Tesla Model 3 Highland to see 14% price drop per Chinese report citing October deliveries and in-progress trial production

The internet has been awash with rumours, leaks, and sightings of the new Tesla Model 3 Highland as its release draws near. Most recently, a Chinese publication by the name of JRJ (via InsideEVs) has reported that the updated Model 3 is entering trial production at Tesla's Shanghai Gigafactory.

The implications of entering trial production include a prospective October release date. Of course, that hasn't been confirmed by Tesla, but it's notoriously tight-lipped about its upcoming releases. The Model 3 Highland will reportedly use 66 kWh Lithium Manganese Iron Phosphate batteries from CATL — ever so slightly more than the 60 kWh found in the LFP packs in the existing Model 3.

More exciting than a rapidly-approaching release date and a battery spec increase is JRJ's proposed price of 200,000 RMB, which converts to roughly US$27,800. While it had been confirmed that the Highland would be cheaper to produce, due to several hardware changes, JRJ's price estimate gives us a much firmer idea of what to expect when the new Model 3 hits the rest of the world.

While the company's pricing strategy differs slightly in China, Tesla's current Model 3 costs 231,900 Chinese Yuan, which is US$32,257.61 at the time of writing. The change in pricing comes out to an almost 14% price drop.

If true, and if that estimated pricing carries over to other markets, the Model 3 Highland could be a massive step in the right direction for the affordable EV market. In the US, for example, the same price decrease, before US federal tax incentives, results in a base price of US$34,704 — almost US$6,000 less than the current base Model 3.

It's unclear exactly how much of the price delta comes from the new CATL battery, versus the Panasonic cells found in US-built Model 3s, though, and we may have to wait until an October launch to find out.

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