Liam Denning, Columnist

Tesla Speeds Up! Why Aren’t You Thrilled?

A sooner-than-expected Model 3 for the masses comes with many questions.

February 28, 2019 at 11:58 PM UTC

Liam Denning is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering energy. A former banker, he edited the Wall Street Journal’s Heard on the Street column and wrote the Financial Times’s Lex column.

What does Elon Musk have to do to please you people?
Photographer: PETER PARKS/AFP/Getty Images

Provide news feedback or report an error

Site feedback:

Take our Survey

This article is for subscribers only.

Well, it’s here. Tesla Inc.’s $35,000 Model 3 went on sale Thursday afternoon in typical fashion: teased on Twitter, announced by CEO Elon Musk and a bit late (it was first unveiled just shy of three years ago).

The car has a totemic significance for the company, representing the break-out moment from luxury Silicon Valley toy to electrified wheels for the masses. I went on the website and was told the base model – with cloth seats and “basic audio” – would cost me $35,000, or just over $29,000 after federal and New York subsidies (it also said gasoline savings bring the true cost below $25,000, but come on). More than 12 years after Musk published his Secret Tesla Motors Master Plan, his “even more affordable car” has arrived.