Aussie leads global Tesla Model 3 program

An Australian engineer who spent 12 years working at Ford Australia is one of the key development minds behind the Tesla Model 3, the mid-size luxury electric vehicle that was launched in Australia this week.

The engineer is from Melbourne, barracks for the Essendon bombers in the AFL and has worked for Tesla Motors in Palo Alto, California since 2013.

As the global product manager for the Model 3, he conducted what’s called a walkaround of the EV for automotive media attending the Australian launch near Sydney.

He revealed a heap of fascinating information about the thought process that went into the car and the development challenges that followed on from that.

But Tesla says we can’t name him and we can’t quote him. Why? It’s got something to do with Tesla wanting a global consistency of messaging about itself and its products.

Obviously, you can’t just have any old person sprouting off about such things. Who knows what random thought-bubbles might pop out and, clearly, Elon Musk is bang on message all the time!

It will be fascinating to see over the next few days how various members of the motoring media tackle this Tesla edict and whether anyone breaks it.

It’s a silly demand and one carsales.com.au would normally not accept. But this time round we will, to show how absurd it is and because we want you to know how deep Aussie involvement in the Model 3 runs.

Anyway, paraphrasing only, here’s some of the background provided to us by the mystery man.

He led the Model 3 program from the beginning in early 2015 and essentially has two distinct parts to his role. One is product management, which defines what the car is going to be, then he oversees its evolution through its lifespan.

The other is program management, which focusses on getting the car to market on time and on budget.

At this point it’s worth pointing out the Model 3 program has had its struggles. It first went on sale in the USA in mid-2017 and Tesla has been taking $1500 deposits on the car for three years in Australia.

Its local arrival has been postponed several times thanks to US demand and the US company’s much-chronicled manufacturing and quality issues.

Back to ‘Mr 3’. Model 3 was a clean-sheet development. The goal for the car was to redefine the medium luxury segment in the same way the Model S impacted the large luxury sedan segment.

The only guiding principle was Musk’s $US35,000 entry-level pricepoint – which the car achieved in the USA in February 2019.

The Model S taught the Model 3 team that buyers don’t shop EV versus EV; they are agnostic when it comes to powertrain. So primary 3 opposition are cars like Mercedes-Benz C-class, BMW 3 Series and Audi A4.

Our bloke regularly does handovers to new customers and he says plenty of them are stepping up from cheaper cars to the Model 3. Key reasons they are buying the 3 include safety, the convenience of charging, technology and running costs.

The development team decided ‘Tesla DNA’ had to be inculcated in to the 3. But as it’s such a young company, they first had to figure out what that was.

Mr 3 and his team came up with four key principles: beautiful design; strong straightline, handling and range performance; class-leading safety; intuitive technology.

Exterior design highlights include the expansive use of roof glass, aero-oriented flush-fit door-handles, the charge-port door hidden behind the tail-light and maximised luggage space in the boot and the ‘frunk’ – or front trunk.

Key driving signatures include instantaneous electric motor acceleration and the dynamic handling aided by a low centre of gravity provided by the battery pack.

Tesla exploited the 3’s lower weight and shorter length and wheelbase compared to the Model S to make it feel sportier. It also runs a faster 10.3:1 steering rack ratio to maximise ‘dartiness’. A small steering wheel adds to that impression.

The Tesla man also extolled the duality of the car, meaning it’s a cruiser as well as a bruiser. He highlighted the audio system quality in this regard, which is developed by ex-Bang & Olufsen engineers now working at Tesla.

The stereo is also an example of Tesla’s extensive vertical integration. That means it does as much as possible for itself, rather than taking parts and knowledge from suppliers. This allows it to change designs more quickly and do things like over the air (OTA) updates without impeding anyone else’s copyright.

Safety scores for the Model 3 include five-star ANCAP, Euro NCAP and US NCAP. Every 3 ships with eight cameras, a forward radar, 12 ultrasonic sensors and the full computing power of Tesla’s semi-autonomous Autopilot system.

Tesla builds on that by offering what it calls full self-driving capability as an option. This is an OTA software update. However, it’s not yet available in Australia and there is only very limited functionality offered in the USA. Overlaying the technical challenges are regulations that limit self-driving freedoms.

Intuitive technology includes using the owner’s smartphone as the key (backed up by a key-card) and the 15-inch touch pad that dominates the interior.

The traditional speedo and tacho have been done away with and virtually all functions are routed through this screen. Even the direction of air-conditioning flow is changed by swiping on the screen.

The intention is to deliver a timeless interior feel. Mr 3 argues that lots of buttons and dials ages a car quickly. For instance, the steering wheel has only two roller thumb wheels. The minimalist dashboard is also a nod to an autonomous future when the car will drive itself.

Tesla pushes OTA updates by LTE and wifi to the Model 3. Mr 3 highlighted track mode, dash-cam, sentry mode and dog mode, which assures passers-by via a message on the touch-screen that the air-con is on and the dog has been left in the car on purpose.

In conclusion, Mr 3 assured us he could talk for hours about the car and was delighted to be presenting it in his home country. Yep, terrific.

Watch out for carsales.com.au’s first drive of the Tesla Model 3 on local soil soon. For now, check out these stories: