Tesla to Reveal a Working Model 3 on March 31
It will have mirrors. We repeat: The Model 3 will have mirrors.
In a shocking (hiyo!) turn of events, Tesla Motors has announced that there will indeed be a working prototype of their Model 3 at the car maker's March 31 event in California. So far, here's what we know: the car will be electric. It will start around $35,000. And, based on the frontal silhouette Tesla sent out as a tease this morning, it will have mirrors.
Repeat: The Model 3 will have mirrors, people.
Until now, Elon Musk had waffled on the question as to whether Tesla would have an example of the car at the March event. But the company's March 16 announcement to selected owners and media representatives makes clear that there will indeed be a functional, drivable version of the Model 3 at Tesla's end-of-month event, according to Bloomberg Business.
The announcement also included the world's first look at the Model 3—though calling a silhouette a proper "look" does stretch the definition like Silly Putty. The image depicts the front end of...a car. It'll definitely have side view mirrors, though, and probably have some fairly aggressive fender flares for a BMW 3 Series-sized sedan. A second image of the same silhouette next to Models S and X makes the Model 3 look narrower than its sedan brother; we have no way of knowing if the image is actually to scale, but Tesla's previous statement that the 3 will be about 20 percent smaller than the S jibes, roughly, with what we see in the image.
We've known for a while that the Model 3 will cost around $35,000 and will offer a range of around 200 miles. The combination of those two factors makes the Model 3 a very big deal for Tesla. The model is expected to become the brand's volume car, helping to justify that big ol' Gigafactory the car maker is building out Nevada way. Presumably, we'll find out a bunch more about the car come March 31—and as always, we'll keep you posted.
