Undercover Model 3 Spotted
Not long after last week’s buzz about a rumoured refresh of the Tesla Model 3, a twitter user out in Santa Cruz, California spotted a Model 3 prototype sporting some modesty wraps.
The video and images from user @omg_tesla show a white Model 3 with its front and rear ends covered with fabric that specifically hides the shape of the lights and body shape - suggesting that there have been some changes to those areas that aren’t ready to be shown off just yet.
Some keen-eyed people in the replies also noticed that the area around the headlights was just sheer enough to make out the lines of what might be a new camera module a little higher up the assembly. A camera there would help eliminate a known blindspot in that area, so it could certainly be that.
Just last week - on November 28th - news outlet Reuters reported on a leak of a Model 3 redesign project called “Highland” from their sources close to Tesla.
The report indicated that the vehicle would be going through a process of reducing the number of components involved in its manufacture, the complexity of its interior, and that some focus would be on the infotainment display.
A similar refresh of design was applied to the Model S in 2021, with attention paid to a number of areas including bringing the headlights and taillights up to current Tesla Standards. It’s hard not to think of that when seeing the lights being obscured on this Model 3 prototype.
But the Reuters report also indicated that production of the new Model 3 was likely to begin in Shanghai and the Fremont factory in California sometime in the third quarter of 2023 - and Santa Cruz is only about an hour away from the Fremont factory.
We can’t see anything more from the photos, but what’s really interesting is seeing a Model 3 prototype in the wild so soon after the Reuters leak. It certainly fits the timeline though, so maybe we’ll be seeing an uncovered version in the near future?