Tesla Model 3 refresh spotted on California roads, revealing new details of upgrade

Tesla has been working on an updated Model 3 for many months now. Previous reports have suggested that it will be longer and sleeker, and perhaps even sportier, than the current best-selling electric sedan.

Now, a prototype of the upcoming Model 3 has been spotted by Tesla enthusiast The Kilowatts on Twitter.

This time, it was driving in the streets of California and pictures shared reveal some key changes, although the latest sighting of the black Model 3 had a front and rear cover.

Spotted Tesla's Project Highland Prototype Model 3 for the first time in several weeks testing in California this morning! @Tesla @elonmusk pic.twitter.com/sIHbWI6Tcy

— The Kilowatts 🚗⚡️ (@klwtts) June 6, 2023

Although still under wraps, a couple of features are already spotted in the test car seen driving in this sighting.

Starting at the front, a narrower front light cut-out can be seen which confirms the previous sighting of an Alpha prototype of the refreshed car.

That also gives the sedan a sleeker look when compared to the current model and possibly contributes to a car's efficiency by lowering the coefficient of drag.

Along the length of the car, the repeater cameras have also been spotted in this sighting to be the higher resolution, Hardware 4 (HW4) units.

New headlights and HW 4 cameras confirmed! pic.twitter.com/NLPkfVpDBl

— The Kilowatts 🚗⚡️ (@klwtts) June 6, 2023

These high-resolution cameras for Autopilot were also recently spotted in the newly manufactured Model Ys out of Tesla's Fremont factory in California.

Moving to the rear of the new Model 3, the video that was shared shows a vertical rear turning indicator.

These are horizontal in the current Model 3 and Model Y so it’d be interesting to see if this change is reflected in the mass-produced Model 3s.

Staying at the rear, another interesting feature spotted is the potential inclusion of the rear diffuser.

Good eye spotting the diffuser pic.twitter.com/2fV4pqfqRM

— The Kilowatts 🚗⚡️ (@klwtts) June 6, 2023

This was first featured in Tesla's Model S line-up and is designed to help with airflow over and around the car and better handling at higher speeds.

If this change continues into the production version of the refreshed Model 3, it's likely to be only offered in the Performance variant which by default comes with Tesla's Track mode.

That's likely to make many electric performance sports car fans happy and well worth the upgrade from the current Model 3.

The refreshed Model 3 is going to be a big step up in manufacturing and production cost for Tesla.

The aim of the new model is to cut costs in the manufacturing process like the Gigacastings seen in the Model Y design along with freshening up the external designs which we have seen in this sighting.

For Australia, all Teslas are manufactured in Shanghai. Over there, the trial production of the revamped Model 3 is about to go into a trial according to a recent Bloomberg report.

This is good news for current and future Model 3 customers as production is expected to start later this year with deliveries soon after into the country.

Riz is the founder of carloop based in Melbourne, specialising in Australian EV data, insight reports and trends. He is a mechanical engineer who spent the first 7 years of his career building transport infrastructure before starting carloop. He has a passion for cars, particularly EVs and wants to help reduce transport emissions in Australia. He currently drives a red Tesla Model 3.