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| Elon Musk, founder of Tesla, said that a new $78,000 version of the Model 3 would “beat anything in its class on the track”SPLASH NEWS |
Investors appeared to prefer the word of Elon Musk over media critics yesterday as the two sides both lauded and lambasted the Tesla Model 3 electric car.
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Mr Musk, the billionaire founder and chief executive of Tesla, said that a new $78,000 dual-motor, all-wheel-drive version of the Model 3 would “beat anything in its class on the track”.
However, Consumer Reports, America’s top product-testing magazine, said that it could not recommend the entry-level Model 3 to its readers because of “big flaws”, including a braking distance that was longer than that of a pick-up truck.
Shares in Tesla rose by 2.8 per cent yesterday to $284.49, despite the magazine’s criticism.
[post_ads]Mr Musk has bet the future of Tesla, his $48 billion electric car and battery-making company, on the success of the Model 3. It is Tesla’s first mass-market vehicle and is designed to appeal as an alternative to petrol-powered saloons such as the Audi A4 and BMW 3 series. The basic Model 3, which costs $35,000, was released in the United States last year and is expected to be on the roads in Britain next year. A series of manufacturing issues, however, have forced Tesla to repeatedly push back production targets.
The all-wheel-drive Model 3 is an improved version of the basic car. Mr Musk said yesterday that the performance version of the Model 3, which includes all available options and costs $78,000, would accelerate from nought to 60mph in 3.5sec and would have a top speed of 155mph and a range of 310 miles on a single battery charge.
He was not the only voice singing the praises of Tesla, however. Alexander Haissl, an analyst at Berenberg, said that profit margins on the entry-level Model 3 would surprise the market.
“The widespread assumption that Model 3 margins can be directly inferred from [Tesla’s earlier vehicles] is inherently and almost totally flawed,” the analyst wrote in a note.
Consumer Reports said that there was “plenty to like” about the Model 3, which was “thrilling to drive”, but it added that the vehicle also had “big flaws”. “The Tesla’s stopping distance of 152ft from 60mph was far worse than any contemporary car we’ve tested and about 7ft longer than the stopping distance of a Ford F150 full-sized pick-up,” the magazine said.
Consumer Reports also criticised the placement of the car’s controls and displays on a single touchscreen. The car’s “excessive wind noise at highway speeds” was a further problem, it said.
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A spokeswoman for Tesla said that its testing had found an average stopping distance of 133ft from 60mph. She added: “Tesla is uniquely positioned to address cases over time through over-the-air software updates and it continually does so to improve factors such as stopping distance.”
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