In that sense, the Model 3 is more like the iPhone SE—a streamlined version of an original product, without all the bells and whistles. The Model 3 will pack a smaller battery, offer less range, and have about 20% less interior space than the Model S. It’s expected to have rear-wheel instead of all-wheel drive to simplify manufacturing. Tesla has also consolidated the instrument panel (no heads-up display) in anticipation of more autonomous driving, which does not require complex dashboards. More upgrades for the Model 3 are expected to come later.

The success of the Model 3 is crucial for Tesla, which needs a profitable, mass-market vehicle to staunch annual losses in the hundreds of millions of dollars. To date, Tesla has avoided splashy paid advertising campaigns—its car advertising budget came in at about $6 per vehicle in 2015—in favor of trotting out Musk himself for promotional efforts.

That has worked well so far: Tesla’s stock is up 225% since 2013. Musk has a reputation for being entertaining, and customers (or would-be customers) enjoy his quirky anecdotes about sleeping on the factory floor, his thoughts on the likelihood we’re all living in a simulation (very high), and his opinions on the probability of alien life (almost a certainty).

On Twitter today, Musk said the Model 3 was originally going to be called the Model E, but Ford sued to block that name. When a Twitter user asked why he would choose Model 3 knowing it might create confusion, Musk replied “because I was a dumb idiot.”

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