Elon Musk promises a spaceship interior for Tesla Model 3

We've got a fever, and the prescription is more cowbell.
 By 
Stan Schroeder
 on 
Original image replaced with Mashable logo
Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

Tesla Motors founder and CEO Elon Musk went on a little tweet spree late Sunday, sharing some additional info about the company's upcoming Model 3 car. 

First, Musk tweeted that Tesla had received 276,000 pre-orders for Model 3 by the end of Saturday. At $1,000 per reservation, that's a $276 million cash infusion for the company and a potential $10 billion in sales (the number, of course, will vary depending on the number of dropped orders and the variants customers end up buying, with the cheapest Model 3 starting at $35,000). 


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As if that weren't insane enough, Musk said that, if the current trend holds, the company might break 500,000 orders even before the second unveiling of the Model 3, which is promised for a later date. 

The first Model 3 cars will be delivered to customers in late 2017. Musk said on Saturday the number of pre-orders was better than expected and that the company would have to ramp up production efforts to keep up with the demand. 

On Sunday, Musk addressed some important questions about the car itself. Answering a question about the lack of dashboard behind the steering wheel (current Model 3 prototypes only have a 15-inch screen to the driver's right), Musk said this odd design choice will make sense once the production version of Model 3 is revealed. 

While we're not sure whether that means the car will more or less drive itself, or if some sort of amazing new HUD is in the works, Musk claims the steering controls and system of the Model 3 will feel "like a spaceship"

And if you're in the camp that think the Model 3's front design is a bit too dull, Musk wrote "some tweaking" is underway, and even asked for design suggestions from users. 

Other interesting tidbits from Musk's "impromptu Twitter AMA" session, as he called it, include hoping the Model 3 would have a 0.21 aerodynamic coefficient, dynamic adjustment of ride height (though this will likely cost customers extra), and space for two child seats (three if you buy slim seats). 

Finally, and most importantly, Musk reiterated the Model 3 will have "more cowbells," referring to this legendary SNL sketch.

While we're not sure what this last bit means in actual car features, Musk's Q&A sessions highlight the advantages of Tesla's approach to the Model 3 launch. The fact that the car isn't done yet works in the company's favor, as it can soak in the customer feedback and tweak details that are disliked the most, and build even more buzz on the features people already love. As weird as that sounds, it looks like the wait for the Model 3 is going to be a fun one. 

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Stan Schroeder
Stan Schroeder
Senior Editor

Stan is a Senior Editor at Mashable, where he has worked since 2007. He's got more battery-powered gadgets and band t-shirts than you. He writes about the next groundbreaking thing. Typically, this is a phone, a coin, or a car. His ultimate goal is to know something about everything.

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