New details on the upcoming Model 3 variant spotted

In September 2023, Tesla finally unveiled its refreshed Model 3 to the world with orders in Australia opening on the same day. At that time, only two variants of the very popular electric sedans could be ordered and were missing the top-trim Performance variant.

Since then, there have been sightings of what is believed to be the Performance variant being tested on the streets of California.

Now, the latest sighting of the Performance variant reveals more details of the upcoming track-focused model. These photos were taken by a user Pristine_Floor7545 on reddit and reshared on X.

The photos show a camouflaged black Model 3 with “Engineering Vehicle” stickered on the driver’s side, charging at a supercharger in Santa Monica California.

New details seen in this particular car are the white seats. These are different to the ones seen in the new Model 3 refresh.

These new white seats offer more side support and appear to be more like the sportier “bucket” seats seen in other sports cars. They also hug the driver better when cornering at high speeds, particularly when driving in a spirited way on the track.

Although the car has white seats, it’s likely that the back seat option will also be offered to customers who order the standard interior when configuring the Performance variant after it’s made available.

With the new Tesla Model 3 Performance, the company is looking to visually change the car’s looks from the currently available RWD and Long Range variants. This is so that it appeals to those looking for a sportier track-focused sedan in a market where there are limited options.

To do this, previous sightings of this car being tested have shown the front bumper also having styling upgrades. These highlight more aerodynamic changes that are not seen on the refreshed Model 3’s current front bumper design.

The front bumper design in those sightings had a front splitter which helped increase the downforce by redirecting air from the front section of the vehicle. This is quite useful particularly at higher speeds when on a race track.

To give us an idea of the type of speed that was on offer to owners of existing Model 3 Performance in Australia, the car was capable of 0-100 km/h sprints in 3.3 seconds. 

Top speed in track mode is specified to be 261 km/h which to this day is quite impressive from a car that was originally delivered to customers in Australia over 4 years ago.

The new Performance variant is causing a lot of hype in the Tesla community with many owners waiting for the much anticipated car to be released.