At one point, Tesla’s third car — the one they’re trying to get to the market for around $35,000 — was called the Model E.
Then Ford got huffy and threatened legal action, given that they’ve got something of a history (and a trademark or two) for cars with a similar name.
So Tesla is changing it up. Their third generation car will be called, appropriately, the Model 3. (Which, if you ask me, is even more similar to Model T phonetically. Oh, and it’s also not to be confused with the BMW 3 Series.)
Tesla confirmed the name on Twitter this afternoon, after details trickled out in AutoExpress. According to the same article, the Model 3 should have a range upwards of 200 miles per charge.
Tesla says the Model 3 will come sometime after their SUV, the Model X, which should ship sometime in 2015. Alas, there’s still no concrete evidence as to what the Model 3 will look like, though it’s said to look like a smaller version of their somewhat wide-bodied Model S.