Tesla recently celebrated a major milestone, marking a full decade since the public first laid eyes on the vehicle that rocked the electric car landscape. It’s hard to understate just how much the Model 3 shook up the automotive world. Looking back, we know it as the electric vehicle that changed the world by proving that mass-market electric transit was viable. Beyond its innovative manufacturing process, the Model 3 went on to set new standards for crash safety and post-delivery improvement via software updates that legacy automakers are trying to emulate to this day.
Getting the car to driveways required surviving what Elon Musk famously called “production hell,” a brutal manufacturing ramp-up to build 5,000 units per week by 2018. But before factories spun up, Tesla showed off an early vision of the car. If you watch Tesla’s official Model 3 unveiling from March 31, 2016, you get a great look at the prototype vehicles that were shown off. A deep dive into those early designs reveals several features that never quite survived the transition to the production line.
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Prototype Hardware Dropped for Production
The prototype vehicles featured several distinct exterior and interior pieces that were ultimately left on the cutting room floor to simplify manufacturing and reduce production costs. Tesla was aiming for mass-market appeal with its most affordable vehicle yet, after all.
On the outside, the initial builds featured Model S-style self-presenting door handles that physically popped out as the driver approached. Production variants dropped these mechanical handles for the flush, manual pivot handles we see today.
Inside the cabin, the styling choices were pretty different. The original interior design leaned much harder into an ultra-clean white aesthetic. The prototype door panels and interior door handles were almost entirely white, making the white trim significantly more dominant than what rolled off production lines later.
The center console section was finished in a solid white trim plate featuring integrated cup holder covers. While this look skipped the initial assembly lines, Tesla’s new three-row, six-seat Model Y L, which appears to be gearing up for a U.S. launch, seems to be moving back toward this covered console look. Finally, the steering wheel on the reveal stage lacked the familiar physical scroll wheels entirely, instead showcasing a bare rim design.
Early UI Elements That Didn’t Make the Cut
The software driving the central display on the prototype fleet was fundamentally different, not just from what we have now but from what was delivered to early reservation holders. The initial prototype user interface lacked the parked car visualizations that occupy the left side of our screens today. Instead, the layout devoted almost the entire screen space to navigation maps.
In this early concept, the speedometer was overlaid directly on top of the map elements. The media interface operated as a vertical music player situated on the far right edge of the center touchscreen. This layout also used massive control icons that closely mirrored the classic UI scheme found in older Model S and Model X software. By the time customer deliveries launched, Tesla had completely redesigned the interface to house a dedicated left-side vehicle visualization, moving maps to the right and placing the speedometer in a clean, fixed location.
What’s Next for the Model 3?
Tesla’s product catalog looks very different today. With half of the passenger vehicle lineup recently phased out as Tesla officially ended Model S and Model X orders, engineers appear to be exploring high-performance updates to the remaining Model 3 and Model Y (along with an entirely new SUV that Musk has been teasing of late).
Vice President of Engineering Lars Moravy recently teased the possibility of a tri-motor Model 3 Plaid coming down the line. While future updates might bring faster powertrains or design cues inspired by the upcoming Cybercab robotaxi, the original 2016 prototypes remain a fascinating look at what could have been.
