What was Tesla’s first mass-market electric car?

Tesla’s first mass-market electric car was the Model 3.

Tesla unveiled the Model 3 in 2016 and began customer deliveries in July 2017. It was designed to cost substantially less than the Model S and Model X, making electric driving accessible to a much broader market. The car is a compact battery-electric sedan with a simplified interior and a large central touchscreen.

Production began at Tesla’s Fremont Factory, while battery and drive-unit production for early Model 3 vehicles was linked to Gigafactory 1 in Nevada. Tesla faced major manufacturing challenges during the initial production ramp, which Elon Musk described as a period of intense automation and assembly-line difficulty.

The Model 3 is sometimes mistaken for Tesla’s first car or first sedan. The Roadster was Tesla’s first production vehicle, and the Model S was its first high-volume luxury sedan. The Model 3 instead marked Tesla’s push toward a much larger customer base.