As Elon Musk Launches Lower-Cost Electric Car, Orders Rocket

After producing the more exclusive Roadster, Model S and Model X electric cars, Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced on Thursday that a five-seater sedan selling for a lot less – $35,000 – would come off the production line in 2017. Within 24 hours of the announcement, orders had reached 180,000.

The car, which was launched in Hawthorne, California, will be called the Model 3. The Tesla S sells for $75,000 to $115,000, the Model X $80,000-$132,000, according to a 2016 car site. The Roadster’s base price was $110,000 when it came on the market in 2010.

At its unveiling Musk said the Model 3 was going to be an incredibly safe care, would fit five adults “comfortably”, would be five-star in every category and would go from 0 to 100kph in less than 6 seconds – “At Tesla we don’t make slow cars,” he joked.

The car will come standard with auto-pilot hardware and all models come with supercharging capability.  There are at least 3,500 Tesla supercharging stations worldwide now and that would double by 2017, according to Tesla.

“You will be able to go virtually anywhere” he said. “Wherever you go in the world where there’s electricity, you can charge.”

Tesla has 215 locations in North America, Asia-Pacific and Europe, with 441 expected by next year. To create lithium ion batteries for the large number of Model 3s expected to be sold, according to Musk, Tesla has built a Gigafactory that has the largest footprint of a building in the world, he said.

“You will not be able to buy a better car for $35,000, even if you get no options.”