Whatever you think of Elon Musk, it's fair to say he doesn't run a typical car company, and the idiosyncrasies go beyond the electric powertrains and hulking center screens. Tesla's approach to building and selling automobiles looks rather like that of its Silicon Valley brethren, with a steady stream of over-the-air software updates to go with frequent, sometimes unexpected changes to its products.

The latest of these came last night, when Musk announced (on Twitter, as ever) that Tesla is now offering a "mid-range" Model 3, a new middle ground in battery size and price between the more expensive version of the sedan it has been selling, and the $35,000 model it has long promised.

The tweet sent petrol electronheads to the internet to hunt out information, just as another group of hardcore fans were setting their alarms for 12 am PT, to preorder Apple’s new iPhone.

The $750 iPhone XR does most of what the $1,000 (and up) XS and XS Max do, minus a few bells and a couple of whistles: no OLED screen, one camera on the back instead of two, and so on. Apple may make less profit per phone, but it opens itself to a broader market, full of people who don't want to drop four figures. The XR isn't cheap by any means, but analysts think it could be a sweet spot in pricing and sell well.

The new Model 3 could find that same spot for Tesla. When Musk launched the car in July 2017, he promised two basic versions. The “long-range” car with 310 miles of range and the one that got everyone excited: a “standard battery” Model 3, with 220 miles of range, for $35,000. So far, Tesla has only built the more expensive version, with compulsory options that take its starting price to $49,000. This new "mid-range" Model 3 will run 260 miles between fill-ups and will start at $45,000. (Let's note that while Tesla and Apple may have similar product strategies, they're quite different when it comes to production: Apple is a master of supply chains and rarely misses targets, while Tesla struggles with capacity and rarely hits deadlines.)

So this isn’t Tesla's long-awaited “affordable” electric (a car Musk has been talking about for more than a decade), but it is the cheapest one yet. And it might help Musk and Tesla deliver on another promise: reaching profitability this year.