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Tesla Mass-Market Model 3 Lineup To Include Crossover: Report

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Tesla Motors  future Model 3 will include a crossover, according to a report.

J.B.Straubel, the electric car company's CTO, announced the addition of a crossover to the Model 3 portfolio at the EIA Energy Conference in Washington DC, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Tesla is already on the record about a Model 3 sedan that will sell for about $35,000--roughly half the price of the current Model S sedan.   The Journal reported that the Model 3 "lineup," due in 2017, is expected to be priced at $35,000 and offer 200 miles of battery range.  Tesla's first crossover, the Model X, is slated to go on sale later this year.

Straubel also said that by 2020 Tesla should be selling 500,000 vehicles annually. He mentioned that future vehicles are in the works but did not elaborate, according to the report.  And the CTO picked up an oft-stated theme from CEO Elon Musk: lithium-ion battery technology will eventually become so inexpensive that electric powertrains will be the primary "fuel" for light vehicles.

Tesla is on an expansion binge in order to meet the higher demand for future vehicles and batteries.  Last week, the electric car maker snapped up the 500,000-square-foot building where Solyndra once made solar cells in Fremont, Calif., which a Tesla spokeswoman said "gives us the space to expand our manufacturing."   That would supplement the existing Tesla factory that makes the Model S, also in Fremont.  Tesla has also acquired a 431,000 square foot facility in Lathrop, Calif., near Stockton, which is designated as a "new" castings and machining center, according to comments from Elon Musk last week at the annual shareholders meeting.

And there's the Gigafactory near Reno, Nevada (for batteries), which is under construction.  Musk has said in the past that the Gigafactory should be able to supply the battery needs of the Model 3.  The Model 3 is expected to be a watershed product for Tesla because the $35,000 price tag will bring it into the mass market for the first time and, theoretically, greatly expand its reach to consumers.   To date, Tesla vehicles have been purchased principally by consumers with big bank accounts.

Long before the Model 3 crossover arrives, Tesla will deliver its first crossover, the Model X. "We're expecting to begin our first deliveries in three or four months. I'm looking at the latest iteration of the Model X every week. The Model X may arguably be a better SUV than the Model S is a sedan," Musk said last week.