Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) is never away from media, and the latest news will surely create a lot of buzz. Another major news came from CEO Elon Musk, who discussed plans of launching an electric car namely Tesla Model III, which will apparently give tough competition to the BMW 3 Series. This was revealed by him to Auto Express, where he, also, discussed the reason behind changing the name to Tesla Model III from Model E.
“We want people to fall in love with their car and look forward to driving it,” Musk told.
Why the name was changed?
Musk in one of his most candid talk, told it already has Model S and X, so the next car was initially thought to be E, to complete “SEX,” but Ford wanted to use the name and hence sued Tesla, and eventually they were forced to revise the name to Model III. Tesla will unveil the new car in 2016 and will offer it to public in 2017.
“The new model is going to be called Model III, we’ll have three bars to represent it and it’ll be S III X!,” Musk said.
Musk wants to set up in UK an R&D base that will work devotedly on the ambitious Model III project. The new model is expected to be approximately 20% smaller than the Model S, and will be available at a price of $35,000.
Big expectations
Musk has high expectations attached to Model III, and hopes that it will match the success and popularity of the Model S, and also deliver a strong performance. The vehicle will come with a range of over 200 miles, which is very much realistic.
Gigafactory will produce cheaper battery for the cars, which will enable Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) to sell its cars for a lower price than the previous models. Not only Tesla, but also other automakers that might include Mercedes and Nissan will benefit from the new low-priced batteries. While the location is yet undecided, but many US states are the strong contenders that include Nevada, Arizona, California, New Mexico and Texas.
