Who has funded model 3?

[rotor]

In most media regarding cars is Tesla Model 3 now in focus and Elon Musk says that the financing model is made possible by the proceeds from the model S.
Although I personally rank Elon as our new god concerning mobile transport I would still appeal to him at this point.
Has he forgotten us who bought Roadster of him? we bought it despite the fact that everyone said it was risky and that the batteries would cost a fortune to.
Has he forgotten that the negotiations booking was essential to proceed with the model S.
Without Roadster no model S
It looks unfortunately like this but since I still have great pleasure min2010 model Roadster I'm not very sour.

 

[ViperDoc]

Having watched the presentation this morning, Musk did give Roadster purchasers (like me) their due, and thanked them for buying. He accurately stated the role that the Roadster played in the business plan. Roadster shows e-car can be fun, high performance and have range. It was an effective beta platform. That helped company go public and raise money to learn to mass produce a car (Models S and X). And Models S & X bring in much bigger volumes of cash flow to fund development that leads to Model 3. I think he pretty clearly showed that each model has played a role in the plan to get to an affordable electric car.

 

[JenniferQ]

Agree with ViperDoc and want to add that he also credited Roadster and its owners with accelerating models such at Volt and Leaf.

 

[mjcostajr]

Elon called the Model S & X version 2 and 2.5 - thus making Model 3 the "third" iteration of Tesla's lineup. Maybe Model Y will be 3.5?

 

[Habious]

I deleted my original post (ranting about how it was being referred to as the "3rd model"...leaving Roadster owners out because, after several comments about how Elon mentioned Roadster owners, I thought I must've been mistaken.

A more refined search allowed me to restate my case...this time with evidence.

While I appreciate that Elon called out Roadster owners...this is a car for "the masses". The masses aren't watching launch events. This is the people's car. The mainstream...and the mainstream get their news from...news sites. Such as...

Drive.com.au | Car Reviews & Advice, Buy - Sell New & Used Cars - "The long-awaited third model from American electric car brand has been unveiled."

Autocar - "The Tesla Model 3, the American firm's third model and an all-electric rival for the BMW 3 Series, Mercedes-Benz C-Class, and Audi A4, will be revealed early on Friday morning."

MSN.com - Hotmail, Outlook, Skype, Bing, Latest News, Photos & Videos - "Tesla’s third model, which will be a smaller, all-electric car to rival the BMW 3 Series, Audi A4 and Mercedes-Benz C-Class, will be revealed at an Apple-style product launch akin to the launches of the Model S and Model X."

Latest UK and World News, Sport and Comment | Daily Express - "INNOVATIVE US electric carmaker announces third model to compete with compact executive models"


Standing by for additional hammering.

 

[tvuolo]

I just interpret it as "the 3rd model in their current line up." You wouldn't say Ford is bringing out their 151st model, but rather adding a 7th model [to their current line up].

 

[ViperDoc]

I don't think Musk has forgotten the Roadster owners, but I do agree the mainstream media seems to forget. Having the car called the "Model 3" doesn't exactly help! This really is Tesla's 4th model!

 

[BartJ]

I don't think Musk has forgotten the Roadster owners, but I do agree the mainstream media seems to forget. Having the car called the "Model 3" doesn't exactly help! This really is Tesla's 4th model!

IMO they should maintain a roadster section on the Tesla website
R - S - X - 3

 

[ViperDoc]

IMO they should maintain a roadster section on the Tesla website
R - S - X - 3

I will second that!

 

[Johan]

(I'm about to cuss in church).

The Roadster is Lotus with Tesla internal organs.

The Model S is the first Tesla, from the ground up, the X is the second and Model 3 is the third.

I know for a fact that Elon loves all the Roadster buyers to death, and the time to praise them will come. That time is just not right now. I honestly think Elon and Tesla are going to want to do something really, really special for the original Roadster buyers and owners eventually, right now though they have too much on their plate.

 

[sethr]

Just a theory... but IIRC, the original notion was to call it the Model E, which was blocked by Ford(?). Those three horizontal lines look a little like an "E", huh? (Though I didn't see anything besides the Tesla "T" in the photos of the reveal, front or back.)

 

[MileHighMotoring]

Just a theory... but IIRC, the original notion was to call it the Model E, which was blocked by Ford(?). Those three horizontal lines look a little like an "E", huh? (Though I didn't see anything besides the Tesla "T" in the photos of the reveal, front or back.)

That has been discussed ad nauseum on every Model 3 forum

 

[supersnoop]

The Roadster is Lotus with Tesla internal organs.

The Roadster shares just 7% of it's parts list with it's Lotus counterpart. Lotus fabricated the rolling chassis to Tesla's specification. I'd call that pretty darn close to "ground up" development.

 

[MileHighMotoring]

I wouldn't call it ground up - they certainly manipulated existing parts to improve them and adapt them to their new mission. And the number quoted is that they modified some 93% of the parts. But they didn't start with a clean sheet like they did with subsequent models.