Tesla tries to lower the Model 3 price in Mexico with cloth seats and stripped comfort features

Tesla has introduced a Model 3 RWD version with fabric seats, only in Mexico. In a move to cut production costs of the comparatively pricey base Model 3 there, it has also removed a number of interior comforts that remain standard on the US and Canadian versions of its cheapest vehicle.

In Mexico, the RWD Model 3 is now sold without seat heating or ventilation, rear display, steering wheel heating, multicolor ambient lights, and seemingly even without a cupholder lid.

Moreover, the vaunted acoustic glass introduced with the Model 3 refresh is now present only on the front windows.

The car also comes with 9 speakers and one amplifier instead of the 17 speakers, 2 amplifiers, and 1 subwoofer found in the Long Range and Performance versions, but that difference is also present on the US models. 

Even with those features stripped down, however, the base Model 3 price starts from the equivalent of $40,290 in Mexico, while in the US it is priced from $38,990, still with vented leather seats and all the other accoutrements.

Cars are pretty expensive in Mexico, and, from the looks of it, Tesla is removing features that don't make much sense for the local market, in order to bring costs and prices down.

The heated seats and steering wheel are largely not needed in the hot climate, for instance. The fabric seats might be preferable to leather ones in the hot weather, too. A white ambient lighting or the lack of a smallish rear screen probably won't be dealbreakers either, but future Model 3 RWD owners in Mexico could've appreciated if the vented seats stayed.

It remains to be seen if this stripped-down Model 3 is the approach that Tesla will be taking to bring the price of its future mass market vehicles down, or if it is just an adaptation to local market conditions.

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