The Tesla Model 3 is a 4-door sedan from Tesla, built from 2017, as electrification stopped being an experiment and the crossover took every market. Under the bonnet: induction motor. Franz von Holzhausen drew it.
Where it came from
The Tesla Model 3 is a battery electric powered mid-size sedan with a fastback body style built by Tesla, Inc., introduced in 2017. The Model 3 was marketed as a more affordable option compared to Tesla's previous vehicles, the Model S and Model X. The Model 3 was the world's top-selling plug-in electric car for three years, from 2018 to 2020, before the Tesla Model Y, a crossover SUV based on the Model 3 chassis, took the top spot. In June 2021, the Model 3 became the first electric car to pass global sales of 1 million.
A facelifted Model 3 with revamped interior and exterior styling was introduced in late 2023 for countries supplied by Gigafactory Shanghai and in early 2024 in North America and other countries supplied by the Tesla Fremont Factory.
Under the skin
Power comes from induction motor. It weighs 3552 -. It shifts through a Single-speed fixed (9:1 ratio). The wheelbase is 113.2 in. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.
In context
Its family tree is legible: assembly was at Fremont, California (Tesla Fremont Factory. Its contemporaries in the catalogue — the Chevrolet Bolt, the Porsche Taycan, the Ferrari 488 — show what else the money bought that year. Nearby in the Tesla catalogue sit the Cybercab and the Elon Musk's Tesla Roadster.
What it costs now
The money question first: $19,700–$36,800 is the typical asking range today, and running it — fuel and maintenance at its age — costs about $1,000–$1,810 a year. Insurance sits around $1,520–$2,290 a year. The figures are class-level estimates from the federal record, with the formula on the methodology page; the model-year pages carry complaints, recalls and repair costs year by year.