Tesla To Start Pre-Orders For $35,000 Model 3 March 31

Let’s be honest, most of us don’t have $100,000-plus just sitting around to join the fairly exclusive Tesla owners’ club. But in about a week we’ll only need a fraction of that bundle of cash: Tesla reconfirmed its plans to introduce the more economically priced Model 3 on March 31. 

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has so far kept his word about offering the $35,000 electric car by the end of March: the carmaker will begin taking reservations — with $1,000 down — for the vehicle at its showrooms starting the day it debuts, CNET reports.

Online reservations for the vehicle, a smaller and lower-cost version of the Model S, will begin on April 1.

It’ll be a while before customers can get their hands on the steering wheel however, as Tesla doesn’t expect to actually deliver the vehicles until late-2017.

That timeframe could change, as CNET points out Tesla has missed the original laugh dates for its Roadster, Model S, and Model X vehicles in the past.

Still, Musk remains confident that customers who put down their $1,000 deposit starting March 31 or April 1 will receive their vehicles on time.

That’s because the production timeline for the Model 3 is shorter than its predecessors. The vehicle doesn’t come with the entire suite of features other Tesla creations have.

While definitive details about the Model 3 haven’t been widely shared, CNET reports the vehicle is expected to be similar in style and size to a compact sedan, expect with a 200-mile-plus battery range.

Musk and Tesla have been teasing the Model 3 since July 2014, when it released the price tag and name — originally the Model #, but that idea was scrapped after Ford got involved.

Tesla reconfirms $35,000 Model 3 to be revealed March 31 [CNET]

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