NEW YORK: Tesla is set to unveil the Model 3, its long-anticipated pitch to middle class drivers and a key component in founder Elon Musk’s vision to mainstream the electric car.
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.
