At US$78,000, Tesla moves mass-market Model 3 beyond masses
In a series of tweets over the weekend, Tesla chief executive Elon Musk unveiled specifications for a faster and more powerful version of the Model 3 that will push up its price into the realm of luxury cars
Elon Musk’s Model 3, once touted as Tesla’s US$35,000 car for the masses, can now set a buyer back almost US$80,000.
Musk unveiled specifications for a faster and more powerful version of the Model 3 in a series of tweets over the weekend. It will cost US$78,000, more than double the US$35,000 base model starting price discussed into the run-up before the electric car’s deliveries started last year. That does not include the Autopilot driver-assist feature.
The increasingly expensive configurations for the Model 3 are planned steps, if somewhat counter-intuitive ones, toward Musk’s vision of Tesla as a mass-production player with vehicles affordable to a broader swathe of buyers. The US$78,000 sticker price puts the electric sedan beyond reach of many consumers, and, by Musk’s own estimations, brings it closer to the realm of luxury cars.
“A Model 3 with a US$35,000 price will be the rarest of the rare,” said Kevin Tynan, a Bloomberg Intelligence analyst. “Perhaps the second most collectible Tesla ever, behind the one floating around in space.”
Musk’s latest tweets build the hype around a car that has faced repeated production delays and manufacturing bottlenecks, which the company is just starting to clear. Tesla delivered 8,180 of the sedans in the first quarter, making it the bestselling electric car in America, and almost a half-million people have put down US$1,000 deposits for Model 3s.