Looking Forward to the Model 3 Debut

[MorrisonHiker]

Does this change the forum picture?

The picture changed, but that's actually an image of the Ford Evos concept from 2011 that someone changed a few months back to be a 3.
Ford Evos concept

Almost all they did was change the color and add the word Tesla.

The image in post 173 is better, IMHO.

Thanks!

 

[bigbear]

I'm obsessed.

 

[aronth5]

I'm obsessed.

We noticed but in a good way:wink: and since we're also checking this thread frequently we're pretty much in the same boat!

 

[vinnie97]

Finally under 100 days on the outlier, I can scarcely believe it.

 

[Steve Martin]

Looking forward to seeing the Model 3 in late March and hopefully hearing pricing details. It will be interesting to see how much of a design departure that Tesla will take on the Model 3 variants to achieve low CdA like the VW XL1 and Aptera 2e.

 

[bigbear]

74/99, we made it brothers and sisters. We made it under 100 days!!!!

 

[tga]

74/99, we made it brothers and sisters. We made it under 100 days!!!!

Today + 74 = 3/3/16
Today + 99 = 3/28/16

Whatcha got against the first and last few days of March?

 

[Ryan H]

Isn't Thursday a good day for an unveil? That would be the 31st. :tongue:

 

[MassModel3]

Isn't Thursday a good day for an unveil? That would be the 31st. :tongue:

That's my bet, too. Seems to me that Elon likes Thursday night reveals. And you know he and the rest of the Tesla gang must really love the consumer anticipation. I'm sure they'll put it off to the very end of the month.

 

[Crowded Mind]

Agreed. They've also already used the term 'late March', so I think it is safe to add 15 days on to that first number. #countdownanalysis

 

[bigbear]

73/98, the first countdown started with the thought that Tesla would reveal at the Geneva auto show, second countdown for a late March reveal. It might be the last day of March too, but I don't want to put another number in our countdown. It's pretty amazing we still know NOTHING!!!!

 

[Ryan H]

73/98, the first countdown started with the thought that Tesla would reveal at the Geneva auto show, second countdown for a late March reveal. It might be the last day of March too, but I don't want to put another number in our countdown. It's pretty amazing we still know NOTHING!!!!

We don't know nothing. Elon said late March. As far as we know, that hasn't changed. I don't know why we should expect to know more when there is nothing more to know. Any new information would not speed up the process of what Tesla is doing. Maybe if the Gigafactory stays ahead of schedule, things might progress more quickly, but based on what has happened in the past, I'm not holding my breath.

 

[MassModel3]

We don't know nothing. Elon said late March. As far as we know, that hasn't changed. I don't know why we should expect to know more when there is nothing more to know. Any new information would not speed up the process of what Tesla is doing. Maybe if the Gigafactory stays ahead of schedule, things might progress more quickly, but based on what has happened in the past, I'm not holding my breath.

Everything Tesla has said so far about the Gigafactory is that it's ahead of schedule, but that only goes toward not making the debut of the 3 late due to lack of batteries. The GF could open tomorrow and it wouldn't do anything to get the 3 out early. But as far as the reveal goes, I think that's just Tesla throwing us a carrot to momentarily occupy us. And perhaps also to gauge interest. Production is far enough out with the March reveal that they'll be able to react to any major show-stoppers brought up my the forums here. For instance, when people start saying they'll never buy a car with only three wheels and just one front seat (for the driver), they'll add a 4th wheel and make the car wider. Okay, maybe that's a bit extreme, but you get my point.

 

[Twiglett]

Everything Tesla has said so far about the Gigafactory is that it's ahead of schedule, but that only goes toward not making the debut of the 3 late due to lack of batteries. The GF could open tomorrow and it wouldn't do anything to get the 3 out early. But as far as the reveal goes, I think that's just Tesla throwing us a carrot to momentarily occupy us. And perhaps also to gauge interest. Production is far enough out with the March reveal that they'll be able to react to any major show-stoppers brought up my the forums here. For instance, when people start saying they'll never buy a car with only three wheels and just one front seat (for the driver), they'll add a 4th wheel and make the car wider. Okay, maybe that's a bit extreme, but you get my point.

That just proves why my click-fu will be at its height of power when the reveal occurs.
Of course it will all be for nothing if the thing is pig ugly or only has 150 miles range - but I'm keeping a positive vibe going, so its going to look awesome and get 250 miles with base model
Whenever it ships I'm pretty sure it will be on the market before any of the other "Tesla killers" from VW, Audi, BMW, MB etc etc, so I count that as plus

 

[Ryan H]

Everything Tesla has said so far about the Gigafactory is that it's ahead of schedule, but that only goes toward not making the debut of the 3 late due to lack of batteries. The GF could open tomorrow and it wouldn't do anything to get the 3 out early. But as far as the reveal goes, I think that's just Tesla throwing us a carrot to momentarily occupy us. And perhaps also to gauge interest. Production is far enough out with the March reveal that they'll be able to react to any major show-stoppers brought up my the forums here. For instance, when people start saying they'll never buy a car with only three wheels and just one front seat (for the driver), they'll add a 4th wheel and make the car wider. Okay, maybe that's a bit extreme, but you get my point.

Call me crazy, but I hope Tesla takes the approach that in order to make a mass-market car, they'll have to go with more traditional parts for the 3. What I mean by that is they can't be using Falcon Wing Doors or oversized windshields that hold up production. They need to be inline with the rest of the auto industry because the quantities are already there.

I haven't been following Tesla long enough to know what held up the S, but I've seen comments from Elon that the Falcon Wing Doors were a challenge that delayed the X, and more recently in this forum, the supplier of the windshields wasn't ready to meet demand.

Elon says in just about every interview I've seen that Tesla's mission is to accelerate the transition to sustainable transport. When the Model 3 is mentioned, the Gigafactory is always cited as what could delay the 3. Call me optimistic, but I think if the Gigafactory could open ahead of schedule, it could help push the Model 3 a little bit. I realize that this has not been how it has worked for Tesla in the past, but it would fit very well with their mission if they could do it with the 3.

 

[Mad Hungarian]

I really cannot see them doing anything seriously crazy or unconventional with it when you consider that they've committed to hitting a 35K price point with 200 miles of "real world" range. Meaning a pretty sizable chunk of that price is going to be eaten up by just the battery. I'm also hoping they keep it simple if for no other reason that I don't want outrageous insurance premiums that usually accompany expensive replacement parts and weird tech, nor do I want the thing to be a maintenance nightmare as it ages. Speaking of which, please let them finally figure out that "million mile drivetrain" thing, 'cause all those drive unit replacement stories on the MS forum are freaking me out. I do NOT want to be facing a $17K+ bill for a DU swap when the warranty expires, and with what I'm going to sink into this car financially to get the full-on performance/range version it's going to need to last a loooooonnnnnnngggg time.

 

[Skotty]

I really cannot see them doing anything seriously crazy or unconventional with it when you consider that they've committed to hitting a 35K price point with 200 miles of "real world" range. Meaning a pretty sizable chunk of that price is going to be eaten up by just the battery. I'm also hoping they keep it simple if for no other reason that I don't want outrageous insurance premiums that usually accompany expensive replacement parts and weird tech, nor do I want the thing to be a maintenance nightmare as it ages. Speaking of which, please let them finally figure out that "million mile drivetrain" thing, 'cause all those drive unit replacement stories on the MS forum are freaking me out. I do NOT want to be facing a $17K+ bill for a DU swap when the warranty expires, and with what I'm going to sink into this car financially to get the full-on performance/range version it's going to need to last a loooooonnnnnnngggg time.

+1 While I'm probably going to get an S rather than a 3, I completely agree with everything Mad Hungarian said here. And for goodness sakes, fix the dang 12v battery issues too! It's so obnoxious for an otherwise awesome battery powered car to be having battery problems. Like somehow a relic of the ICE car generation is sabotaging the EV.

 

[Mad Hungarian]

+1 While I'm probably going to get an S rather than a 3, I completely agree with everything Mad Hungarian said here. And for goodness sakes, fix the dang 12v battery issues too! It's so obnoxious for an otherwise awesome battery powered car to be having battery problems. Like somehow a relic of the ICE car generation is sabotaging the EV.

LOL!!! I can almost picture the conspiracy story headline... "Major Tier 1 battery suppliers to legacy automakers caught sabotaging Tesla 12V supply".

 

[bigbear]

72/97, no new info anywhere, just looked.

 

[Ryan H]

72/97, no new info anywhere, just looked.

That's okay. It's SpaceX day :smile: