Tesla has introduced its most basic Model 3 yet. The entry-level Model 3 in Mexico looks much like the base RWD model here from the outside – down to the 18-inch ‘Photon’ wheels – but inside there have been numerous changes. For starters, features like multi-colour ambient lighting and a rear passenger screen, introduced with the recent ‘Highland’ update, are gone.
You do still get ambient lighting, but it’s only white. Where the rear screen was, there are just two USB-C outlets. Leatherette upholstery has been replaced with grey cloth, a first for the Model 3, and the front seats lose their heating and ventilation.
The heated steering wheel is gone too, and it’s now a nine-speaker sound system instead of a 17-speaker one, losing an amplifier and the two subwoofers in the process. Finally, instead of acoustic glass for all windows, the material is only used for the front ones. It’s priced at 749,000 pesos, or 50,000 pesos (~A$4000) cheaper than what the base model cost just last month before these features were removed.
That price still works out to be A$60,000, however, after a simple currency conversion. The better-equipped Australian-market RWD costs just $54,900 before on-road costs. It also works out to be around US$40,000 (A$59,935), so even this basic Model 3 is more expensive than its US$38,990 (A$58,420) counterpart north of the border and some way off from Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s repeated promise of offering a US$25,000 (A$37,460) vehicle.
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