Tesla has made some significant changes to the Model 3 Rear Wheel Drive that’s sold in Mexico – in fact, they’re launching an entirely new textile interior option for the market.
There are several significant changes throughout the interior, but let’s take a look at the new textile interior first.
Textile Seats
Tesla has been well-known for offering vegan leatherette in all its vehicles up to this point, as the only interior option – primarily in black and white for the Model 3 and Model Y, but also in cream for the Model S and Model X.
This new textile interior is now the only option available for the Model 3 RWD in Mexico – coming in gray and is listed as “Standard Fabric”. This textile-only option is also not available for the Long Range or Performance variants, or on any of the Model Y variants.
Tesla has introduced a fabric seating material
Tesla
Heating & Cooling Features Removed
Tesla didn’t stop at the seating material with these changes. They also included other, somewhat surprising changes throughout the interior. There is no longer a semi-premium interior for the RWD Model 3 in Mexico. This means all the Alcantara fabric has been replaced with the same textile fabric as the seats.
Alongside the lack of vegan leatherette, Tesla has also removed heated front and rear seats, as well as the heated steering wheel. This isn’t a surprising move in a warmer market like Mexico and it makes a lot of sense as Tesla makes its way into other markets that don’t require heated elements such as India and parts of Africa. However, due to the fabric textile seating, ventilated seats have also been removed from this model.
While we can see the advantages of not having leather-like seats in the Mexican heat, the lack of ventilated seats is a big disappointment.
Rear Screen Removed
The rear screen is also removed in this model
Tesla
There are a few changes that strike us as odd as well. The rear screen is powered by the same infotainment unit that powers the front screen, so the cost for Tesla is extremely minimal. Think of the rear screen as an additional display on a computer.
Tesla is unlikely to create a custom harness that would power the rear screen for this vehicle, so it’s possible the rear screen could be retrofitted in these models.
Ambient Lighting, Glass, and Speakers
In addition, Tesla has replaced its RGB ambient lighting with a white-only version. This seems like an odd choice, especially as in the open market, a color-capable LED strip versus a single-color strip is only the difference of a few dollars. While this may not provide significant savings for Tesla, it could be a tactic to upsell their higher trim levels that include the RGB feature.
The colorful, customizable ambient lighting feature likely helps sell quite a few cars. Tesla has recently been expanding the capabilities of its ambient lighting feature. With update 2024.26 Tesla added the ability to choose the brightness of the ambient lighting, as well as adding the option to have it only turn on at night time. Both of these features are expected to remain in this Mexican version. However, the ability for the ambient lighting to turn red when Service Mode is active won’t be available.
In addition to ambient lighting changes, Tesla is limiting its acoustic glass, which helps reduce road noise, to just the front windows.
The audio performance in this model has also been reduced. The number of speakers has gone from 17 down to 9. In addition, both subwoofers have been removed and there is now a single amplifier.
The Model 3 RWD's interior in Mexico
Not a Tesla App
Price
In exchange for dropping all of these changes, Tesla has dropped the price of the Model 3 RWD by $50,000 MXN – which is approximately $2,680 USD at the time of writing. We’re not sure that these significant changes will have a positive impact on Mexican sales. Tesla may be testing the waters with these changes, and if it bodes well for sales, we could see these changes be applied to other factories and markets as well.
Next-Gen Vehicle
Most interesting is that this new format could be the standard for Tesla’s upcoming next-generation vehicle – which is expected to be priced at around $25,000 USD. Earlier this year, Tesla pivoted and said that its next-gen vehicle will be built using the same manufacturing process as current models instead of the new unboxed process, which Tesla is now saving for the robotaxi.
The changes we’re seeing with this Mexican model will be something to keep an eye on, as the lack of a heated steering wheel and seat heating won’t be taken too well in most European countries or northern US states, nor in China and other colder climates. We’ll keep an eye out to see if this model makes its way into any other regions. For now, the Model 3 Long Range and Performance come with all the usual features we’ve come to expect.
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One idea that consistently comes up when discussing the future potential of FSD is the ability to order a Tesla and have it arrive at your home—completely autonomously.
Picture this: a car rolls off the assembly line at Giga Texas, drives itself to the outbound delivery lot, and merges onto the highway—completely driverless. Its destination? A customer in upstate New York. Along the way, the vehicle independently plans its charging stops, navigates traffic, and drives nonstop, no breaks needed, until it pulls into the buyer’s driveway.
Of course, there’s a lot to consider and break down - but Elon Musk doubled down and said that he intends to have Tesla vehicles deliver themselves autonomously by the end of 2025. We’re sure there are some stipulations to that, but it’s an exciting idea that could save Tesla thousands per vehicle sold.
The core idea is that FSD Unsupervised is nearing completeness, with the upcoming launch of Tesla’s first Robotaxi network slated for June. Once Tesla can demonstrate that Unsupervised driving is safe, it will expand beyond simply transporting passengers from Point A to Point B.
That will include moving vehicles from factory to consumer, which will vastly streamline Tesla’s delivery process - and really make a statement about how far Tesla is ahead of the competition.
Reduced Delivery Costs
One of the biggest keys for Tesla throughout its history has been its ability to drive down costs. Delivery costs add to the price of a vehicle, and it’s not just the price of transporting the vehicle, but the cost of the whole delivery experience — delivery center and personnel included.
Instead, if a future Tesla drives itself directly to the consumer, Tesla can further reduce the price of its vehicles or improve its profits.
Improved Customer Experience
Money aside, the real game-changer is that no other vehicle delivery experience will come close to Tesla’s. What other brand will be able to deliver a car that drives itself to your home—straight from the factory?
Having a vehicle deliver itself can also provide other benefits, such as faster delivery times for customers. The customer also won’t need to drive to a delivery center to pick up their vehicle. The vehicle would go directly from the factory to the customer without any steps in between.
There’s something undeniably futuristic about getting a notification on your phone, glancing outside, and seeing your brand-new Tesla autonomously pulling into your driveway.
Limitations
Of course, with any new process or feature - there will be limitations and hurdles for Tesla to address, and these will take time and effort.
Let’s discuss some of the hurdles Tesla will need to solve.
Charging Infrastructure
Besides achieving true autonomy, another big challenge will be charging infrastructure. No Tesla can currently plug itself in at a Supercharger - they’ll need access to the upcoming V4 Superchargers with Wireless Charging to take on a road trip autonomously.
That will be a challenging rollout in the initial few years, especially as Tesla hasn’t been actively replacing older V2 Supercharger sites just yet - and is instead focusing on deploying new ones. We imagine that the rollout of wireless charging will likely also be limited, and it is likely that only Tesla’s more premium vehicles and Robotaxis will receive wireless charging compatibility.
Autonomy Policies / Geographic Limitations
Tesla has been consistently hamstrung by red tape, and unsupervised deliveries will also be a massive hurdle to clear with many states and provinces, as well as at the federal level. That will be an implicit challenge for Tesla in the infancy of the Robotaxi network as well, but once approvals spread wider, we can see these restrictions being lifted and relaxed.
Mileage and Damage
One item that could be a sticking point for customers is mileage and damage. If your brand-new vehicle was damaged on its trip over, what would you do? You’d have to take it from your driveway right to the Service Center, effectively invalidating the entire experience.
Of course, many people will also want to see a low odometer on arrival of a brand new, fresh-from-factory vehicle - and that’s understandable. Having a car arrive with several hundred or even a thousand miles of wear and tear on the tires and paint could be a big negative as well.
What Is Likely to Happen
We think that Tesla will continue to ship vehicles longer distances - but perhaps once they’re offloaded at your local Service Center, an employee taps a button, and begins the self-delivery process. That eliminates many of the above problems we’ve outlined, including charging and additional mileage, while keeping many of the advantages intact.
For any customers who order a Tesla in Austin later this year, it’s possible Tesla could have the vehicle delivered directly to you.
Like clockwork, it’s time for the opportunity to submit questions for Tesla’s Q1 2025 Earnings Call. Q1 has historically been difficult for Tesla and other auto manufacturers in general, but doom-and-gloom aside, there’s plenty more to be excited about, including upcoming improvements to FSD and the first phase of Tesla’s Robotaxi network.
Earnings Q1 2025 Questions
Tesla is gearing up for its Q1 2025 Earnings Call, providing an opportunity for shareholders to once again submit and vote on questions they want to be addressed during the event. Tesla has already announced the lower-than-expected delivery numbers for Q1 2025, and also held a Public All-Hands Meeting for the first time, so we’re interested to find out what answers to some of these questions during their Q&A session.
Most Popular Questions
When will FSD unsupervised be available for personal use on personally-owned cars?
Is Tesla still on track for releasing “more affordable models” this year? Or will you be focusing on simplified versions to enhance affordability, similar to the RWD Cybertruck?
Robotaxi still on track for this year?
How is Tesla positioning itself to flexibly adapt to global economic risks in the form of tariffs, political biases, etc.?
Regarding the Tesla Optimus pilot line, could you confirm if it is currently operational? If so, what is the current production rate of Optimus bots per week? Additionally, how might the recent tariffs impact the scalability of this production line moving forward?
Did Tesla experience any meaningful changes in order inflow rate in Q1 relating to all of the rumors of “brand damage”?
When will Tesla Insurance be available in all 50 states. I’m from Idaho, and I’m surrounded by states where it is available, but it isn’t available in my state.
How is the company planning to deal with the impact of Elon’s partnership with the current administration?
is there a possibility of a stock split if so what would it be
Questions and voting are conducted through Say, a third-party platform that validates share ownership. Once your ownership is verified, you can use your shares to vote, with your vote weight corresponding to the number of shares you hold. Submitting a question initially gives it votes equivalent to your number of shares.
Below, we also compiled a list of the top questions going into the Earnings Call, which takes place a week from today.
The Earnings Call itself will take place on April 22, at 5:30 PM EDT (2:30 PM PT). Links to the live stream will be made available closer to the event. A recap of the key points will also be provided as usual, so stay tuned for that in the hours after the call.
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