The Next Tesla Will be the Model III
In a recent interview the CEO of Tesla Motors, Elon Musk, revealed what the next step was for the small Californian automaker: a mid-size luxury sedan directly competing with the Germanic (Mercedes-Benz C-Class, Audi A4 and BMW 3-Series) and American (Cadillac ATS) offerings. He also hinted at the name of this new car: it will be called the Model III.
Why this name, you ask? Elon Musk jokingly answered the question: “So I said we had the model S and X, we might as well have the E. We were going to call it model E for a while and then Ford sued us saying it wanted to use the Model E name – I thought this is crazy, Ford’s trying to kill sex! So we’ll have to think of another name. The new model is going to be called Model 3, we’ll have three bars to represent it and it’ll be S III X!”
- Also: $10,000 to the First Person Able to Hack a Tesla
- Also: Tesla Opens its Patents, Will now Offer Technologies for Free
The new model III will be unveiled sometime in 2016, but we know that it will be shorter than the Model S, and be developed on an entirely new platform. If everything goes well, it should also start at $35,000 USD. This more-than-affordable price will be possible thanks to Tesla's Gigafactory, which will help lower battery costs.
With a predicted range of 320 km, we can't wait to see this new Model III, weird name or not!