It’s the holy grail among Model 3 buyers who put range above everything else: the Long Range-Rear Wheel Drive variant. This off-menu offering has not existed in the US and Europe for months, but is now returning in China.
Last June, we reported that the Long Range RWD version of the Tesla Model 3 had been removed from the menu. Now that is actually a wrong expression, because the car has never been on the menu, strictly speaking. The Long Range RWD was not in the configurator, but could be ordered through Tesla by phone or email as an alternative to the regular Long Range version.
With that car this RWD shared its large battery pack, but the drive was in this case only by one electric motor. The rear-wheel drive variant therefore lagged behind the “Dual Motor” version in terms of acceleration, but could well boast a WLTP range of more than 600 km, where the “normal” Long Range has to do with 560 km. Moreover, the RWD was a bit cheaper than the AWD version with a price of about 55 mille.
Instead of AWD
Sounds ideal, but unfortunately Tesla decided to simplify the range in mid-2019. Now that Tesla is also building the Model 3 in China, the brand also has the option of carrying different versions for that market. Until recently, only the Standard Range Plus variant was built in China and the American Long Range and Performance variants were still just taken from the US.
Now that seems to be changing. The new Long Range RWD will replace the US Long Range AWD trim. Tesla promises 445 km for the Standard Range Plus and 668 km for the new Long Range, and it should be noted that it uses a different measuring cycle than ours. Since the Standard Range Plus is rated for 409 km here, it is safe to assume that the WLTP range of the rear-wheel drive Long Range version would come down to around 610 km here, more or less equal to what one here then gave up for this variant. Acceleration from 0 to 100 takes 5.3 seconds, which is slower than the Dual Motor (4.6 s) but slightly faster than the entry-level version (5.6 s).
Cheaper than our SR +
The new Long Range is of course also cheaper. Previously, about 57,000 euros had to be tapped for a Model 3 Long Range in China, but now that amount has dropped to 339,050 yuan, or about 44,000 euros. In both cases these are amounts after deduction of a purchase subsidy. Without that advantage, a Chinese Long Range costs 366,550 Yuan, € 47,616. That is still considerably less than what a four-wheel drive Long Range in the Netherlands costs (€ 58,300) and even cheaper than a standard range plus delivered here (€ 48,800).