The Tesla Model 3 is coming to India

At a star-studded event that is normally reserved for Apple product unveilings, Tesla Motors CEO and real-life Tony Stark incarnate Elon Musk has just taken the wraps off the wildly-anticipated Model 3 electric car. Unarguably Tesla’s most important product in its short yet distinguished history, the Model 3 is the culmination of what Tesla set out to achieve in the first place: an affordable electric car for the masses. The Roadster, the Model X, and the Model S, all are just precursors to this, the ultimate aim, the Model 3.

And it is coming to India.

Shortly before walking onstage at the company's design studio in Hawthorne, California, Musk tweeted that preorders for the Model 3 will open an hour before the actual unveiling of the car. This is important because the Model 3 has been generating the sort of press that only a new iPhone can match, and, like Apple Online Stores after a keynote, there was a probability that the Tesla website could very well buckle under the overwhelming load.

And then Musk tweeted that Tesla is adding several new countries, including India, to the Model 3 order page tonight. This will make the Model 3, scheduled for a late 2017 launch, the first Tesla car to be officially sold in India.

You might recall that Indian PM Narendra Modi visited Silicon Valley and met with Elon Musk, among many other tech luminaries, last year. There’s a distinct possibility that this meeting could have resulted in Tesla’s decision to enter the Indian market with the Model 3.

As for the Model 3 itself, the details are still trickling in from the event, but the first reactions have been universally positive towards Tesla’s first mass-market offering. The most important takeaway is its price tag of $35,000, which, as promised, is a staggeringly low price for what is, after all, a space-age vehicle loaded to the gills with cutting-edge technology.

Despite that, the Model S will reportedly deliver at least 350 kilometres on a single charge, and the base version will sprint from 0-96 kmph in under 6 seconds. Other faster and more powerful variants are also being readied.

Autopilot hardware is standard, and all safety features will be active automatically. Five adults will fit comfortably inside, with Musk humorously stressing on the “comfortably” part. And, just like the Model S, it will have front and rear trunks for storage, with more cargo capacity than any petrol or diesel car of the same external dimensions. There’s enough space inside to even fit a 7-foot long surfboard.

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So there you have it; one of the most revolutionary and disruptive names in automotive history is finally setting foot in India, with its most significant model ever. Although it is still too early to even speculate an Indian price tag, India is already on the list of countries on the Model 3 preorder page, and that’s heartening enough for now.

Just a note of caution though: Seeing as how enormous the lines already are in front of brick-and-mortar Tesla dealerships, and with Musk’s tweet that any individual can preorder only two Model S’s at a time, we suggest you get in your names ASAP if you want to lay your hands on one.