Tesla’s CEO, Elon Musk, has confirmed, when speaking to British motoring weekly magazine Auto Express, that the next Tesla will be a direct rival to the likes of BMW’s 3 Series, Audi’s A4 and Mercedes-Benz’s C-Class – or in other words, the premium small executive saloon.
20% smaller than the current Model S (which competes against cars such as the high end BMW 5-Series and even more expensive, larger models), the new Tesla is purported to be made from steel rather than aluminium to reduce build costs – a first for a Tesla.
Mr Musk has confirmed the name will not be the much touted Model E, as many had speculated, but rather it will be called Model 3 – significant perhaps due it’s German competition as well as it being Tesla’s third car in the current range.
Elon Musk joked that with the inclusion of the name, Model E, they would have been making three models together: Model S, E and X… Apparently, Ford put paid to this little in-house automotive joke since they want to use Model E themselves.
Pictures and details are extremely scant at the moment, but the design is likely to look similar to Model S, complete with Tesla’s now familiar ‘face’ and with any luck will likely sport an equally welcome ‘frunk’ (front trunk) too.
Source; Auto Express
