Tesla is preparing to update the Model 3 sedan in order to make it appeal more to customers and to drive down production costs. The updated model is working under the code name “Highland” and the mid-cycle refresh will be similar to the one introduced on the Model S and X in 2021. The update will bring visual changes to the exterior and interior of the Model 3, Reuters reports, citing four people with knowledge of the matter.
No specific design changes have been
spelled out for the exterior, but using the Model S as a reference, Tesla may
look to simply refine the bodywork and keep updates minor. With new “giga
presses” and other cost-saving assembly methods, the reworked exterior should
be easier and, therefore, cheaper for Tesla to make.
Inside, Tesla will focus on further
simplifying the Model 3’s already minimalist cabin in order to reduce costs
again. It will, however, focus on improving what drivers use the most, like the
infotainment screen. The update will come as the EV market has become way more
challenging in China, Tesla’s second-largest market, behind the USA. The
carmaker was recently forced to lower prices for the Model 3 by 9 percent in
order to become more competitive with rival EV manufacturers in the market.
That price cut followed flagging sales. In
the first 10 months of 2022, nine percent fewer buyers chose the Model 3 in
China than they had a year earlier. Manufacturers like BYD, meanwhile, outsold
the Model 3 with EVs like the Qin and Han. Finding a way to lower costs is
becoming increasingly crucial for Tesla.
The updated Model 3 is expected to go into
production in the third quarter of 2023 at Tesla’s factory in Shanghai. It will
also be produced at the automaker’s plant in Fremont, California, though a
timeline for production there is less clear.
