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Tesla starts selling $35,000 Model 3, shifts sales exclusively online https://ift.tt/2T5XxZ7 Tesla today began selling the standard Model 3 at a base price of $35,000 in the U.S. and Canada — a model with 220 miles of range, a top speed of 130 miles per hour, and 0-60 miles per hour acceleration of 5.6 seconds. An enhanced version of the Model 3 — the Model 3 Standard Range Plus — starts at $37,000, and offers 240 miles of range, a top speed of 140mph, and 0-60mph acceleration of 5.3 seconds, in addition to “most” premium interior features. Tesla also announced that it’s shifting sales worldwide to online-only. Online-only sales, it says, were a critical piece in achieving lower vehicle prices — 6 percent lower on average. “You can now buy a Tesla in North America via your phone in about 1 minute, and that capability will soon be extended worldwide,” Tesla wrote in a blog post. “Over the next few months, we will be winding down many of our stores, with a small number of stores in high-traffic locations remaining as galleries, showcases and Tesla information centers.” Tesla’s making it easier to try out and return cars, too — potential buyers can return a car within seven days or 1,000 miles for a full refund. Additionally, it’s rolling out firmware upgrades that’ll increase the range of the Long Range Rear-Wheel Drive Model 3 to 325 miles, the top speed of Model 3 Performance to 162 mph, and add an average of 5 percent peak power to all Model 3 cars. Finally, it’s making pricing and variant adjustments across its lineup. The Model X now costs $88,000, while the Model S costs $79,000. And Tesla’s offering two Autopilot packages for the Model S, Model X, and Model 3 in most regions: Autopilot, which starts at $3,000 ($4,000 if purchased as an upgrade) and enables Autosteer and Traffic Aware Cruise Control, and a $5,000 ($7,000 if purchased as an upgrade) Full Self-Driving Capability, which in addition to Autosteer and Traffic Aware Cruise Control (Autopilot package) adds Summon, Autopark, Navigate on Autopilot, and “other features” coming later this year. The announcements come shortly after Tesla rolled out a 360-degree surveillance system — “sentry mode” — to Model 3 owners in the U.S. (with Model S and Model X vehicle built after 2017 to follow), which uses eight onboard cameras to provide a holistic view of everything going on outside. And follow on the heels of rumors that Telsa would soon reveal its Autopilot Hardware 3.0 hardware, which it claims is the “world’s most advanced computer for autonomous driving.” Musk says that it’s able to handle 2,000 frames per second with redundancy compared with the current-gen Autopilot 2.0 computer’s 200 frames per second, and that it’ll be offered as an upgrade to current Autopilot 2.0 owners. Tesla earlier said that it’ll be required to enable the features under its Full Self-Driving Capability Package. (Musk claimed that Tesla’s vehicles would be ready and able to completely drive themselves without any human interaction by 2017) the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission asked a federal judge to hold Musk in contempt of court for violating the terms of a $40 million settlement reached last year. In a tweet earlier this month, regulators say, he overstated the number of cars Tesla plans to deliver in 2019. (He pegged the number at 500,000, corrected in a subsequent tweet to: “annualized production rate at the end of 2019 probably around 500k, ie 10k cars/week. Deliveries for year still estimated to be about 400k.”) Musk has until March 11 to respond. 2018 was a tumultuous year for the car company — and for Musk personally. In October, Tesla announced it would reduce its full-time staff by 7 percent, cuts Musk blamed on the high price points of its cars. (Still, Tesla managed to make a four percent profit in Q3 2018.) That news followed on heels of Musk’s tweets about his intentions to take the company private. They triggered an investigation by the SEC, and subsequently forced his resignation as chairman and the aforementioned settlement. Business via VentureBeat https://venturebeat.com February 28, 2019 at 04:35PM
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