The final reveal of the Tesla Model 3, which has been referred to as “Part 3”, was expected in March or April based on comments made by CEO Elon Musk last year, but he has now apparently changed the plans – though it doesn’t seem completely fleshed out.
The CEO is now guiding for a reveal “probably” after the Model 3 production starts in July since the first vehicles will go to employees and the configuration will open around the same time.
As we previously reported, Tesla and SpaceX employees were able to reserve the Model 3 weeks before anyone and they will receive the vehicle first.
Based on our own estimates after Tesla briefly shared a way to find a sequential reservation number hidden in the source code of the ‘My Tesla’ page of Model 3 reservation holders, there are over 10,000 reservations from SpaceX and Tesla employees.
During the conference call following the release of Tesla’s 2016 financial results, Musk said that he expects to open the configuration of the Model 3 internally to employees close to July before they start production.
At that point, Tesla expects to be at less than 1,000 units per week and to work through the problems in production and service with the employee vehicles before going to customers.
Around the same time, Musk says that Tesla would hold the final reveal of the Model 3 and open the online configurator to non-employee reservation holders. Tesla would then start working through its backlog of more than 400,000 reservation holders as they configure their orders.
When talking about the final reveal, Musk first talked about “refinements” to the designs – partly playing down any major changes from the original prototype – but he then said that “in some ways it will be a lot better”.
There are a few updates that are expected like a bigger trunk opening and an updated interior that will feature a new steering wheel and either an actual instrument cluster or a heads-up display, which has been rumored since Musk called the steering controls “spaceship-like”.
Musk also said that a “solar roof” could be an option on the Model 3 – though he also said that Tesla could hold back a few of the more adventurous options in the first version of the car in order to more easily bring it to market.
Today, Tesla also confirmed having manufactured new Model 3 prototypes earlier this month and therefore, we might be able to spy the Model 3 before the final reveal, which is now coming later than anticipated.
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