My fuzzy recollection is that in the early days of M3P the "first delivered" vehicles didn't have some "upgrades" that came soon after. Some buyers upgraded (for a fee) to the new bits, some didn't. The ones that didn't started calling it "stealth" as (IMO) a coping mechanism. Some "didn't want" the "upgrades" at any price, so that played into the naming/talk. Kind of like how people talk about their cars as "unicorns" when they are rare even if it means the "characteristics that are unique" are kind of awful.
That isnt what the "Stealth" was.
The Stealth was when Tesla made some model 3 Performance cars without some of the standard features for the car. No one upgraded a "Stealth" through Tesla.
The model 3 performance came standard with something called the performance upgrade package (this was a standard feature with that version of the car and was not purchasable after delivery). To move vehicles, Tesla at one point offered Model 3 LR vehicles with the software switch turned on for the performance version. These cars had the acceleration of the performance but not the performance upgrade packages (which included wheels and tires, brakes, spoiler etc).
In effect these were model 3 LR vehicles without the performance upgrade package, with no way to physically tell them from model 3 LR vehicles even though they had the acceleration of model 3 Performance vehicles. Owners started calling them "Stealth" because they looked like Model 3 LR but were faster.
Had nothing to do with bad characteristics, or some people not purchasing upgrades that were available or anything of the sort.
This is basically it, with fewer words but just as accurate as what I just typed. I am fairly sure the suspension was a little lower on those early model 3 Ps (like mine, which is a 2018 I still have). For full disclosure, my 2018 model 3P does have the performance upgrade package, so mine isnt a stealth.First month M3P here.
Car came with 20" rims, "lower" suspension (I can't recall if this was real or BS), and better brakes. The cars did not come with their spoiler or badges; those were installed later.
The rims, suspension, and brakes were part of a "performance upgrade package" and at one point you could order a P without the PUP. So you basically got a LR w/the power for the P and 18" rims. It was somewhere between 3 and 5k cheaper.
I could be wrong, but that's my recollection.
When they offered the stealth back then, it was absolutely the best deal Tesla had at that time. They were only 2k more than Model 3 LR, had the speed of the performance but came with 18 or 19inch wheels (so better range less chance of rim damage than the 20s). At a time when the performance 3 was like 6-10k more than the LR, the Stealths were a great deal.
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