Tesla's first mass-market electric vehicle was the Model 3.
Tesla unveiled the Model 3 in March 2016 as a smaller, more affordable companion to the premium Model S sedan and Model X SUV. Its planned starting price of $35,000 before incentives was central to Tesla’s strategy: use expensive early vehicles to fund development, then move toward a car aimed at a much larger market.
The first customer deliveries took place in July 2017, after Tesla faced major production challenges while attempting to ramp up manufacturing. Despite those difficulties, the Model 3 became Tesla’s volume breakthrough and helped make battery-electric cars more familiar to mainstream buyers.
People sometimes confuse the Model 3 with the Model Y because the Y later became Tesla’s best-selling vehicle in many markets. The Model Y is a crossover derived from the Model 3 platform, but it arrived afterward, in 2020. The Model S and Model X preceded both models and were positioned as premium vehicles rather than Tesla’s first mass-market offering.