Tesla has finally revealed the facelifted Model 3—rumoured to be codenamed Project Highland—coming with a redesigned exterior and an “all-new” interior. We presumed this was the reason the sedan was not offered in Malaysia when the brand made its debut here in July, and indeed that was the case, as the car is now available to order locally.
Tesla Model 3 Malaysia price
Currently only two versions of the Model 3 are being offered, these being the standard rear-wheel-drive model and the all-wheel-drive Long Range. These undercut the equivalent Model Y variants slightly, making the Model 3 the cheapest Tesla in Malaysia. Prices are:
- Tesla Model 3 RWD – RM189,000
- Tesla Model 3 Long Range – RM218,000
These figures only include the cost of the car itself—add in the delivery and admin fees, number plate fee and the RM1,000 order fee and prices jump to RM190,700 for the RWD model and RM219,700 for the Long Range. This still does not include on-the-road registration costs, so you’ll need to pay a little bit extra on top of this, as well as the mandatory insurance.
Even so, the Long Range is now the cheapest electric vehicle in Malaysia with a range of over 600km by a long shot. It undercuts the Hyundai Ioniq 6 RWD, which is priced at RM289,888 on-the-road without insurance, by nearly RM70,000. Deliveries are slated to start at the end of this year, meaning that the Model 3 could even beat the Model Y (deliveries of which are only expected to kick off early next year) to arriving in customers’ hands.
Aerodynamic exterior improves range
The revised Model 3 has an even more minimalist exterior design compared to its predecessor, sporting much slimmer headlights that give the car a slight resemblance to the (oft-delayed) new Roadster, along with a cleaner front end with fewer air intakes. At the back, you’ll find stylish C-shaped taillights—which are now single-piece items integrated into the boot lid—that flank the new “TESLA” badging.
The company claims the more aerodynamic design (lowers the drag coefficient to 0.219, down from 0.23), along with the new 18-inch Photon and 19-inch Nova wheels (the latter a RM7,500 option), enables the new Model 3 to deliver increased range. The RWD model now travels up to 513km on a single charge—up from 499km—while the Long Range’s, um, range jumps from 614km to 629km. As such, all Model 3s now have a range of over 500km.
Performance figures remain identical—the RWD model gets from zero to 100km/h in 6.1 seconds on its way to a top speed of 201km/h, while the Long Range completes the century sprint in 4.4 seconds. Both also benefit from the Supercharger DC fast charging network that is claimed to provide up to 282km of extra range in 15 minutes.
Tesla is continuing to only offer the Model 3 in Pearl White Multi-Coat at no extra charge. Solid Black and Deep Blue Metallic cost an extra RM5,000, while a new Stealth Grey is a RM7,500 option. The most expensive colour is the also-new Ultra Red, which is priced at RM11,000—RM1,000 more than the Model Y’s Red Multi-Coat.
“All-new” interior with ambient lighting
Tesla is also touting a completely redesigned interior for the Model 3, featuring an even slimmer dashboard with “premium materials”, including what appears to be fabric on the dash top. Additionally, the car sports a new steering wheel (thankfully not a yoke), customisable (read: multi-colour) ambient lighting and an upgraded sound system with up to 17 speakers (the RWD model gets nine speakers), dual subwoofers and dual amplifiers.
Like the latest Model S and X, the indicator and wiper controls have been moved to the steering wheel, meaning that you no longer get a separate stalk on the steering column. The gear selector stalk has also disappeared, with all functions being moved to the infotainment display.
Speaking of which, there’s still a 15.4-inch touchscreen up front that also does double duty as an instrument display, since the Model 3 continues to lack a dedicated cluster. At the back sits a new eight-inch display in between the front seats, just like in the latest Model S and X. Hopefully this means the Model 3 also gets those cars’ discrete AMD RDNA 2 GPU, which would allow it to play proper PC games on Steam.
Tesla has sought to improve the Model 3’s refinement, an area we found the Model Y struggled with when we drove it last month. To that end, the car utilises acoustic glass not only for the windscreen and front side windows, but also the rear side windows and the expansive rear windscreen, which should reduce wind noise. There are also new “comfort-oriented” tyres that are claimed to produce less road noise. On top of this, the retuned suspension is said to improve the ride and further reduce noise.
Other features include new ventilated seats, a glass roof, dual Qi wireless chargers up front, Dog and Camp Modes for the air conditioning and a Sentry Mode feature that uses the 360-degree cameras for surveillance. A black interior as standard; you’ll have to pay an extra RM5,000 for white seats. Reinforced doors improve side impact protection, enhancing the Model 3’s already exemplary safety performance in a crash.
As usual, Tesla is offering Autopilot with every Model 3, providing autonomous emergency braking, adaptive cruise control and lane centring assist for Level 2 semi-autonomous driving. You can also get the Enhanced Autopilot, which adds lane change assist, Navigate on Autopilot, park assist, Summon and Smart Summon for an extra RM16,000, while the misleadingly-named Full Self Driving package, which doesn’t even work in Malaysia as yet, costs RM32,000.
Related reading
- Tesla Model 3 Highland Malaysia: Here’s the official pricing and add-on options
- Tesla Supercharger at Pavilion KL: Here’s Tesla’s EV charger pricing, idle and parking fees
- Did we get everything wrong about Tesla? We respond to Tesla Fans | Let’s Talk About #126
- Tesla Malaysia: Everything you need to know about its EVs and charging network
