Alleged Tesla Model 3 Highland Parts Photos Show Redesigned Dash, Door Cards

The trim on the lower part of the dash has disappeared and it appears an extra speaker will be embedded in the front door cards.

Alleged Tesla Model 3 Highland Interior Parts

Iulian Dnistran

By: Iulian Dnistran

Aug 15, 2023 at 2:29am ET

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Multiple photos that appear to show interior parts of the upcoming facelifted Tesla Model 3 Highland have been leaked online, giving us an idea about what to expect in terms of design from the refreshed all-electric entry-level sedan.

The images were posted on X (formerly known as Twitter) by the user @xiaoteshushu and were subsequently deleted, apparently at the request of the parts supplier who asked for them to be removed, but Drive Tesla Canada managed to download them and post them online again.

As previously reported, the Model 3 known as Project Highland is expected to be a much simpler vehicle overall in terms of manufacturing, using fewer and bigger parts to lower the production costs as much as possible. This approach can be seen in the photo that shows the current front door card at the top and the purported Highland door card at the bottom.

Alleged Tesla Model 3 Highland Interior Parts

Today, the Model 3 has a piece of wood trim or white trim at the top of the front door cards, which extends the similarly colored trim found on the dash. However, looking at the leaked image, there will no longer be this design piece on the Highland Model 3. Instead, the door card appears to be much simpler, with an ambient lighting strip at the top and a new fabric material. Furthermore, the large speaker at the bottom left corner appears to be complemented by a new, smaller speaker fitted above it, possibly a high-frequency tweeter.

Below, you can see the current Model 3 dash panel on the bottom and the allegedly redesigned one at the top. Putting two and two together, it looks like Project Highland will ditch the wood or white trim entirely, seeing how the upper part of the dash extends downward and has a never-before-seen full-width cutout.

Alleged Tesla Model 3 Highland dashboard at the top and the current dashboard at the bottom.

We don’t know what the cutout is for, but if we were to guess, we’d say the climate control vents will somehow be integrated there, as there are two big oval holes in the supporting material underneath the shiny plastic.

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Another photo shows the 18-inch Aero wheels that were spotted a while back on a prototype, but these may be knock-offs, seeing how they were posted on Xianyu, which is the Chinese equivalent of eBay. The listing read: “Highland’s new Tesla Model 3 wheels in the third quarter of 2023. The new 8900 one, no bargaining, strong direct auction.”

Purported Tesla Model 3 Highland Aero wheels for sale in China.

The Tesla Model 3 has been in production for six years and the so-called Project Highland will reportedly come as a sort of mid-cycle refresh, bringing a redesigned front and rear, the company’s latest Hardware 4.0 driver assistance computer, and multiple manufacturing improvements that should make it easier and more cost-effective to assemble. Production of the facelifted Model 3 has reportedly already started at the company's Shanghai Gigafactory in China, with the Fremont facility in the United States allegedly next in line to start assembling the EV.