Minimalist design of Tesla Model 3

By: Idea Theorem
3 September 2017
8 min read

Telsa Model 3 is the car that has been long awaited for more than 10 years. On July 28, 2017, Elon Musk handed over 30 of the Model 3 to its owners. This was a huge milestone in the Tesla Master Plan that was shared in 2006 by Elon Musk. With more than 400,000 in pre-orders and growing daily, we will look at how the minimalist design has helped Tesla Model 3 connect with its customers.

[qodef_blockquote text=”Elon Musk’s Master Plan – 1) Build sports car  2)Use that money to build an affordable car 3) Use that money to build an even more affordable car 4) While doing above, also provide zero emission electric power generation options. 5) Don’t tell anyone.” title_tag=”h5″]

Simple and Functional, these two words describe the Model 3. The design of Model 3 really helps it to stand out from the crowd. Tesla has definitely incorporated the learnings from Model X and S to create an economical car which is getting a lot of people excited around the world. There are also some unique features in the interior which will take people some time to get used to, but as the Tesla’s Chief Designer says –

[qodef_blockquote text=”The interior is the most innovative part of the design. We took away everything that is not necessary. What we delivered on the interior is unlike any other car out there. It will age gracefully.” title_tag=”h5″]

[clickToTweet tweet=”Simple and Functional, these two words describe the Tesla Model 3″ quote=”Simple and Functional, these two words describe the Tesla Model 3″ theme=”style5″]

Interiors of Tesla Model 3 on the left and Mercedes CLA 250 (Photo Credits: Tesla and Mercedes)

1) Reduced Number of Physical Buttons

The first thing that stands out in the interior is the number of physical buttons in CLA compared to Model 3. Similar to any other car on the market, Mercedes CLA is overloaded with physical buttons. Tesla took an innovative approach, by removing the majority of physical buttons and replacing with a 15″ touch screen. It is all about leveraging the technological advancements to your advantage to help improve your customer’s user experience. Always when companies take such a drastic change from their industry – it usually shakes the industry and could become a trend setter. The approach taken is all about being bold or go home.

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2) Simple Air Vent Design

We have traditionally seen multiple air vents, all placed strategically next to the passenger and driver seat. The air vent of the Model 3 blends very well with the dashboard. Providing almost a seamless view, it is even hard to tell that there is a vent hidden between the boards. The passage of air in the vents is also controlled by the 15″ touch screen.

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3) Reduced Screens

This is definitely the most controversial change which has raised a lot of eyebrows. Speedometer placement is no more behind the steering wheel, it is embedded in the 15″ touch screen. That means 1) it will take you a bit longer to find out your speed while driving, as you will need to look slightly on the side 2) everybody else in the car could also see your speed :). In recent years we have seen car companies introduce touch screens and slowly increasing the number of screens being offered in the car (Started with one and now some of them even have three). If minimalist one screen concept of Tesla Model 3 is well received by the consumer, then all other car companies might follow.

Tesla Model 3 (Photo Credits: Tesla)
Mercedes CLA 250 (Photo Credits: Mercedes)

Even if you look at the exterior of Tesla Model 3, it is definitely very minimalist design as shown above. It is clear that Tesla has truly redesigned the car, that just shows every part of the car has been thought thoroughly to get best out of the technology advancement to date and then more 🙂  Overall lot of people are really excited about the fresh air in the auto industry. Only time will tell how Tesla will do in the mass car market. But we can definitely say that lot of people are tempted to buy one today 🙂

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