2024 Tesla Model 3 facelift leaked

The popular Tesla Model 3 is coming in for its most significant refresh yet, a new spy photo reveals.

Mike Stevens

The photo, which surfaced on social media overnight, reveals an all-new headlight design that gives the Model 3 a more aggressive look – doing away with the approachable 'jellybean' style of the previous shape.

The new headlights appear to be inspired by the maybe-someday-upcoming Tesla Roadster, introducing a slender and sharper look that might soon spread across the EV maker's line-up.

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To be clear, we have no way of knowing at this point if this photo is genuine. It could be 'photoshopped'. It could even be an elaborate prank by Tesla itself, given Elon Musk's penchant for tomfoolery. Only time will tell.

Interestingly, zooming-in on the windscreen seems to suggest a hint of a new curve in the dash, behind the steering wheel, which could be a new driver display – something would-be buyers have been requesting for years, although many Model 3 owners swear that the current centre display is perfectly sufficient for drivers.

Watch for more on the 2024 Model 3 to come in the weeks ahead.

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Is that the instrument display that many have been begging for?

The story to here

March 27: Further details of the 2024 Tesla Model 3 refresh have been leaked, hinting at minor updates for the popular electric car.

Henry Man

Ahead of its expected release later this year, an anonymous insider told Not a Tesla App that the new Model 3 (codenamed project ‘Highland’) will gain a headlight redesign, revised rear bumper design, wing mirror tweak, and introduce a new interior dashboard material (suede mooted by this source).

Following the latest Model S and Model X currently sold overseas, it’ll also gain Tesla’s Hardware 4.0 safety assistance suite, including three new cameras – at the front bumper (similar to the Cybertruck prototype) and two forward-facing units at each fender (adding to the current rearward-facing ones).

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Tesla is also said to be removing the outside temperature sensor and instead use software based on the vehicle’s location and weather data. The Global Positioning System (GPS) module will also be more accurate.

These revisions should cut manufacturing costs, enhance aerodynamic efficiency, and improve its ‘Autopilot’ safety assistance systems after going all-in on a camera-only system and removing sonar parking sensors last year.

The related Tesla Model Y electric SUV is also expected to receive a similar refresh – but it may need to wait up to a year.

February 2023: Tesla could remove the wood veneer dashboard in the rumoured 2024 Tesla Model 3 update and replace it with a non-woven fabric material, according to serial-leaker Chris Zheng.

“An early farewell to the wood trim on the Tesla Model 3!... The new Model 3 will be covered with ABS bonded foam non-woven fabric,” Zheng tweeted.

The wooden trim has been on the popular electric sedan since its inception in 2017 (or since 2019 in Australia), being standard on the black interior. The optional black and white styling replaces it with an all white trim.

It extends the length of the dashboard and later stretched to the upper doors after production shifted from the Californian to Shanghai factory in 2021.

The move should form part of the 2024 Model 3’s purported ‘simplified interior’, with the Tesla officiando previously mooting that it will gain upgraded cameras for its new Autopilot 4.0 safety assist suite.

Inside sources believe it will be released later this year, as the Shanghai factory undergoes a manufacturing upgrade in preparation.

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January 2023: The mysterious Model 3 test vehicle has been seen roaming the streets again

A camouflaged Tesla Model 3 has been spied testing in California again, but Tesla’s design head suggests a major update isn’t coming.

The electric sedan only has the front and rear covered up, indicating minor design tweaks or it could simply be testing new safety assistance sensors.

Electrek has reported the Tesla may reintroduce radar sensors, and a separate filing reveals improved camera hardware is on the horizon.

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According to Reuters, the American electric vehicle carmaker will introduce an update for Model 3 sedan later in 2023 codenamed project ‘Highland’ with an even more simplified interior to cut production costs.

However, Tesla’s senior design executive Franz von Holzhausen has downplayed the rumour.

“There are things that we're always looking at...Those vehicles [Model 3 and Model Y] are great at what they are, and we haven't seen a need or a demand for a change so 'don't fix it if it isn't broke', that's kind of the mentality,” von Holzhausen told the Ride the Lightning podcast.

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“You look at the 3 and the Y on the road and they're super modern feeling... why spoil that?”

Unlike traditional carmakers, Tesla deploys running changes without notice and tends to introduce more iterative updates rather than full generational life cycles.

The Tesla Model 3 was first unveiled in 2016, with first deliveries starting in the US the year after, before arriving in Australia in 2019.

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It has since become the most popular electric car, outselling the venerable Toyota Camry by 1339 examples in 2022.

An update was already introduced in 2021 bringing matte black exterior trims, an electric tailgate, new wheel designs, a redesigned centre console, and a more efficient heat pump system.