Tesla Model 3: referral codes, prices, range, reviews and UK release

07 April

Tesla chief executive Elon Musk has routinely invited other manufacturers to build a better electric car in a bid to boost the competitiveness of the sector. Now, one of his biggest rivals has returned the favour.

"Nissan is rooting for Tesla," says Business Insider, after Renault-Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn welcomed the "good competition" Tesla's Model 3 will provide.

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Globally, "Nissan blows away the competition in electric-vehicle (EV) sales", adds the site. Its alliance with Renault saw 302,000 electric vehicles being shifted worldwide up to the end of 2015 – the Japanese carmaker's Leaf accounting for 43,700 of them. Since the car's launch in 2010, Nissan has sold 211,000 units.

Tesla has sold a little more than 100,000 vehicles in the company's lifetime.

Ghosn is positioning electric cars as one of the keystones of Renault-Nissan's future corporate strategy and sees as only good news the hype and huge demand for Tesla's next production vehicle, which has had more than 276,000 pre-orders since its reveal last week.

Releases like this will only spur on the development of electric cars and EV infrastructure, he says. "Finally, good competition for EVs is picking up".

Nissan may have some work to do, though, says Electrek. In the UK, the Leaf starts from around £25,000 before government incentives – £5,000 cheaper than the Model 3's price when it goes on full sale next year – but it's currently lagging in key areas.

Despite an update extending its range to 155 miles, the Leaf lies far behind the claimed 215 mile range of the Model 3. As such, the site expects a new Nissan Leaf to come in 2017, possibly fitted with a 60kWh battery pack for a 200-mile range.

Tesla Model 3: Are there potential drawbacks?

6 April

Consumer reaction to Tesla's Model 3 has been wild. The hype train seems to have no brakes and almost 300,000 pre-orders have been placed – despite first deliveries not scheduled until the end of 2017.

Jalopnik says other carmakers should be "green with envy", but to detract from the snowballing success story, are there potential pitfalls down the road for both future owners and Tesla itself?

What will the competition be like down the road?

According to BGR, one of the burning questions not being addressed is just what the electric car landscape will look like in the first few years of the Model 3's lifespan.

The car will come with a claimed range of 215 miles – certainly impressive now, but how will that compare come the end of the decade?

"No one wants to buy a new electric car only to discover that competing options will deliver much better battery life by the time the car is actually shipped," argues the site. If rival companies such as BMW begin to deliver electric cars with "ranges of 300 miles", they could significantly hurt the Model 3's attractiveness to prospective buyers, it adds.

On the flip side, Tesla will inevitably introduce new versions of the Model 3 during its lifetime, with larger battery packs to give longer ranges and greater performance. Plus Tesla has one crucial head start over other firms – its charging infrastructure, which is already in place, along with plans for expansion.

Can Tesla step up and meet demand?

Chief executive Elon Musk has already taken to Twitter to say his company has some head-scratching to do if every pre-order translates into a full sale – the scale of demand for the Model 3 is more than twice as large as the total number of cars the company has sold in its history.

Tesla's factory in Fremont, California, has the capacity to produce 500,000 vehicles a year, but its Nevada "gigafactory" won't be running at full capacity until 2020. The Drive adds that Tesla "has had a history of falling short on expectations, at least when it comes to getting product out of the factory door". Only this week, the company said its own "hubris" had resulted in frustrating delays for its Model X SUV.

Model 3 pre-orders may have stuffed plenty of cash into Tesla's pockets, but "based on the battery-carmaker's record, it could be quite some time before it actually gets those orders filled".

Will buyers find the price isn't so low?

The Model 3 is being sold as the first affordable, mass-market Tesla, with a US price tag of $35,000 – expected to translate into £30,000 in the UK.

But buyers could find that the sticker price isn't as low as it seems. For instance, the price tag being flaunted is for a complete entry level model and many will choose to add extras, such as the all-wheel drive option, which adds an extra $5,000 to the balance.

Another issue picked up by Motley Fool is whether access to Tesla's supercharging network will be free and offered as standard to Model 3 customers. At last week's reveal, Musk said that "all Model 3s will come with supercharging standard", but Tesla later told the site: "We haven't specified (and aren't right now) whether supercharging will be free."

Lastly, as Electrek points out, many US buyers could find the car's production schedule means they miss out on a $7,500 government subsidy, which tapers down after a manufacturer has produced 200,000 electric cars. By their calculations, buyers after 2020 may not get any state cash if the current laws remain in place, although Musk has said the firm's "production ramp" plans should see "large numbers" of Model 3 buyers benefitting.

Regardless, lots of information about the car remains private for now and new details - and possibly some answers to these questions - should emerge come "part two" of its reveal.

Tesla Model 3: Interior will 'feel like a spaceship'

05 April

Despite Tesla revealing plenty of information on its upcoming Model 3 at last week's unveiling – "part one" of the car's reveal - there are still blanks to fill.

Tesla "has a couple of huge surprises up its sleeve", says the International Business Times, and the press are now turning their attention to what could come next.

Last week's drivable prototype was noted for its rather bare cabin, with no real dashboard and instrument cluster, just a steering wheel and a large horizontal touchscreen mounted in the middle.

While some believed the minimalist interior is what we'll see on the finished product, others assumed the company was holding back – something now confirmed by chief executive Elon Musk, who tweeted that the final product will have an interior that "feels like a spaceship".

So far, suggestions have rounded on the Model 3 doing away with a traditional instrument cluster in favour of dials projected onto the windscreen as a head-up display system.

Musk also told followers the dashboard's minimalist approach "will make sense" when the second part of the car's reveal takes place.

The IB Times suggests that this means the next time we see the car, it won't be just a simple trim options reveal – "the Model 3's interior is important enough to receive its own event".

Tesla has already confirmed that the Model 3 will get some form of autopilot autonomous hardware – but Musk's third tweet hints that the system could be beyond what's expected of the firm's £30,000 option.

Of course, this could also be interpreted as simply a new steering wheel, but the prototype not featuring the "real" steering system has sparked speculation that the Model 3 will be designed with fully autonomous hardware integrated from the start, with the option of a software update to activate It in the future.

Finally, there are rumours of an interior tech tie-up between Tesla and LG – Engadget reports that the giant landscape touchpad set to feature inside the Model 3 will be made by the South Korean electronics firm.

"A partnership with Tesla gives LG a better chance at diving into the world of automotive displays, where there's less cutthroat competition and more profit," says the site.

Tesla Model 3: Pre-orders top 270,000 in three days

04 April

More than 276,000 people have ordered the new Tesla Model 3 in the three days since the car's unveiling, says chief executive Elon Musk.

The five-seat electric car, which is expected to cost around £30,000 when it goes on sale in the UK, is Tesla's most affordable option yet and the number of potential customers willing to put down the $1,000 (£700) deposit to secure one has been "shockingly high", says Gizmodo, although no surprise, given that people had "camped out in line" to make sure they didn't miss out.

The website adds that the $276m (£194m) bagged from deposits is far more than analysts expected, with Time magazine saying that "conventional wisdom" was on around 55,000 pre-orders over the first three days.

While the figures are good news for Tesla, there could be hiccups ahead. The Financial Times says the deluge of pre-orders "raises questions" as to whether production will be able to meet demand.

First deliveries of the Model 3 aren't due for more than 18 months, but the order count is "more than double" the number of Model S cars Tesla has sold since their introduction in 2012, while the company has only made a little more than 100,000 cars in its entire history.

Musk admitted on Twitter that the next year and a half could be a challenge.

The FT says that Tesla's vehicle factory in Fremont, California, is capable of making 500,000 cars a year. However, its new gigafactory battery production plant in Nevada won't be running at full capacity until 2020.

It's not expected that every pre-order will translate into sales, but according to Fortune, the high demand means that on current production figures, many customers could be waiting until 2020 for their Model 3, so a rethink of production plans should definitely be in the pipeline.

Tesla Model 3: First reviews of Elon Musk's 'world-changing' car

01 April

US electric car manufacturer Tesla unveiled its Model 3 yesterday – and early indications are that the ground-breaking car will be well received.

Motoring journalists haven't been allowed to drive the Model 3 yet but a lucky few were taken for a spin and reported back favourably on the car's acceleration, interior look – and even legroom.

Tesla fans are more than excited about the release of the car, says the New York Times: there were 115,000 pre-orders before Tesla's CEO Elon Musk had even whisked the cloth off the saloon onstage at the company's California design studio.

If all of those orders are fulfilled, Tesla will enjoy sales of $4bn. Some fans cheered the "sleek five-seater" last night, says The Times. Earlier in the day others queued up outside Tesla stores to place their orders.

The "handsome sedan" is the "most important car the company will ever build", says Wired, because it is a key part of a long-term plan. According to Musk, the car will "change the world".

Tesla was founded in 2003, with Musk joining a year later as primary benefactor, flush with $1.4bn cash from selling Paypal to eBay. He became CEO in 2008.

From the start the plan was to prove electric cars could work by starting with a sexy, expensive version – the Roadster. Once that was accomplished, Musk planned to develop a mass-market, affordable car – and here it is.

The car will cost $35,000 and – crucially – will do 215 miles on a single charge of its battery, estimated by Motor Trend to have a capacity of 70kWh. In the US the price is lower still thanks to a federal $7,500 tax credit for owning an electric car.

Aaron Gold of AutoExpress was one of the lucky few to get a ride in the Model 3 last night. The car "leapt to an indicated 60mph in what felt like around four and a half seconds", he said. (Musk has claimed 0-60mph in less than six seconds.)

Body lean in the all-wheel-drive version of the Mark 3 was "well controlled", he added. The interior was "so simple as to be nearly stark" and was dominated by a large touchscreen, as in other Teslas, though this one was mounted horizontally.

Unlike the Model X, says Gold, the 3's windscreen does not extend to the roofline but the rear window does. Legroom was "acceptable" and headroom "surprisingly generous". The car has boot space in the front and the back.

But will it change the world? It just might, says Wired. Tesla sold 50,580 cars last year – roughly the number of cars shifted by General Motors in an average weekend. By 2020, Musk intends to be producing half a million cars a year.

With electric batteries getting cheaper all the time, by 2022, says Wired, experts say it will be cheaper to own and run an electric car than a petrol one.

Tesla Model 3: What we know about today's launch

31 March

The Model 3, Tesla's £30,000 all-electric car intended to take on mainstream family vehicles, will make its debut in California on Thursday.

The company has so far revealed little about its new "affordable" model, which is said to be a rival to the BMW 3-series. Nevertheless, details of the price and specifications have been leaking out.

Here's what we know so far about one of the most eagerly awaited electric cars yet to go into production.

The Tesla Model 3 will be new from the ground up

Although leaked images suggest the new car will resemble a trimmed-down version of the existing Model S, it will, in fact, share very few components with its predecessor. In order to ensure they can sell at mass-market prices, the company has had to change the way the vehicle will be built.

"For better or worse, most of Model 3 has to be new," Tesla's chief technology officer, JB Straubel, said last year. "It's a new battery architecture, it's a new motor technology, brand new vehicle structure - it's a lot of work."

Buyers may have a long wait

Tesla has promised to demonstrate a "working prototype" at today's event, but won't start production for at least another 18 months – and previous models have been plagued by delays. Prospective customers tempted to put down a deposit may therefore have to be patient.

"While production is due to get under way in late 2017," says Auto Express, "there's been no public statement on how quickly UK customer cars might arrive - so your £1,000 deposit could be tied up for some time to come."

If Tesla follows its previous roll-out schedule, customers in California will receive the Model 3 first, followed by those in the rest of the US and other left-hand drive markets. Buyers in the UK and other right-hand drive countries will be at the end of the queue.

Even so, British demand is expected to be high.

The stakes are high

Alphr says the Model 3 will be the "most important car Tesla will make", representing its transition to the mass market as well as its huge investment, which includes creating its gigafactory – a huge battery production plant in Nevada.

"If motorists buy the Model 3 in the hundreds of thousands," says Quartz, Tesla chief executive Elon Musk "will have delivered on his vow to make an electric for the general public".

That could mean not only "considerable profit for Musk and his investors", but also a change in patterns of energy consumption that could have profound consequences.

"If electrics become the norm for autos, then the future appetite for oil will be far less than forecast," says Quartz, and we could be in for a "softer bout of climate change".

However, Business Insider argues the Model 3 could be a "catastrophe", although in the long-term, it wouldn't spell the end of the company.

"The biggest risk to the Model 3 is just that there are already relatively cheap electric cars in the market and no one is buying them in significant numbers," says the website.

Tesla could be banking on a future that just isn't quite there yet but even if the affordable car project does go south, demand from affluent customers for its other vehicles should remain strong. The company could develop a vice-like grip on luxury electric vehicles if it were to "cool it on the change-the-world thing and simply be an exceptionally profitable niche carmaker", the website argues.

Delays could be costly

Previous Teslas have been anything but prompt - the Model X arrived two years late - but Musk will be desperate to avoid delays to the Model 3. "Any significant hold-ups to the Tesla Model 3's arrival could seriously limit its impact," says Auto Express, as mainstream competitors will soon begin to roll out their electric rivals.

"Vauxhall/Opel's mass-market Ampera-family hatchback is already expected on sale in Europe - with a similar 200-mile range and £30k price - in 2017/18, following the sales launch of its GM Bolt sister car in the US this year."

Powertrain and performance

According to Auto Express, the top spec Model 3 could have a level of performance on par with the BMW M3 and M4, making use of the huge torque electric motors can provide to give 0-62mph in a time rivalling the 4.1sec benchmark laid down by the German performance saloons. It may not get the Tesla Model S P90D's 90kWh battery, but years of battery development means whatever powers the Model 3 should provide enough poke to make it a handful for its rivals.

Being an entry level model, though, the Model 3's range could be shorter than that of Tesla's other cars. Musk has touted 200 miles as a realistic expectation, a figure Jalopnik says "isn't so bad".

However, the website thinks there is a potential undoing here. Because of its price, the Model 3 may be bought be people who park their cars on streets away from charging points. Leaving it unplugged overnight and in cold weather can knock as much as 40 miles off the charge so owners will have to treat it with the same care as other Teslas.

Bloomberg, however, is more optimistic. If the Model 3 "offers the same 60 kilowatt hour lithium-ion battery pack planned for the 2017 Chevy Bolt", it says, the 200-mile goal could be comfortable beaten, "based on the Model 3's small size and the performance of other, larger Teslas".

Tesla Model 3 battery

For owners of Model S and X cars, having free access to the company's network of supercharger stations is taken as standard. There are 32 in the UK, with another 572 worldwide, and their 120kWh systems can give 170 miles of additional juice in as little as 30 minutes, a privilege for which owners used to have to pay. With the list price of the Model 3 set to be much lower than any other Tesla production model, it will be intriguing to see if access to the supercharging stations is free.

The company's rationale for rolling out free high-speed charging stations is that it wants to encourage owners to use the cars for more long distance journeys. According to Motley Fool, the price Tesla pays for doing this is "totally manageable", but there's no guarantee of it being free for a car with broader appeal than Tesla's more expensive options.

Tesla would definitely have "good reason" to charge. No other automotive manufacturer has a network of charging stations quite like it and is "the only one that makes long-distance travel nearly as convenient as traveling in a gas-powered vehicle". Given how fast the company plans to grow, taking money from customers for using the network may be essential to re-invest in it as more and more Teslas hit the road.

Autopilot and autonomous features

Tesla's semi-autonomous features – introduced as updates to the Model S – have enabled automatic steering, automatic lane changes and the ability to summon vehicles in and out of garages.

A separate article on the Motley Fool website says that despite being touted as the cheap, entry level Tesla, the Model 3 remains an offering from a premium brand and semi-autonomous driving assists in some capacity should be expected. It remains to be seen just how deeply autopilot functions will be integrated into the experience and how much they could cost as optional extras.

Answers may not come at the launch, but there is one potentially exciting reason for this.

In an interview, Musk suggested that fully autonomous Teslas would need an entirely new suite of sensors in order to be able to make a journey without any input from a human driver. At the same time, he envisioned that in two to three years' time, the company would be able to build a car capable of going coast to coast across the US, charging itself along the way.

Considering the Model 3 won't launch until sometime next year, could it be possible that this new autopilot hardware is coming on top-spec versions of the Model 3? It's an outside chance, but the dots are there to join together.

Tesla Model 3 design

The Model 3 is widely expected to be a smaller saloon sibling to the Model S, competing in the same segment as the BMW 3 series, Mercedes-Benz E-Class and Jaguar XE. As such, the first image that springs to mind is a Model S with a shorter wheelbase – shrunk around 20 per cent. Expect the shape to be slippery, with a low drag coefficient to reduce air resistance and eek out more range from the powertrain.

Inside, it is likely that the new model will keep the large touchscreen control panel of its predecessors and passengers may benefit from a more spacious interior than those found in petrol-powered rivals. "Backseat riders might gain some leg room because an electric drive-train obviates the need for a transmission tunnel, the hump in the middle of the floor," says Bloomberg.

It has also been rumoured that Tesla could use the new platform to spawn even more new vehicles, including a smaller crossover to sit underneath the Model X.

A report on Electrek initially had the Model 3 down to come out as both a saloon and a crossover but now it seems the same platform will be used to generate at least two different vehicles. Beyond the possible crossover, Autocar says the Model 3's platform has been engineered to accommodate several other body styles, including an estate version of the Model 3 and a completely separate pick-up truck.

Price and release date

It's thought the Model 3 could put Tesla's annual sales into triple figures and prices are touted to start from around $35,000, with a bit of a mark-up in the UK to £30,000 "or less".

Forbes argues that those customers who put down their deposits first will likely be those most keen to spec their Model 3's quite highly and as such, early cars should be a good barometer of how Tesla will push optional extras and higher-rated trim levels to offset the cheap entry level price.

The company has confirmed that customers will be able to place a deposit in dealerships today, while online pre-orders open tomorrow, although deliveries aren't scheduled until mid-2017. Supply chain issues has meant Tesla has struggled to meet delivery targets for the Model X SUV so the slight ambiguity of the release date means nothing is 100 per cent certain. Investors will be watching out for delays with a keen eye.

A clearer picture regarding when the car will be ready for customers will likely emerge at the launch today, though the lack of leaks and "crumbs" of information from Tesla so far concerns TeslaMondo.

"We still know nothing," the Model 3, it said earlier this month. "Tesla hackers that can find a passing reference to a P100D buried in Model S neuro-transmitters, but nobody can get their mitts on an image of a car?"

Manufacturers are almost always caught out by spy shots of their upcoming vehicles, so Tesla is either working the launch straight from the Apple playbook, keeping its development watertight, or no physical Model 3 exists yet, just "a few carefully-guarded images" that could be trotted out at the launch.

Musk himself has hinted that a staggered unveiling, similar to the Model X SUV, is on the cards and that the firm won't show everything about the Model 3 until "a lot closer to production time", so don't be too surprised if the reveal goes ahead without an actual car present.

The fastest way to get hold of a new Tesla Model 3

24 March

Tesla is set to pull the covers off its much-anticipated new Model 3 next week and prospective buyers are getting to ready to battle it out to secure the "it" car of the moment.

With an expected price tag of around £30,000, the company's first foray into the mass market is far less expensive than its upmarket Model S and demand is expected to be high.

Pre-orders will open on 31 March, when the car is unveiled, and "anyone who dreams of owning an affordable Tesla, and has $1,000 to hand over for a deposit, can sign up", says Business Insider.

However, with production not due to begin until late 2017, the first deliveries will not arrive until sometime in 2018.

Priority is being given to people who are already customers, meaning the fastest way to get hold of a Model 3 for people who aren't currently Tesla car owners "is to buy a Model S or Model X", says the company.

Orders from the US West Coast are expected to be processed first, with the car-maker then moving east and finally, as production ramps up, expanding deliveries to Europe and other right-hand-drive markets.

While previous launches prioritised the more expensive "signature" series, the cost of entry for the Model 3 will be the same for everyone in anticipation of its mass market appeal.

Tesla Model 3: 'Unveiling to be followed by Model S price rise'

23 March

Tesla's most affordable car yet is set to make its debut in a matter of days but according to new rumours, the introduction of the Model 3 could be bad news for motorists eyeing up the firm's flagship saloon, the Model S.

According to Electrek, after persistent rumours of a Model S facelift at some point this spring comes talk that its price will increase.

The site says it has heard several reports of Tesla representatives warning potential buyers that the list price will increase "by the end of April".

It links to a Tesla fan forum, which claims that salespeople have been using the rumoured price hike to get customers to lock in their orders before April is up.

Electrek adds that usually, such reports should be taken with a grain of salt, given that the sales reps are likely not informed of upcoming product announcements in order to minimise leaks. But there's a twist – the reports are consistent across a number of US-based Tesla dealerships.

How likely is it that the Model 3 is responsible? The timing of the Model 3 reveal event and the alleged Model S price hike makes it possible to put the two together, but there are other explanations.

The increase could be related to two new standard additions to the Model S – a new 19ins alloy wheel design as well as the introduction of a new centre console unit.

It's also been leaked that Tesla is to release a new range-topping version set to be called the Model S P100D and fitted with a 100kWh battery pack, which could mean the prices are all dragged upwards.

Rumours of a new, facelifted Model S also make some sense – especially considering the car is now four years old.

The Model 3 isn't set for first customer deliveries until 2017, with a price tag of $35,000 and £30,000 in the UK, so bridging the gap with a revised Model S at a premium is plausible.

Tesla Model 3: Drivable prototype to be revealed

18 March

Tesla is gearing up for its biggest reveal yet. The Model 3, the firm's first mass production car, will make its debut at the end of the month at a grand unveiling in Los Angeles.

Car reveals are never a straightforward affair with Tesla. Unlike most manufacturers who choose the hallways of motor shows to reveal new metal, Elon Musk's company opts for one-off events where their vehicles can be truly centre stage.

The firm's last reveal saw its Model X SUV make its debut on stage, but Tesla withheld a lot of information so many of the vehicle's features were not made public until much closer to launch.

This time, though, it looks like we'll be getting more.

According to Slashgear, media invites for the 31 March launch say press will be able to go for a "quick spin" in the Model 3 prototype, though Tesla will likely keep things tightly controlled as the car won't be a finished product and there will be no chance to speak to Musk.

Business Insider says the reveal could be good news for potential buyers, though. A driveable version could suggest a launch date is "sooner than we think" and a shift away from Tesla's reputation for missing deadlines. At present, deliveries of the Model 3 are expected to start at some point next year, with the car costing around £30,000.

It's also reassuring for another reason, notes Electrek. Musk had previously said the firm would not "show everything" at the event and many flocked to rumours that Tesla would only reveal pictures of the car.

"If anyone needed reassuring about the event featuring an actual car, here it is," says the site.

Tesla Model 3: Has image of new car been leaked?

17 March

Tesla's hotly anticipated Model 3 is just around the corner from a reveal of sorts, but several media sources have already been sent what is claimed to be an exclusive – and top secret - image of the upcoming model in crossover guise, allegedly from a disgruntled employee of the company.

This month's launch is expected to herald a Model 3 saloon. A crossover variant using the same platform – said to be the Model Y - is in the pipeline and according to the source, that's what we're looking at here.

The car appears similar to Tesla's Model X, but with shorter overhangs front and rear as well as a new front bumper.

However, the "leak" was met with extreme scepticism before being debunked.

According to Road & Track, the photo is "almost definitely a bad photoshop", while after a little digging, Jalopnik found what it said was the original source of the image.

The uncanny resemblance to Tesla's SUV – not in itself a giveaway, considering the company may want the cars to share parts and use the same design language - allowed Jalopnik to do a reverse image search and uncover a press release for the Model X showing the car in the exact same pose, with the exact same shadow.

The website then contacted Tesla, who said the photo was not the Model 3, had nothing to do with the company and that it appeared to be a photoshopped Model X.

There is one curveball, though: while the image has been thoroughly debunked, the legitimacy of the source is still up in the air.

To back their claims, the "employee" provided some fairly watertight proof – an entire confidential staff directory with the phone numbers and email addresses of around 800 Tesla workers.

"Officials said it is not available outside of the company, suggesting that whomever sent us this very likely has, or had, some direct connection or access to Tesla," adds Jalopnik.

So, did the image come from a talented trickster, an upset employee – or was it even games from within the company to stoke up hype ahead of the Model 3's reveal on 31 March?

Tesla Model 3: Invites go out for Los Angeles launch

16 March

Tesla has officially announced it will reveal a prototype version of its upcoming Model 3 electric car in Los Angeles on 31 March and the invitations are already going out.

The Model 3 is set to be the company's first vehicle with mass-market appeal and a more-accessible price, but so far leaks about it have been few and far between.

Chief executive Elon Musk had previously said he didn't know how much of the car could be shown at its launch, but according to The Verge, the invitation suggests "we're going to see the whole car".

Production isn't scheduled until 2017, so some other sites, such as Pocket Lint, are a bit more cautious in their expectations, saying we "might be able" to look forward to a prototype reveal.

Tesla itself has said attendees will be able to look forward to a "quick spin" in the vehicle, suggesting that whatever prototype makes its way onto the stage will be a functioning car. Still, Slashgear highlights that there will be no Q&A session with Tesla executives and that the event will be "tightly controlled".

It adds that the car could be camouflaged and may not be the final design.

Around 650 Tesla owners will be chosen by lottery to attend the unveiling of what Art of Gears calls "the most important product to come from Elon Musk's brilliant mind since he started Tesla Motors in 2003".

The Model 3, which is expected to have a range of around 200 miles, is set to start from around $35,000, with a £30k price tag touted for the UK market. Pre-ordering will open in Tesla dealerships on 31 March, with online deposits starting the next day.

Tesla Model 3: What to know ahead of the car's reveal

15 March

Tesla's much anticipated Model 3 will be revealed in California on 31 March.

It is set for a pre-production unveiling at a bespoke event, but so far the company has been cryptic over its new "affordable" model, which is said to be its rival to the all-electric BMW 3-series.

Alphr says the Model 3 will be the "most important car Tesla will make", representing its transition to mass market as well as its huge investment, which includes creating its new gigafactory.

What do we know about the next car from Tesla?

Powertrain and performance

According to Auto Express, the top spec Model 3 could have a level of performance on par with the BMW M3 and M4, making use of the huge torque electric motors can provide to give 0-62mph in a time rivalling the 4.1sec benchmark laid down by the German performance saloons. It may not get the Tesla Model S P90D's 90kWh battery, but years of battery development means whatever powers the Model 3 should provide enough poke to make it a handful for its rivals.

Being an entry level model, though, the Model 3's range could be shorter than that of Tesla's other cars. Chief executive Elon Musk has touted 200 miles as a realistic expectation, a figure that Jalopnik says "isn't so bad".

However, the website thinks there is a potential undoing here. Because of its price, the Model 3 may be bought be people who park their cars on streets away from charging points. Leaving it unplugged overnight and in cold weather can knock as much as 40 miles off the charge so owners will have to treat it with the same car as other Teslas.

Charging

For owners of Tesla's Model S and X cars, having free access to the company's network of supercharger stations is taken as standard. There are 32 in the UK, with another 572 worldwide, and their 120kWh systems can give 170 miles of additional juice in as little as 30 minutes, something owners used to have to pay for the privilege of. With the list price of the Model 3 set to be much lower than any other Tesla production model, it will be intriguing to see if access to the supercharging stations is free for buyers.

The company's rationale for rolling out free high-speed charging stations is that it wants to encourage owners to use the cars for more long distance journeys. According to Motley Fool, the price Tesla pays for doing this is "totally manageable", but there's no guarantee of it being free for a car with broader appeal than Tesla's more expensive options.

Tesla would definitely have "good reason" to charge. No other automotive manufacturer has a network of charging stations quite like it and is "the only one that makes long-distance travel nearly as convenient as traveling in a gas-powered vehicle". Given how fast the company plans to grow, taking money from customers for using the network may be essential to re-invest in it as more and more Teslas hit the road.

Autopilot and autonomous features?

Tesla's semi-autonomous features – introduced as updates to the Model S – have enabled automatic steering, automatic lane changes and the ability to summon vehicles in and out of garages.

A separate article on the Motley Fool website says that despite being touted as the cheap, entry level Tesla, the car remains an offering from a premium brand and semi-autonomous driving assists in some capacity should be expected. It remains to be seen just how deeply autopilot functions will be integrated into the experience and how much they could cost as optional extras.

Answers may not come at the vehicle's launch event later this month, but there is one potentially exciting reason for this.

Founder Elon Musk recently gave an interview in which he suggested that fully autonomous Teslas will need an entirely new suite of sensors in order to be able to make a journey without any input from a human driver. At the same time, he envisioned that in two to three years' time, Tesla will be able to build a car that can go coast to coast across the US, charging itself along the way.

Considering the Model 3 won't launch until sometime next year, could it be possible that this new autopilot hardware is coming on top-spec versions of the Model 3? It's an outside chance, but the dots are there to join together.

Design

The Model 3 is widely expected to be a smaller saloon sibling to the Model S, competing in the same segment as the BMW 3 series, Mercedes-Benz E-Class, and Jaguar XE. As such, the first image that springs to mind is a Model S with a shorter wheelbase – shrunk around 20 per cent.. Expect the shape to be slippery, with a low drag coefficient to reduce air resistance and eek out more range from the electric powertrain.

Alongside this, it's been rumoured that Tesla could then use the platform to spawn even more new vehicles, including a new, smaller crossover to sit underneath the Model X.

A report on Electrek initially had the Model 3 down to come out as both a saloon and a crossover but instead, the same platform will be used to generate at least two different vehicles. Beyond the possible crossover, Autocar says the Model 3's platform has been engineered to accommodate several other body styles should Tesla choose, including an estate version of the Model 3 or a completely separate pick-up truck.

Price and release

It's thought the Model 3 could put Tesla's annual sales into triple figures and prices are touted to start from around $35,000, with a slight price mark-up in the UK to £30,000 "or less".

Forbes argues that those customers who put down their deposits first will likely be those most keen to spec their Model 3's quite highly and as such, early cars should be a good barometer of how Tesla will push optional extras and higher-rated trim levels to offset the cheap entry level price.

The company has confirmed that customers will be able to place a deposit in dealerships on 31 March, while online pre-orders open on 1 April, although deliveries aren't scheduled until mid-2017. Supply chain issues has meant Tesla has struggled to meet delivery targets for the Model X SUV so the slight ambiguity of the release date means that for now, nothing is 100 per cent certain. Investors will be watching out for delays with a keen eye.

A clearer picture regarding when the car will be ready for customers will likely emerge when at the end of the month, though the lack of leaks and "crumbs" of information from Tesla so far concerns Teslamondo.

Just days away from a reveal, "we still know nothing about" the Model 3, it says. "Tesla hackers that can find a passing reference to a P100D buried in Model S neuro-transmitters, but nobody can get their mitts on an image of a car?"

Manufacturers are almost always caught out by spy shots of their upcoming vehicles, so Tesla is either working the launch straight from the Apple playbook, keeping its development watertight, or no physical Model 3 exists yet, just "a few carefully-guarded images" that could be trotted out on 31 March.

Chief executive Elon Musk himself has hinted that a staggered unveiling, similar to the Model X SUV, is on the cards and that the firm won't show everything about the Model 3 until "a lot closer to production time", so don't be too surprised if the reveal goes ahead without an actual car present.

How important is the Model 3 for Tesla?

The hype surrounding Tesla's most affordable, mainstream, mass-market car yet is big and should Musk deliver, it could prove to be a "game changer" for the company, says Forbes.

Revenues received from the Model S and Model X have gone to develop the Model 3 and the site points out that since early February, "shares of Tesla have been on an absolute tear, up 43 per cent in less than a month and a half".

However, Business Insider argues that the Model 3 could be a "catastrophe", although in the long term it wouldn't spell disaster for the company.

"The biggest risk to the Model 3 is just that there are already relatively cheap electric cars in the market, and no one is buying them in significant numbers," says the website.

Tesla could be banking on a future that just isn't quite there yet but even if the affordable car project does go south, demand from affluent customers for its other vehicles should remain strong. The company could develop a vice-like grip on luxury electric vehicles if it were to "cool it on the change-the-world thing and simply be an exceptionally profitable niche car-maker", the website argues.

The screen controls every aspectof the car. The gear selector and speedometer are displayed in the top corners,while a strip running along the bottom deals with the likes of climate control.The rest of the arrangement is taken up by maps and audio controls.

While this minimalist look could translate intoproduction, big additions have been touted and the finished product is tippedto be tech heavy. Alphr points out a recent Tesla hiring in the form of atop head-up-display expert, suggesting that the interface is on the cards. Muskhas teased fans over what to expect, too, tweeting that the car's interior will"feel like a spaceship" – again, suggesting HUD interfaces andcutting-edge controls.

Elsewhere, the Model 3 takes on a Model X designcue in the form of its roof. The rear window extends right up to the B-pillars,where it is met by a large sunroof extending over the front seats for anall-glass canopy look. A similarly panoramic glass setup appears on theModel X and should make the Model 3's interior feel airy and spacious.

All Model 3s will come with Tesla's Autopilot asstandard, with the likes of accident avoidance via automatic braking enabledfrom the get go. Convenience features such as self-parking capabilities, aswell as the ability to summon the car from its parking spot and Autopilotself-driving, are optional extras.