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Where do we put in reservation for Model 3 ?
There I think you're wrong. Tesla wants to sell these to everybody. 75% of white males are 6 feet tall. A car tight on head room will not do good things for sales unless Tesla is targeting women or non-white men. There will be a comfortable amount of room in the Model 3, and even more if you get the sunroof/panoramic roof optoin.I wouldn't expect much headroom in Model 3.
There I think you're wrong. Tesla wants to sell these to everybody. 75% of white males are 6 feet tall. A car tight on head room will not do good things for sales unless Tesla is targeting women or non-white men. There will be a comfortable amount of room in the Model 3, and even more if you get the sunroof/panoramic roof optoin.
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Yes, you're right. I didn't mean to say that 75% of men are 6 feet tall (okay, I meant it at the time), but up to 75% of men. And to your other point, I'd say up to 75% of men are a quarter inch shy of 6 feet tall. (Good catch, my bad.)Um, slight nit-pick, the 75th percentile is just below 6', meaning less than 25% of white males are above 6'. In other words more than 75% is under 6' tall.
But yes, headroom is important.
I initially thought 20% shorter, but that would make a very small car. 20% smaller volume makes more sense. I believe the range target is 200 miles? That requires the car be the size of at least a BMW 3 Series. If Tesla wants to get a sedan in the mass market, aiming for the compact or midsize market is where they want to be. Large sedans don't sell very well any more, in the US the entire full size family sedan market is around the size of the market for the Ford Fusion and Tesla with very low production volumes compared to the competition is currently on top of the top luxury sedan market.
The best selling cars in the US are mostly midsize sedans (though the best selling vehicles are pickups). They can't quite get down into the price range of the Camry, Accord, Fusion, and Malibu, but they can position the Model 3 to compete against the luxury compact and midsize sedans which start $10K-$15K more than the family sedans. That's within range of some budgets to squeeze a little more and get into the next tier in the market, especially if the fuel and maintenance cost savings are considered. The BMW 3 Series is a bit smaller than the midsize market. I think the 5 Series fills that niche.
If the general layout is similar to the Model S with the batteries under the floor, I could see a compact sedan with close to the same interior space as a midsize family sedan.
Tesla took a different strategy from other electric cars when they designed the Model S. It was deliberately designs to look like a decent ICE car instead of a toy like a lot of other BEVs. The idea being to draw in people who might not be looking specifically for an electric and/or don't want to make a loud statement to the world they are driving an electric. This is very good, subtle strategy. I suspect the Model 3 is going to have a strategy along the same lines, competing in one of the more crowded segments of the market, or on the fringes of it rather than another niche like the Model S aimed for. There demand for subcompact luxury cars is not that high, but compact and midsize are the sweet spot.
If the reduction from the Model S is in fact 20% less volume, that puts the car right into that compact/midsize range.
the people who think the model 3 will be a 4" shorter Model S
Thoughts?
Oh, God, please no suicide doors!!!I really hope the Model 3 will look like this (taken from another thread):
Wasteful? As I understand it, one advantage of a longer car is a lower Cd, other things being equal (by contrast, making the car narrower helps with aerodynamics). And a longer wheelbase improves the ride. I'd be pretty surprised if the length of the Model 3 was 20% less than that of the Model S.I think that is will be 20% shorter than a Model S and will just use the space better. I expect it to have similar interior size to a 3 series but very short overhangs (much like the design shown).
The sleek, long design of a typical sedan is pretty wasteful, and a perception that Tesla could help to change...
Most men also have most of their height above the waist (and women are proportionately longer legged than men). Even some men shorter than 6 feet will be pushing into the headliners of some cars. I'm hyper aware of the space for the driver because I'm the opposite of most men, I have very long legs and a short torso. Finding enough legroom in a car is very difficult...
What does everybody think of the prospects of the Model 3 design resembling that of a Mazda 6?
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Personally, I haven't loved the design of some of the concept images roaming the internet and even on this thread. I think the Mazda 6 might strike more resemblance to the eventual Model 3 sedan than any other car on the market because it reminds me of a smaller version of the Model S, which is what seems to be coming from Tesla based on comments from Musk. I also know that one of the head designers for Tesla, Von, Holzausen, used to work for Mazda.
What do you think the chances of this are and how content with a design similar to this would you be?