Meet the Model 3, Tesla's Most Important Car

(jazzy music)

[Voiceover] The Tesla family just got a bigger.

[Elon Musk] So do you want to see the car?

[Voiceover] The Model 3 is finally here.

It's sleek, quick as hell, and meant for the masses.

Well, the middle-class masses.

And it is the most important car Tesla will ever build.

CEO Elon Musk is convinced the Model 3 will

push electric vehicles into the mainstream.

Starting price is $35,000.

But Musk promises you'll pay $27,500 after

you get those federal tax credits.

While the new Model 3 costs around half of

what the Model S does, Tesla isn't

skimping on features.

The four-door sedan seat five adults in all

the comfort and practicality you'd expect

of an upscale sedan.

Tesla's auto-pilot feature comes standard.

It has enough power to reach 0-60 miles per hour

in under six seconds.

And it feels much faster than that.

(audience claps)

[Musk] At Tesla we don't make slow cars.

(audience laughs)

[Voiceover] The battery will have

a range of 215 miles between charges.

It's already a hot commodity.

Before Musk even pulled the sheet

off the Model 3, 115,000 customers

had put $1,000 down to reserve a car for purchase.

And order numbers continue to rise.

They'll have to wait patiently, though.

The Model 3 will be delivered to customers in 2017.

[Musk] So I do feel fairly confident

that it will be next year (laughs).

(audience laughs)

Hopefully 2017.

(jazzy music)