While the Tesla Roadster - shown here - is now out of production, the maker is targeting a slightly larger 3-Series competitior for its third line.
With its new Model S now in production, Tesla Motors is working up an assortment of additional products, according to the maker’s design chief, including a battery-powered challenger to the compact luxury segment’s powerhouse BMW 3-Series.
The start-up battery car maker is also working on products and powertrains for its alliance partners Mercedes-Benz and Toyota.
But the 3-Series competitor could put Tesla into the luxury segment mainstream while demonstrating that battery power doesn’t have to live inside a narrow – and high-priced niche.
The new Model S sedan will be followed next year by the launch of a crossover sharing the same platform and dubbed the Model X. Meanwhile, Tesla design chief Franz von Holzhausen told the British magazine AutoCar that the smaller BMW fighter could reach market by as early as 2015.
“The third model will continue to drive down the price point as fast as possible,” said von Holzhausen, who also told the publication it could come in at around $30,000.
That would be a significant breakthrough for a model like that – though it’s likely that Tesla will follow the same strategy as it has with the new Model S, offering a base price for the sedan that can nearly double, to more than $100,000, depending on what battery pack and other options are ticked off.
(BMW and Mercedes-Benz preparing to launch new product blitzes. Click Here for more.)
To take on the likes of the popular BMW 3-Series would likely require Tesla to deliver a reasonable amount of range, (the base Model S featuring a 160-mile battery that deliver about 60% more than what other battery vehicles are offering), and performance. The California-based start-up recently ended production of its original Tesla Roadster which boasted off-the-line acceleration in line with a Porsche 911.
Styling will also be another hallmark of the small Tesla, von Holzhausen hinted.
In contrast to the sleek but relatively conventional Model S, “We will become more experimental as we develop as a brand,” he told AutoCar. “Our cars need to have some personality.”
Tesla won’t stop with a small, sporty model, apparently. It believes it can develop a wide range of products using the unique platform now in the Model S. The design features a sandwich load floor that contains a four-inch high compartment for the vehicle’s lithium-ion batteries.
“There are lots of ways in which we can exploit the platform,” the Tesla design chief said. “There will be a time and place for us to develop something around a pick-up. That’s a market for which the torque of an electric motor would be ideally suited.”