Here's an Easy Way to Make That Cheap Tesla: Model 3 Hatchback Gets Rendered

The company recently announced its first quarter financial results, and things aren't looking great: Tesla burned through $2.5 billion of its cash reserves, it was unusually quiet about the 'robotaxi' ideas and instead teased an FSD-based ride-hailing service for current models, saw a 55% drop in the first-quarter net income, and also notified that almost 2,700 employees will be sacked from the Texas factory.

On the other hand, it burned through cash to finance new product investments, including AI, Optimus bots, and the introduction of the updated Tesla Model 3 Performance, among others. Interestingly, there are hints that Tesla might use the next-generation architecture for the upcoming refresh of the Model Y best-seller, and we also found out that the acceleration of the Cybertruck production ramp-up to 1,000 units per week is well underway in April, with 4680 cell production offering room for even higher outputs.

Interestingly, Tesla's shares didn't fall – they gained 12% in pre-session trading after the results were published because everyone and their mother now thinks that the company has an ace up its sleeve – the promised 'cheap' EV. Well, as it turns out, even the imaginative realm of digital car content creators has ideas about that. So, here is the virtual artist better known as Theottle on social media, who has recently resorted to CGI slicing and dicing the Tesla Model 3 into something more affordable – a hatchback.

This is actually not the first time the pixel master had attempted this change – eight years ago when Tesla first unveiled the Model 3, the CGI expert used the third-generation Alfa Romeo Giulietta (now defunct) to create a Model 3 Hatchback. Now, still using just the rear half of the Italian hot hatch, the author strives to create an up-to-date Tesla Model 3 Hatch in his latest behind-the-scenes making-of video timed perfectly with the buzz around the company's Q1 earnings call and striving to bring out more products to the market – and cheaper ones.

Since he's a creative, not an engineer or economist, his vision of the potential Tesla Model 3 Hatchback also includes elements of the new Tesla Model 3 Performance – which has 460 horsepower in Europe or 510 hp and a zero-to-60 mph (96 kph) time of just 2.9 seconds in America because it uses different battery packs to gain the advantage of the US federal incentives. However, if real, a Tesla Model 3 Hatchback would probably strive to achieve a lower pricing point rather than absolute performance, so it would probably be an RWD single-motor version, right?