Consistent with its goal of innovating renewable technology to ultimately help the environment, Tesla announced this week that the company plans on releasing a more affordable vehicle called the Model 3, expected to have a retail price of $35,000. This "cheap" Tesla is half the price of the company's all-electric Tesla Model S that is currently being sold at about $70,000.
The new Model 3 could possibly be a game-changer for the car manufacturing company. Tesla Motors confirmed the news on its Twitter account more than a week ago.
In the same article on Auto Express where the news was confirmed, the Model 3 was described to have a range of more than 200 miles per charge. While the third car was originally intended to be called the Model E, CEO Elon Musk said that Ford sued them for a car with a similar name. Elon jokingly showed his disappointment for not being able to get the E name to go with his S and X models.
While there are still no reports as to how the Model 3 will look, it is expected to resemble the Model S but at a smaller scale. Tesla's SUV, the Model X, will be shipping sometime in 2015, and the Model 3 is set to be unveiled in 2016 and be released for sale on the market in 2017.
Most likely it will have an all-new platform instead of modified versions of either the Model S or Model X. The new technology which the Model 3 will be based on is a creation of Chris Porritt, Tesla's British engineering chief who used to work with Aston Martin.
According to Engadget, Model 3's battery will be manufactured in the company's planned gigafactory where battery upgrades for the Roadster will also be made. Tesla's first car will have an increase of range from 245 miles to 400 miles on a single charge.
