Steve LeVine, writing for Quartz:

Though it was short, the drama was palpable in a glitzy nighttime ceremony in Hawthorne, California, as Musk summoned three of the Model 3s onto the stage, accompanied by sweeping music and roving lights. The car will cost $35,000, and go 215 miles on a single charge, he said, 15 miles further than generally expected.

As proof of the car’s credibility, he said in the end, more than 115,000 buyers around the world had plopped down $1,000 each to reserve a Model 3, sight unseen. The crowd whooped.

The Model 3 is in the Prius cost range, much, much cheaper than the $100K+ range of previous models. This is much closer to a car for the masses, a luxurious all-electric competing with the much more pedestrian all-electric Chevy Bolt.

The car is beautifully designed, both inside and out. Jump to this link to see a short Instagram video of the interior (“Iiin-tresting”), with its giant iPad Pro of a dashboard screen.

And there’s two trunks. Cause why not, since there’s so much extra space under the hood without a traditional internal combustion engine.

Then there’s Apple, watching, studying, prototyping. Holding back, waiting for the market to become larger, more established. Smart.