A few days after a matte black Tesla Model 3 was filmed out in the open, another development prototype has been nabbed, this time, in pictures standing in front of a Nissan Leaf at what appears to be a service center.
Given the absence of any visible differences inside or out from the Model 3s shown during the electric car’s presentation at Tesla’s Los Angeles facility in March, our best guess is that what we’re viewing here is either one of those demo vehicles or an early engineering tester.
Regardless, the Model 3 depicted in these photos that popped up on Imgur is not the finished final product, which may be revealed during a “big” event for the car towards the end of this year, as Tesla CEO Elon Musk informed the crowd at Code Conference 2016 earlier this month.
During the same event, Musk said that the Model 3’s final design should be finalized before the end of July: “Almost all of the Model 3 design is done, and we’re aiming for pencils down basically in six weeks, complete pencils down. And we’re tabling — you know, if there are ideas for future cool things, we’ll have it in version 2, version 3.”
That last part means we’ll see improvements and new additions to future versions of the Model 3 after the initial market launch of the car that is expected to arrive in the hands of its first owners in late 2017.
There are plenty of rumors going around right now, including one claiming that the Model 3 will get an advanced heads-up display to make up for the lack of a traditional instrument panel, but we’ll have to wait and see if Tesla makes any notable changes to the vehicle’s exterior and/or interior design, and tech features.
In the meantime, how about you tell us if you find the Model 3 prototype’s design futuristic and minimalist or Spartan, cold and uninspiring?
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