Why does Tesla sabotage its flagship model in an unusual "anti-sales campaign"?

The American firm has leaked a comparison between the Model 3 and the Model S in which the entry-level electric saloon comes off clearly worse.

The technical specifications of the Tesla Model 3 have been leaked in a comparison chart between the entry-level saloon and the Model S (luxury saloon). Apparently, an internal source at the American firm leaked this comparison as part of the “anti-sales” campaign that Tesla is running. According to the fact sheet, the entry-level model – the Model 3 – will accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h in 5.6 seconds.

Elon Musk has recently confessed to his concern about the high number of Model 3 reservations, as this could affect the commercial performance of the Model S. Furthermore, the CEO of Tesla fears that customers may see the Model 3 as an evolution of the Model S. “We want to be very clear that the Model 3 is not the third version of the Model S. The Model 3 is essentially a smaller and more affordable version of the Model S, with fewer options and configurations,” said Musk.

Consequently, the American firm has launched a campaign to highlight the better performance offered by the luxury saloon over the mid-size one; the actions of this campaign include the comparison chart we see in the following image.

As we can see, the Tesla Model 3 measures 4,693 cm in length (compared with the 4,978 cm of the Model S) and has a range of 350 km (between 400 and 550 km for the larger saloon). The number of configurations offered by the Tesla Model 3 (fewer than 100) is considerably lower than that of the Model S (more than 1,500), as is its 0-100 km/h acceleration (5.6 seconds compared with the Model S’s 2.3 seconds).

Technical specifications of this car

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