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Tesla Model 3 Overrated? Critics Argue New Car Is More Evolutionary Than Disruptive

By Lorenzo Tanos
Published on: 11:55 PST, Aug 2, 2017

Is the Tesla Model 3 an overrated new vehicle? Granted, nobody seems to be saying that Elon Musk’s latest automotive breakthrough is a bad car. But with mere days having passed since it began rolling out, some critics have commented that the Model 3 may have gotten too much hype, and may be more of an evolutionary electric vehicle, rather than a so-called “disruptor” in the EV space.

There have been several reasons to sing the praises of the Tesla Model 3, with feedback generally glowing, as noted by Futurism in a compilation of various reviews from the car’s first few days in the market. Leading publications went out of their way to call the Model 3 the “car of the future,” effusively commenting about the vehicle’s minimalist exterior and interior design, as well as the bevy of high-tech features that one can’t find in the average EV, or the average new car, for that matter.

Despite all that praise, however, some have argued that the Tesla Model 3 is overrated. In the words of The Week, the Model 3 is “just a car,” pretty as it may be, despite critics raving about the simplicity of the vehicle’s interior features. Instead of overwhelming car owners, especially older ones, with “baffling complex and bloated” features, Tesla did the opposite by taking the minimalist route with its 15-inch touchscreen panel. But even with those two key positives in mind, The Week opined that the Model 3 is more of an evolutionary take on the automobile, rather than what’s known in the business lingo as a “disruptor,” or an innovative product that could satisfy present and future consumer needs.

Aside from suggesting that the Tesla Model 3 may be overrated or “overhyped,” The Week further posited that all the praise for the car as something “new and shiny” in the market may make consumers “blind to its detriments.”

“In doing so we miss the profound ambivalence that new technology brings. After all, for the myriad, incredible things the internet, social networking, and the smartphone have done, they have also brought endless trouble: fake news, polarization, the burgeoning alt-right, surveillance, addiction, a persistent fear of missing out, the dominance of visual culture of platforms like Instagram, and so on, ad nauseum.”

Furthermore, The Week questioned the ability of an electric car like the Model 3 to fight congestion, poor, car-centric city planning, urban sprawl, and other drawbacks of car culture. The publication suggested that the Tesla Model 3 may also be overrated because it encourages these pitfalls of car culture and nullifies the efforts of some cities to create communities that aren’t as dependent on vehicles, but still able to make their residents happy.

In a separate report that also used the word “overhyped” to describe the Model 3, Australian publication Motoring wrote that there are several reasons why this is the case for Tesla’s new car. For one, many owners may have to wait until 2019 until they get the Model 3 units they pre-ordered, as queues are currently at a whopping 300,000 to 500,000 cars. And while most of the other reasons for the Tesla Model 3 being overrated or overhyped were focused mainly on Australian consumers, Motoring added that buyers, regardless of where they’re located, may have to pay much more than the competitive base price of $35,000, should they choose most, if not all the optional features that come with the car.

Do you feel that the Tesla Model 3 is an “overrated” or “overhyped” new vehicle, or are you more inclined to believe the reviews that hype it up as the “car of the future”?

[Featured Image by Justin Pritchard/AP Images]

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