We had a good look at the Model 3 during the unveil event last month, and Tesla shared a few promo shots afterward, but it’s always interesting to see a product in a non-staged environment and where it is intended to be utilized. In the case of the Model 3, that would be on the road.

At the unveiling event, Tesla officials described the Model 3 units used for test rides as “engineering validation cars”. While Tesla CEO Elon Musk said that the company was still working on the vehicles and a few design details will end up more refined than what we are seeing right now, it does sound like those Model 3’s are close to what will go into production next year.

On Friday, Tesla released the compensation details of its executive team, including Musk’s stock option plan based on milestone achievements. One of those achievements is the completion of the Model 3 Alpha prototype and for the first time it was shown as completed.

Now it doesn’t necessarily mean that the vehicles below are “Alpha prototypes”, since in the past, like for the Model X for example, Tesla unveiled its vehicles with what it referred to as “pre-Alpha prototypes”. Though at least it’s now confirmed that Tesla has an Alpha Model 3 prototype and it will be interesting to follow the evolution of the vehicle through sightings.

Here are the most recent ones:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BEQJ-W7xZN-/?tagged=model3

https://www.instagram.com/p/BEOwZqARZFQ/?taken-by=tesla.model.3.news

https://www.instagram.com/p/BDyKjWwr6k3/?taken-by=petersenmuseum

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