wheel is found on the production car and the dashboard is still sparse, with just a 15.4-inch landscape infotainment screen mounted centrally. Speed and gear selection are displayed in the upper corner of the screen, with a de-robe of climate controls at the bottom. The rest of the screen real estate is split inbetween the map display and stereo controls.

Unlike other Tesla models, that’s it for instrumentation—in fact, that’s it for anything. Aside from a puny squared-off steering wheel, the dash is nothing more than an unadorned unclothe of black and white, with a centre console bisecting the front bucket seats. It’s the kind of interior we expect to see in a concept car, but Elon Musk has confirmed this is very close to the production version – it’ll remain nude and operated through the central display.

The Model Trio’s rear window extends right up over the roof to the car’s B-pillars, while a large sunroof over the front seats completes the illusion of a nearly-all-glass roof. The glass roof also improves rear-seat headroom, and the front seats have been shoved forward for more legroom. The six-footers railing in the back get legroom that’s acceptable and headroom remarkably generous.

Tesla Model three Ludicrous Mode and supercharger access

Musk has confirmed in a tweet that the Model three will be getting Tesla’s ‘Ludicrous Mode’ – a software tweak which unlocks even more potential from the car’s electrical drivetrain. When employed on the most powerful Model S, the P100D, it can accelerate from 0-60mph in just Two.Three seconds – albeit we don’t expect the Model three to be fairly that rapid as it won’t recieve the 100kWh battery pack, again confirmed by Musk on Twitter.

Tesla’s smallest car won’t come with free Tesla Supercharger access either – the company is ending the practice of permitting fresh customers to top up for nothing at the stations. Model S and X owners will get Supercharger credits, but any freebies for Model three owners look unlikely.

What do you think of Tesla’s plan to attack the compact executive car market with the Model Trio? Can it succeed where so many have failed? Tell us your thoughts in the comments section below or join the debate on Twitter and Facebook.

Fresh Tesla Model Trio: Elon Musk confirms battery pack sizes, Auto Express

Fresh Tesla Model Three: Elon Musk confirms battery pack sizes

Fresh Tesla Model three technical specifications have landed by way of fresh information imparted by CEO Elon Musk – the boss has exposed the battery pack sizes available at launch on the firm’s fresh car in a conference call with investors.

According to Musk, basic 220-mile rated versions of the Model three are fitted with a battery pack “just over” 50kWh in capacity, while the ‘Long Range’ 310-mile Model three receives a larger pack around 75kWh in size.

The latest car from the EV stiff has only just begun to roll off the production line, but Tesla’s chief executive Elon Musk is already openly talking about a range topping, ‘P’ badged spectacle variant.

At launch, the Model three line-up is two models strong – two rear-wheel-drive options with ranges of two hundred twenty miles and three hundred ten miles are suggested with moderate spectacle specs. Tesla claims that the quicker of these two cars – the ‘Long Range’ Model three – manages 0-60mph in Five.1 seconds and goes on to a top speed of 140mph.

On Twitter, Musk has confirmed that the line-up will grow in the middle of two thousand eighteen with a high-performance Model Trio. It’s not the very first time the Tesla boss has said that we’ll get a hot version of the firm’s entry level car, but rather it places a specific window of arrival on it.

No further details or specifications have been confirmed, but it’s likely that the Model three ‘P’ will take after hot versions of the larger Model S and will be tooled with dual motors, turning it into an all-wheel-drive all-electric spectacle saloon.

For now, the boss says that the firm’s concentrate is on “getting out of Model three production hell”. Based on reservation figures, Tesla could have a considerable backlog of over 400,000 orders to clear once Model three production has ramped up to total speed at the firm’s factory in Fremont, California.

Tesla Model Three: launch specifications and information

In two thousand six Tesla CEO Elon Musk published a ’top secret masterplan’ on Tesla’s website. It was low on detail but the groundbreaking electrified car company has stuck to it. Tesla, it said, was going to ‘create a low volume sports car, use that money to develop a medium volume car at a lower price and use that money to create an affordable, high volume car’.

The Tesla Model three is that ‘affordable, high volume car’. It joins the current Tesla range alongside the Model S executive saloon and the Model X SUV and it’s been launched to an audience of Tesla employees and customers at a special event held outside the Tesla factory at Fremont, California. The very first thirty customers collected their Tesla Model 3s at the event with Elon Musk exposing that fifty cars had been built so far.

Two core versions of the Tesla Model three are being suggested from launch, the standard and Long Range models. The standard car comes in at a price of $35,000, that translates as £26,650. The standard Model three has a 220-mile range, a Five.6s 0-60mph time and a 130mph top speed but for $44,000 (£33,500) you can have the Long Range model. That car ups the ante with an official range of three hundred ten miles, a Five.1s 0-60mph time and a 140mph top speed.

Official UK prices have yet to be announced and it’s expected that the Model three entry price will be closer to £35,000 when it arrives in the UK, with that figure then lowered by the £4,500 plug-in car grant. These ballpark figures put the Tesla Model three in direct competition with the household names in the European compact executive car market with a BMW 320d opening around the £31,000 mark and the likes of the Audi’s A4 , Jaguar’s XE and the Mercedes C-Class coming in at a similar level. The Model three l ooks even more competitive next to other unspoiled electrified cars and plug-in hybrids.

With a waiting list over 400,000 long, the vast majority of buyers will have to wait until two thousand eighteen to get their cars. With Musk exposing that: “If you order a Model three now you’ll very likely get it towards the end of next year”. UK customers will have a longer wait, however, with production of right-hand drive models not set to begin until early in 2019. The Tesla CEO has laid out a two thousand seventeen production schedule for the Model three stating that he expects Tesla to produce a puny batch of around one hundred cars in August, ramping up to over 1,500 in September. By the end of the year, the company could be in a position to manufacture 20,000 cars per month.

Dimensions and technical details

The Tesla Model three is a little bit broader and longer than a BMW three Series with a Four,694mm length and 1,849mm width. It’s 1,443mm tall and has a long wheelbase of Two,875mm (the three Series’ is Two,810mm) to help maximise interior space. Most surprising however is the weight with Tesla claiming a kerb weight of 1,610kg that compares well with the 1,475kg of a BMW three Series considering the batteries the Tesla needs to haul about.

That weight is distributed with forty seven per cent over the front axle and fifty three per cent over the rear wheels that deploy the power. All Model 3s are rear-wheel drive from launch but a 4×4 dual-motor version is said to be in the pipeline. There’s a variable, speed sensitive power steering set-up and the suspension system uses dual wishbones at the front with an independent multi-link arrangement at the rear end.

The curving roofline helps the Model three achieve an exceptional 0.23 haul coefficient but not at the expense of passenger space. The 5-seat interior has decent gam and headroom but not on the level of the larger Model S and X. In the two luggage compartments, one front and one rear, there’s a total of four hundred twenty five litres of space. It’s fairly a bit less than the 480-litre a three Series can get in its boot but there are 60/40 split rear seats to help fit larger explosions inwards.

Specifications and Autopilot options

All Tesla Model three cars come with a basic specification that includes 18-inch alloy wheels, the spectacular 15.4-inch infotainment screen, dual-zone climate control, wi-fi internet connectivity, keyless entry via your smartphone or a credit card-style key, voice activated controls and the total array of sensors needed to enable autonomous driving. The specification can then be upgraded with a $Five,000 (£3,800) Premium pack. This supplies upgraded materials in the cabin with a wood-veneered dash, 12-way electrically adjustable front seats, a 12-speaker stereo upgrade, heated rear seats, and two inductive phone chargers. That panoramic glass ceiling that is such a hallmark of the Model Trio’s design is also included in the deal.

To what extent you can use Tesla’s Autopilot self-driving technology depends on the local laws in your country but Elon Musk says that every car has the hardware to drive itself where the legislation permits, if not the software. This hardware includes eight cameras, twelve ultrasonic sonar sensors and forward radar as well as the processing power to use all the data. The software to make use of it all comes at a cost however with the Enhanced Autopilot package costing an extra $Five,000 and the Utter Self-Driving Capability option needing an extra $Trio,000 on top of that.

Interior and exterior design details

In terms of exterior design, little has switched compared to the pre-production Tesla Model three exposed in March 2016. The Model three adopts a more conventional hatchback bod, but retains the sleek sloping roofline Teslas has become known for. A larger glasshouse than that seen on the fatter Model S creates a higher roofline, while the sunken bonnet gives it a very distinct profile.

Appearance-wise, it’s no surprise that the Tesla Model three looks like a downsized Model S. With electrical gear taking up so little space, downsizing the Model three was mostly a matter of shrinking the finishes of the car and shifting the front seats forward to provide more rear-seat room.

Like other Teslas, the Model three offers two boots, front and rear. The Model three has no grille, save for a puny scoop at the bottom edge of the bumper. While this is no doubt good for aerodynamics, it gives the car a rather unfinished look when seen from the front, albeit the facelifted Model S and Model X both now have a similar look.

The Model Trio’s interior is amazingly elementary in its design. Musk explained that the design team “aim for a very plain clean design because in the future the cars will be increasingly autonomous. You won’t indeed need to look at an instrument panel all that often, you’ll be able to do what you want.”

A fresh three-spoke steering wheel is found on the production car and the dashboard is still sparse, with just a 15.4-inch landscape infotainment screen mounted centrally. Speed and gear selection are displayed in the upper corner of the screen, with a disrobe of climate controls at the bottom. The rest of the screen real estate is split inbetween the map display and stereo controls.

Unlike other Tesla models, that’s it for instrumentation—in fact, that’s it for anything. Aside from a petite squared-off steering wheel, the dash is nothing more than an unadorned unclothe of black and white, with a centre console bisecting the front bucket seats. It’s the kind of interior we expect to see in a concept car, but Elon Musk has confirmed this is very close to the production version – it’ll remain naked and operated through the central display.

The Model Trio’s rear window extends right up over the roof to the car’s B-pillars, while a large sunroof over the front seats completes the illusion of a nearly-all-glass roof. The glass roof also improves rear-seat headroom, and the front seats have been shoved forward for more legroom. The six-footers railing in the back get legroom that’s acceptable and headroom remarkably generous.

Tesla Model three Ludicrous Mode and supercharger access

Musk has confirmed in a tweet that the Model three will be getting Tesla’s ‘Ludicrous Mode’ – a software tweak which unlocks even more potential from the car’s electrical drivetrain. When employed on the most powerful Model S, the P100D, it can accelerate from 0-60mph in just Two.Trio seconds – albeit we don’t expect the Model three to be fairly that rapid as it won’t recieve the 100kWh battery pack, again confirmed by Musk on Twitter.

Tesla’s smallest car won’t come with free Tesla Supercharger access either – the company is ending the practice of permitting fresh customers to top up for nothing at the stations. Model S and X owners will get Supercharger credits, but any freebies for Model three owners look unlikely.

What do you think of Tesla’s plan to attack the compact executive car market with the Model Three? Can it succeed where so many have failed? Tell us your thoughts in the comments section below or join the debate on Twitter and Facebook.

Fresh Tesla Model Trio: Elon Musk confirms battery pack sizes, Auto Express

Fresh Tesla Model Trio: Elon Musk confirms battery pack sizes

Fresh Tesla Model three technical specifications have landed by way of fresh information imparted by CEO Elon Musk – the boss has exposed the battery pack sizes available at launch on the firm’s fresh car in a conference call with investors.

According to Musk, basic 220-mile rated versions of the Model three are fitted with a battery pack “just over” 50kWh in capacity, while the ‘Long Range’ 310-mile Model three receives a larger pack around 75kWh in size.

The latest car from the EV rock-hard has only just begun to roll off the production line, but Tesla’s chief executive Elon Musk is already openly talking about a range topping, ‘P’ badged spectacle variant.

At launch, the Model three line-up is two models strong – two rear-wheel-drive options with ranges of two hundred twenty miles and three hundred ten miles are suggested with moderate spectacle specs. Tesla claims that the swifter of these two cars – the ‘Long Range’ Model three – manages 0-60mph in Five.1 seconds and goes on to a top speed of 140mph.

On Twitter, Musk has confirmed that the line-up will grow in the middle of two thousand eighteen with a high-performance Model Three. It’s not the very first time the Tesla boss has said that we’ll get a hot version of the firm’s entry level car, but rather it places a specific window of arrival on it.

No further details or specifications have been confirmed, but it’s likely that the Model three ‘P’ will take after hot versions of the larger Model S and will be tooled with dual motors, turning it into an all-wheel-drive all-electric spectacle saloon.

For now, the boss says that the firm’s concentrate is on “getting out of Model three production hell”. Based on reservation figures, Tesla could have a considerable backlog of over 400,000 orders to clear once Model three production has ramped up to utter speed at the firm’s factory in Fremont, California.

Tesla Model Three: launch specifications and information

In two thousand six Tesla CEO Elon Musk published a ’top secret masterplan’ on Tesla’s website. It was low on detail but the groundbreaking electrified car company has stuck to it. Tesla, it said, was going to ‘create a low volume sports car, use that money to develop a medium volume car at a lower price and use that money to create an affordable, high volume car’.

The Tesla Model three is that ‘affordable, high volume car’. It joins the current Tesla range alongside the Model S executive saloon and the Model X SUV and it’s been launched to an audience of Tesla employees and customers at a special event held outside the Tesla factory at Fremont, California. The very first thirty customers collected their Tesla Model 3s at the event with Elon Musk exposing that fifty cars had been built so far.

Two core versions of the Tesla Model three are being suggested from launch, the standard and Long Range models. The standard car comes in at a price of $35,000, that translates as £26,650. The standard Model three has a 220-mile range, a Five.6s 0-60mph time and a 130mph top speed but for $44,000 (£33,500) you can have the Long Range model. That car ups the ante with an official range of three hundred ten miles, a Five.1s 0-60mph time and a 140mph top speed.

Official UK prices have yet to be announced and it’s expected that the Model three entry price will be closer to £35,000 when it arrives in the UK, with that figure then lowered by the £4,500 plug-in car grant. These ballpark figures put the Tesla Model three in direct competition with the household names in the European compact executive car market with a BMW 320d opening around the £31,000 mark and the likes of the Audi’s A4 , Jaguar’s XE and the Mercedes C-Class coming in at a similar level. The Model three l ooks even more competitive next to other unspoiled electrical cars and plug-in hybrids.

With a waiting list over 400,000 long, the vast majority of buyers will have to wait until two thousand eighteen to get their cars. With Musk exposing that: “If you order a Model three now you’ll most likely get it towards the end of next year”. UK customers will have a longer wait, however, with production of right-hand drive models not set to begin until early in 2019. The Tesla CEO has laid out a two thousand seventeen production schedule for the Model three stating that he expects Tesla to produce a puny batch of around one hundred cars in August, ramping up to over 1,500 in September. By the end of the year, the company could be in a position to manufacture 20,000 cars per month.

Dimensions and technical details

The Tesla Model three is a little bit broader and longer than a BMW three Series with a Four,694mm length and 1,849mm width. It’s 1,443mm tall and has a long wheelbase of Two,875mm (the three Series’ is Two,810mm) to help maximise interior space. Most surprising however is the weight with Tesla claiming a kerb weight of 1,610kg that compares well with the 1,475kg of a BMW three Series considering the batteries the Tesla needs to haul about.

That weight is distributed with forty seven per cent over the front axle and fifty three per cent over the rear wheels that deploy the power. All Model 3s are rear-wheel drive from launch but a 4×4 dual-motor version is said to be in the pipeline. There’s a variable, speed sensitive power steering set-up and the suspension system uses dual wishbones at the front with an independent multi-link arrangement at the rear end.

The curving roofline helps the Model three achieve an astounding 0.23 haul coefficient but not at the expense of passenger space. The 5-seat interior has decent gam and headroom but not on the level of the larger Model S and X. In the two luggage compartments, one front and one rear, there’s a total of four hundred twenty five litres of space. It’s fairly a bit less than the 480-litre a three Series can get in its boot but there are 60/40 split rear seats to help fit larger fountains inwards.

Specifications and Autopilot options

All Tesla Model three cars come with a basic specification that includes 18-inch alloy wheels, the spectacular 15.4-inch infotainment screen, dual-zone climate control, wi-fi internet connectivity, keyless entry via your smartphone or a credit card-style key, voice activated controls and the total array of sensors needed to enable autonomous driving. The specification can then be upgraded with a $Five,000 (£3,800) Premium pack. This produces upgraded materials in the cabin with a wood-veneered dash, 12-way electrically adjustable front seats, a 12-speaker stereo upgrade, heated rear seats, and two inductive phone chargers. That panoramic glass ceiling that is such a hallmark of the Model Trio’s design is also included in the deal.

To what extent you can use Tesla’s Autopilot self-driving technology depends on the local laws in your country but Elon Musk says that every car has the hardware to drive itself where the legislation permits, if not the software. This hardware includes eight cameras, twelve ultrasonic sonar sensors and forward radar as well as the processing power to use all the data. The software to make use of it all comes at a cost tho’ with the Enhanced Autopilot package costing an extra $Five,000 and the Total Self-Driving Capability option needing an extra $Three,000 on top of that.

Interior and exterior design details

In terms of exterior design, little has switched compared to the pre-production Tesla Model three exposed in March 2016. The Model three adopts a more conventional hatchback assets, but retains the sleek sloping roofline Teslas has become known for. A larger glasshouse than that seen on the thicker Model S creates a higher roofline, while the sunken bonnet gives it a very distinct profile.

Appearance-wise, it’s no surprise that the Tesla Model three looks like a downsized Model S. With electrical gear taking up so little space, downsizing the Model three was mostly a matter of shrinking the completes of the car and shifting the front seats forward to provide more rear-seat room.

Like other Teslas, the Model three offers two boots, front and rear. The Model three has no grille, save for a petite scoop at the bottom edge of the bumper. While this is no doubt good for aerodynamics, it gives the car a rather unfinished look when seen from the front, albeit the facelifted Model S and Model X both now have a similar look.

The Model Three’s interior is exceptionally ordinary in its design. Musk explained that the design team “aim for a very ordinary clean design because in the future the cars will be increasingly autonomous. You won’t indeed need to look at an instrument panel all that often, you’ll be able to do what you want.”

A fresh three-spoke steering wheel is found on the production car and the dashboard is still sparse, with just a 15.4-inch landscape infotainment screen mounted centrally. Speed and gear selection are displayed in the upper corner of the screen, with a unwrap of climate controls at the bottom. The rest of the screen real estate is split inbetween the map display and stereo controls.

Unlike other Tesla models, that’s it for instrumentation—in fact, that’s it for anything. Aside from a petite squared-off steering wheel, the dash is nothing more than an unadorned unwrap of black and white, with a centre console bisecting the front bucket seats. It’s the kind of interior we expect to see in a concept car, but Elon Musk has confirmed this is very close to the production version – it’ll remain nude and operated through the central display.

The Model Trio’s rear window extends right up over the roof to the car’s B-pillars, while a large sunroof over the front seats completes the illusion of a nearly-all-glass roof. The glass roof also improves rear-seat headroom, and the front seats have been shoved forward for more legroom. The six-footers railing in the back get legroom that’s acceptable and headroom remarkably generous.

Tesla Model three Ludicrous Mode and supercharger access

Musk has confirmed in a tweet that the Model three will be getting Tesla’s ‘Ludicrous Mode’ – a software tweak which unlocks even more potential from the car’s electrified drivetrain. When employed on the most powerful Model S, the P100D, it can accelerate from 0-60mph in just Two.Three seconds – albeit we don’t expect the Model three to be fairly that swift as it won’t recieve the 100kWh battery pack, again confirmed by Musk on Twitter.

Tesla’s smallest car won’t come with free Tesla Supercharger access either – the company is ending the practice of permitting fresh customers to top up for nothing at the stations. Model S and X owners will get Supercharger credits, but any freebies for Model three owners look unlikely.

What do you think of Tesla’s plan to attack the compact executive car market with the Model Three? Can it succeed where so many have failed? Tell us your thoughts in the comments section below or join the debate on Twitter and Facebook.

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