Tesla Model 3

The first Model 3s are rolling away from Tesla’s Fremont factory.

(Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

Jan. 18, 2018 12:04 PM PT

The Model 3, Tesla’s “affordable” battery electric sedan, is the most anticipated car in auto history.

The roof line of Tesla’s new Model 3 is an elegant arch, with one clean line from windshield to trunk lid.

(Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

The Model 3, weighing in at a reported 3,549 pounds (3,814 with the long-range battery), jets from corner to corner like a much lighter vehicle.

(Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

The face of the Model 3 has no grille to suck in air needed to cool an internal combustion engine.

(Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

Door handles on the Model 3, as on Tesla’s S and X versions, are sunk flush into the body.

(Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

The dashboard attracts considerable attention — because there isn’t one. Instead, there is a single, centrally mounted, 15-inch touchscreen display.

(Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

Tesla’s new Model 3 is a four-door sedan that sits five comfortably.

(Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

Textile seat covers wrap extremely comfortable driver and passenger seats. Leather is offered on the premium package.

(Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

Tesla’s new Model 3 features one long “air blade” where a traditional dashboard used to be.

(Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

The front trunk — or “frunk” — offers space under the hood of Tesla’s new Model 3.

(Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

The rear seats of the Model 3 fold flat too, which creates a really roomy trunk.

(Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)