Tesla Model 3's Final Design is Still Six Weeks Away: Musk
Four weeks after he said the Model 3’s design was six to nine weeks from being finalized, Tesla CEO Elon Musk now says he’ll need six more weeks until the affordable EV is off the drawing board.
Got that? When the Model 3 (scheduled for production in late 2017) was unveiled on March 31, almost everyone noticed the embryonic state of the vehicle, especially its blank-slate interior. What the future electric sedan will look like after Tesla finishes its design work is still anyone’s guess.
So much online ink has been spilled discussing the gargantuan task Musk faces in reaching his production targets, it’s easy to forget about the vehicle itself.
Reporters from The Verge quizzed Musk about the Model 3’s status last night at the Code Conference (a tech industry speakers series), asking him if there was a chance the model could fall victim to the same delays that befell the company’s Model X.
“Almost all of the Model 3 design is done, and we’re aiming for pencils down basically in six weeks, complete pencils down,” Musk told the publication. “And we’re tabling — you know, if there are ideas for future cool things, we’ll have it in version 2, version 3.”
The reference to future model updates was something Musk touched on earlier this week at his company’s annual shareholder’s meeting. That gathering — which was more like a conference, live feed and all — saw Musk admit that his earlier Roadster model was a failure and that the Model X’s gremlin-plagued doors were a huge mistake.
“We should have taken those ‘awesome’ features and tabled them for a future version,” Musk said, referring to the vehicle’s signature “falcon wing” doors. “It was a case of being overconfident.”
Clearly, the man doesn’t want that headache on his plate again, so he’s pushing the addition of any gee-whiz gadgetry to the Model 3 off into the future. At last check, 373,000 people held reservations for the future model, which will retail for $35,000 before government incentives.
In the same Code Conference interview, Musk said the finalized design of the Model 3 would be revealed during a “big” event held near the end of this year.
[Image: Tesla Motors]
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So if it has nowhere near the cool stuff and is instead being made a rather simple electric car...why the 30K and counting charge? The luxury sure isn't there. It isn't on the very expensive big brothers...so why in friggin hell would this thing cost so much?
I don't imagine I'll wait for the 3 if I can swing the Bolt when it comes out. And I expect the 3 will come out soon after, and I'll bitterly regret my decision. (One advantage of getting older: you come to know yourself!) John is mistaken. Tesla is targeting o-60 in 6 sec or less for the 3, and the car looks sexy as hell. GM is targeting ~7 sec for the Bolt, which is still plenty fast for a tall Sonic, but...it's a tall Sonic, no one is ever going to pick up chicks in that dork mobile. Luckily I'm married, so not an issue for me.