After a quiet few weeks with no sightings, a Project Highland Tesla Model 3 has been spotted again on the roads of California. While the vehicle in today’s sighting was camouflaged like the others, we did get a glimpse of the new headlights, taillights, rear bumper, and that it will come equipped with new cameras.
The Highland Model 3 was spotted on Tuesday by none other than The Kilowatts, who has come across several other test vehicles over the last few months. What was different in today’s sighting compared to some of the more recent ones is part of the headlight was revealed. You might recall that last month a photo was leaked that purported to show the front end of the Model 3, including the headlights.
While we don’t get a perfect look at the new headlights today, they do appear to be the same. The only part that appears to be different is the amber reflector, which can’t be seen in today’s sighting, but that could be because of the angle and lighting. Even if they aren’t the same however, they are very clearly different than the current generation of headlights, so a headlight and subsequent front end refresh is definitely going to be part of the new design.
While we have seen a leak of the front end, we have yet to see any photos of the rear end, but based on today’s sighting the taillights and rear bumper have also been redesigned, as has been rumoured. Unlike the current Model 3 taillights where the turn signal is horizontal, the turn signal on the new taillights is now vertical. What we can’t tell thanks to the camouflage is whether the turn signal mirrors the same outer ‘C’ of the brake light, but it would make sense for it to do so.
Along with the new taillights, the rear bumper appears to have also undergone a redesign, and now features a diffuser that looks very much like those found on the Model S, Model X, and Model Y.
The one final change spotted today was the addition of the upgraded cameras that are included as part of Hardware 4.0 (HW4). Although it is difficult to tell from a distance, The Kilowatts was able to snap a photo from the appropriate angle to show the red tint on the camera lens that has been seen on other HW4 equipped vehicles. The shorter strip for the turn signal is also a giveaway that this is a HW4 camera.
We were expecting this hardware change to appear on the refresh Model 3 as it is already part of Model S, Model X, and most recently Model Y production.
That is it for the major changes we spotted on this Model 3 refresh. Do you spot anything else? Let us know in the comments section, after checking out the photos and video from The Kilowatts below.
https://twitter.com/klwtts/status/1666146146178445315
