Elon Musk Offers Tesla Model 3 Sneak Peek Musk took to Twitter to show off the new car and share some tidbits about its evolution.
This story originally appeared on PCMag
Tesla unveiled its latest electric car, the Model 3, almost a year ago, but Elon Musk on Friday provided a peek at an almost-final version of the vehicle.
Musk posted a short video to Twitter showing a "release candidate version" of the Model 3. As you can see below, this thing can accelerate with a quickness.
First drive of a release candidate version of Model 3 pic.twitter.com/zcs6j1YRa4
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 24, 2017
Musk also clarified something: The Model 3 isn't a successor to the Model S. Instead, he wrote, "Model 3 is just a smaller, more affordable version of Model S w less range & power & fewer features," and clarified that the "Model S has more advanced technology."
"Am noticing that many people think Model 3 is the 'next version' of a Tesla, like iPhone 2 vs 3," he wrote. "This is not true."
Unveiled on April 1, 2016, the Model 3 has a starting price of $35,000, making it Tesla's most affordably priced model. Musk at the time said the base version of the Model 3 would go from zero to 60 miles an hour in less than 6 seconds, and drive for at least 215 miles on a single charge.
On Twitter today, he also revealed an interesting detail about the car: It was almost called the Model E instead of the Model 3. Check out what he had to say about that:
Model 3 was going to be called Model E, for obvious dumb humor reasons, but Ford sued to block it, so now it is S3X. Totally different :)
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 24, 2017
Just in case it's not so obvious to you why the company would want to call it Model E, consider that Tesla already has a Model S and Model X, Musk and Co. figured they'd round out the lineup with Models S, E, X. Instead, they have a slightly different version: S, 3, X.
This isn't the first time Musk has brought sexual innuendos into his product branding. Prior to revealing the Model S P85D back in 2014, Musk hyped up the announcement with a tweet saying it was "about time to unveil the D," setting off a firestorm of speculation and jokes.
