On Thursday night, Elon Musk will unveil Tesla’s newest attempt at providing pollution-free transportation, previewing its Model 3, at the SpaceX campus in Hawthorne, California, according to latimes.com.
Not much in known about the new model, but insiders say the it’s a scaled-down version of the Model S, which is priced at about $70,000, and the Model 3 is expected to start at around $35,000, hopefully making it more affordable to the general public.
Even thought the car is not yet in production, and won’t be available for delivery until December 2017, customers have already said they intend to form lines outside the company’s showrooms hours before orders are to be taken for the new vehicle. But, analysts are saying they expect the same delays that plagued Tesla’s Model X to impact the production of the new model as well.
Some are predicting the company will receive up to 100,000 orders within the first 24 hours of availability for their new electric car, which the company has said will be able to travel for up to 200 miles on a single charge. Despite that prediction, some analysts say the car will face serious competition against other long-range electric automobiles from other major manufacturers, that may be already available by the time the first Model 3 ships.
Established auto makers Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Audi, and Volvo have said they also have plans for long-range electric cars in the works. The market share for plug-in electric vehicles is small at this point, and the field could get crowded rather quickly. Electric vehicles make up less than three percent of new car sales in most markets.
Even General Motors has announced the Chevy Bolt, a plug-in electric that is predicted to range 200 miles on a charge, and is planned to the market at the end of 2016 with a $37,500 starting price tag.
The article quotes the industry publication Green Car Reports as saying the success or failure of Tesla’s Model 3 “will almost certainly make or break Tesla as a car company.”
But Kelley Blue Book senior analyst Rebecca Lindland said if the company can manufacture the Model 3 at that price point and with the predicted range, it would have the potential to pull in a lot of buyers.