Tesla Model 3: what we now know

In one of the most anticipated car launches of the year, 30 of the Model 3’s first customers were presented with their new cars at the Tesla plant in Fremont, California on Friday night.

Tesla’s founder and CEO, Elon Musk, who has been using a prototype Model 3 as his runabout car, unveiled the very latest offering in the company’s range: the affordable Tesla.

Tesla’s current saloon offering, the “S” and SUV, the “X”, both start at around £61,000 in the UK. Musk confirmed that the Model 3 would be going on sale for just $35,000 (£26,650).

“We put a lot of effort into designing the car. I don’t think you can find a better looking car at this price point,” he told the crowd.

The new car has a range of 220 miles, although an upgraded, $44,000 variant will do up to 310 miles. The standard model will also do 0-60mph in as little as 5.1 seconds and also boasts some of the highest safety standards of any current production car. A total of eight cameras provide enhanced vision for the driver, while "forward radar and twelve ultrasonic sensors [enable] active safety technologies including collision avoidance and automatic emergency braking". On the inside, a large touch-screen has replaced the push-button control found in most cars, and like the S and the X, the Model 3s come with the systems onboard to allow autonomous driving in the future.

With a more accessible car comes greater demand, bringing about, in Musk’s own words: “manufacturing hell”.

Musk says that factory upgrades will allow the firm to produce 5,000 Model 3s a week by the end of this year, and 10,000 a week by the end of 2018. The car itself is tailored towards manufacturing simplicity, with many of the systems developed in order to make life on the factory floor easier. Before that happens, the Model 3 order book (around half a million people) is likely to grow as the company continues to ramp up production.

The development of the new car, and the factory capable of building it at scale, has come at a cost to the car maker, with roughly $2bn having been spent developing the Model 3. If Tesla does achieve its manufacturing targets, it would likely be outperforming its closest rivals in the US, and settle concerns over its share price, which has increased by 54 per cent since January in anticipation of the launch of the new car.

During his speech, Musk paid tribute to the loyal customers who had paid to reserve their Model 3 in advance of the launch date, believed to be in the region of 500,000 people.