With X out of the way now, can get on with the 3

[tftf]

I'm willing to bet that the 3 is further along than most of us would suspect. Groups have been rolling off the X over the last year or so, and need something else to work on. Franz's team, powertrain engineering, etc, probably haven't had much to do on the X for a while.
It's not like the entire company has been working on the X and is now switching to the 3. I'm pretty sure there have been people working on the 3 for a while.

There's no need to bet. As a public company, a lot of info is hidden in their 10-Q documents. Tesla only started working on the Model 3 design by late 2014:

For the rest of 2014, we will continue to significantly expand production capacity for Model S and Model X, continue the construction of the Gigafactory, invest in our customer support infrastructure, continue the development of Model X and start early design work on Model 3. Our R&D expenses in particular are continuing to increase as design and engineering work accelerates on Model X and overall product development but is expected to decrease as a percentage of revenue over time.

http://biz.yahoo.com/e/141107/tsla10-q.html

As I predicted before: I don't think Tesla can release the Model 3 before 2018-2019 given car development and testing times - no matter how hard and how many people work on it since late 2014.

It also remains to be seen when Tesla can really release the promised "$35k" base price Model 3. (They still haven't announced pricing nor ordering/delivery info for the base price of the Model X)

As counter-intuitive as it may sound: Making a mass-produced "cheap" car is much harder than making an expensive niche car. You have to shave off costs everywhere and ramp-up with near-zero defects is incredibly tricky.

 

[bigbear]

At the party last night, a few of us, including @Kipernicus and @spentan, ran into a design engineer from Franz's team at the Tesla Design Studio in Hawthorne. He had helped design some of the Model X but, they have apparently come a long way with the Model 3 already. He said - with a twinkle in his eye - that we'd really like what we'll see next spring.

That could mean we get a picture, not a car. Did he say anything else? Are you just trolling us?

 

[gg_got_a_tesla]

That could mean we get a picture, not a car. Did he say anything else? Are you just trolling us?

Nope; not trolling. What more do you expect an employee to reveal?!

 

[aronth5]

I'm willing to bet that the 3 is further along than most of us would suspect. Groups have been rolling off the X over the last year or so, and need something else to work on. Franz's team, powertrain engineering, etc, probably haven't had much to do on the X for a while.

It's not like the entire company has been working on the X and is now switching to the 3. I'm pretty sure there have been people working on the 3 for a while.

I tend to agree. The Model 3 will be more about applying what they have already engineered for the Model X and Model S less expensively than spending lots of engineering resources on new features.
And while that is still very difficult they now have significantly more engineering experience then when they started designing the Model X.

 

[bigbear]

Nope; not trolling. What more do you expect an employee to reveal?!

A picture of you with him...

 

[ZachShahan]

JB Straubel said earlier this year that the 3 was already their primary focus.

I believe you, but don't recall that. Have a link? Remember the event/conference call?