There have been rumors about a low-cost version of Tesla Motors’ electric vehicles for almost as long as there have been Tesla Motors electric vehicles. So far, all of the cars produced by the California company have played north of the $70,000 mark—sometimes far, far north (the Model S P85+ we were loaned to review for a weekend had an as-tested price of $121,870). The next vehicle Tesla is producing, the "falcon-wing-doored" crossover Model X, will have a similarly high sticker price. But the next car, which has previously been unofficially called the "Model E," was supposed to be priced more reasonably—down where many people could purchase one without needing to take out a second mortgage.

As first reported by Auto Express this morning, Tesla Motors CEO and founder Elon Musk has now dropped some solid confirmation on not just the name of the upcoming fourth Tesla vehicle, but also some of its capabilities. It will be officially named the "Model 3," it will start out retailing for about $35,000, it will be about 20 percent smaller than the current Model S, it will have a range of at least 200 miles, and it is expected to be revealed in 2016 for sale in 2017.

"We had the Model S for sedan and X for crossover SUV, then a friend asked what we were going to call the third car,” Musk joked to Auto Express. "So I said we had the model S and X, we might as well have the E….and then Ford sued us saying we wanted to use the Model E—I thought, this is crazy, Ford’s trying to kill sex!"

Due to Ford’s threatened suit over the "Model E" trademark, Tesla Motors will instead use "Model 3" for the new vehicle.

Ars reached out to Tesla Motors for comment, and a spokesperson responded with a confirmation that the name and vehicle characteristics listed in the Auto Express article are indeed correct.

There are several takeaways here, but the biggest two have to do with price and range. An entry-level Model S with a 60kWh battery (and a rated 208 miles of range) starts at $69,990 before taxes. However, playing around with Tesla’s configuration page shows that it’s incredibly easy to pile on options—adding a larger 85kWh battery and longer range bumps the price by $10,000, and dropping a few other options into the basket quickly drives the price above $90,000. If the Model 3 follows the same customization routine and has similar options, that $35,000 price tag will likely be closer to $70,000 for a "loaded" version of the car.

Additionally, the "200 mile" battery—which will be produced in Tesla’s not-yet-built battery Gigafactory—will only yield the rated range under ideal driving conditions. Our review Model S came with an 85kWh battery rated for 265 miles, but 700 miles of spirited freeway driving reduced its effective range to something like 170 miles. Realistically, based on our normal daily driving habits, we’d expect to get about 200 miles from the 85kWh battery (and Tesla has a range estimator on its website to show how different driving and environmental conditions affect the car’s range).

The power rating of the Model 3’s battery hasn’t been released, but the same types of caveats and range-sapping factors will almost certainly apply. However, this isn’t necessarily a negative: as we noted in our review, as long as your daily commute is less than the battery’s max range, and as long as you can plug the car in at night, it has effectively unlimited range. That’s a tremendous plus for Tesla and other plug-in electric vehicles—every time you pull out of your driveway in the morning, your "tank" is "full."

The Model 3 will also be smaller than the Model S, though actual designs and pictures have not yet been released (Auto Express has some speculative mock-ups, but they’re not official). The four-door Model S is definitely no tiny car, and even though its low center of gravity made it feel more nimble than its 4,673 lb (2,108 kg) curb weight might suggest, there’s no getting around the fact that it’s a big car. The Model S is about 13 inches longer and 6 inches wider than a BMW 3-Series sedan, so dialing back the size of the Model 3 will bring it more physically in line with exactly the type of entry-level luxury cars it’s going to be aimed at competing with.

Currently, Tesla Motors is focused on the upcoming release of the Model X, which should be entering production next year. It’s likely we won’t see truly substantive news on the Model 3 until after the Model X is on the streets, but we’ve definitely got it on our review radar and will be tracking it with interest.