Ever since the Tesla Model 3 was revealed on March 31, a small but vocal group of potential buyers have bemoaned the fact that the car is not a hatchback. It is, however, a striking sedan with a long, sloping, all glass roof. Sadly, that roofline leaves very little room for a proper trunk lid. The opening at the rear is quite small as well. That has led some to wonder if the car, handsome as it is, will have less cargo capacity than its peers — particularly, the Chevy Bolt.
Elon Musk has weighed in via Twitter on several occasions to calm any fears that people may have. He said first that a 7′ surfboard would fit inside. That moved some to reply that carrying surfboards around is not quite the craze it was in the 60’s when Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys created the surfer craze and Beach Blanket Bingo was popular at drive-in theaters. Later, Musk tweeted about why the Model 3 is designed the way it is.
@elonmusk Thx for #Model3 ! Why small trunk lid instead of big hatchback like S&X? I ride a bike not a surfboard :)pic.twitter.com/e3pRMW3Gau
@CmaxVs Only way to get enough rear passenger headroom was to move the rear roof cross-car support beam. A bike will still fit no problem.
The folks at Top Speed have taken the opportunity to imagine what the Model 3 would look like as a hatchback. Based upon the number of favorable comments the proposal has gotten at Teslarati, there are lots of prospective customers who would prefer it if the car had a proper hatch.
The most critical factor for electric cars in the minds of customers is range. And range correlates strongly with weight and aerodynamic drag. No doubt, a hatchback would be less aerodynamically efficient than the gently tapered roofline seen in the current Model 3 concept. But the Model 3 places Tesla in a different market segment than its premium priced Model S sedan and Model X SUV occupy. There is a reason why every other automaker is rushing more and more SUV’s and crossovers to market. They are the hottest selling cars no matter what country you care to look at.
Sedans are the weakest selling cars today. In Europe, hatchbacks dominate in sales over sedans. If Tesla wants to make automobiles for the mass market, it has to make cars the masses want. Yes, it already has 400,000 reservations for the Model 3, so it is probably not too worried about selling all the cars it can build, at least initially. Tesla has said it plans to build several models using the basic architecture of the Model 3. One of those could be a hatchback version for those who want one.
Some think an SUV/crossover version is coming, possibly with a version of the falcon wing doors first introduced on the Model X. Elon has even casually mentioned he would like to do a pickup truck some day. Tesla has a huge advantage over its rivals in that the Model 3 is still 18 months away from the start of production. It has all that time to gather feedback and tweak the Model 3 design any way it deems necessary before then. Other companies have to build their cars first and then wait for the market to respond.
One criticism about the Top Speed concept is that it makes the car resemble a Mazda 3 hatchback. That is probably no coincidence, since Tesla’s lead designer once worked for Mazda. What about you? Do you think the Model 3 should be a hatchback? Share your thought with us in the comments section. Maybe your feedback will find its way to Elon’s desk.
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