The Tesla Model 3 is a generally impressive little car ... 'production bottlenecks' aside.
The hype has been thick and fast, but perhaps the one element that people initially questioned upon launch (apart from that sparse interior) were its performance figures.
Leaked documents broke the news early; a 0–96km/h time of 5.6 seconds. That's more than enough for most people, especially when stacked up against the rest of the compact sedan segment. A Model S would make mince meat of it in a straight line, sure, but given the much higher price that's to be expected.
But if 5.6 seconds doesn't cut the mustard, then have no fear as Elon Musk has confirmed that a dual-motor and thus all-wheel drive variant is "probably" coming in July.
The news, as it so often does, came through via tweet from Musk online. Asked when a dual-motor 3 was coming, he responded by saying "We need to achieve 5k/week with Model 3 before adding complexity that would inhibit production ramp," and that was followed by a subsequent tweet saying "So probably in July."
A dual-motor Model 3 won't just be quicker than a standard rear-wheel drive model, but it'll also have greater range capabilities.
That's just adding one and one to make two, of course. No actual figures have been confirmed, including pricing or model naming conventions, or whether it'll be available in New Zealand. If it is, given the continual wait for Kiwis on the Model 3 order list, it's probably not likely to hit our shores this year.
Nonetheless, on a lighter platform, an all-wheel drive two-donk Model 3 might be the performance gem of the Tesla range — for those who dig power of the noiseless variety.