LOS ANGELES — Elon Musk and his Tesla Motors Inc. have long promised the world a more affordable version of their much-admired battery-electric Model S supercar.
Now it’s here, but it isn’t the Model 3 — and it isn’t all that affordable.
Tesla will begin selling a new Model S 60, a slower version of the four-door plug-in sedan. The new vehicle will contain many of the safety and performance features included in the Model S, which has an average transaction price of more than $100,000. But the new Model S 60 will cost as little as $66,000. An all-wheel-drive version will sell for $71,000.
Tesla said the new car will have a range of 200 miles between chargings, and a top speed of 130 miles per hour. It will accelerate from zero to 60 miles per hour in 5.5 seconds.
A software update will even be available that will allow customers to upgrade their 60s to get greater range, the company said.
Tesla emphasized that the new 60s are effectively even less expensive when buyers factor in the available tax incentives and estimated fuel cost savings. Tesla calls the new car “competitive” and puts the car “in the $50,000 range” in terms of real cost.
This isn’t the first time Tesla has offered a Model S with the 60 powertrain. That vehicle was offered at a price of $69,000 but was discontinued in 2015 as more buyers tended toward the faster, more powerful and more expensive battery-motor combinations.
Tesla and Musk this spring electrified the auto industry by unveiling the long-awaited Model 3, which the company has said will sell for $35,000, before government rebates and tax incentives, and have an all-electric range of more than 200 miles.
The company received more than 350,000 deposits of $1,000 for the new car, which is said it will begin building soon in its Fremont, California, factory, and will begin delivering in late 2017.
But the chief executive of the Palo Alto car company disappointed some of those eager early adopters by announcing that the Model 3 cars at their base price will not qualify for the free, long-distance charging available to the more expensive Teslas at the company’s nationwide supercharger network.
The new Model S 60s, it appears, will be able to take advantage of those free charging stations.
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