Tesla just knocked it out of the park with the Model 3

After years of anticipation, Tesla on Thursday evening finally unveiled its Model 3 electric car, the first affordable high-tech Tesla car for the masses.

The Model 3 starts at $35,000, not including federal tax exemptions. It'll start shipping to customers later next year, hopefully.

First of all, let's talk about looks. We'd heard many reports about the car's specs like its range and speed prior to this event, but the biggest unknown was the physical looks of the car. And in this department, Tesla did not disappoint at all. This is one beautiful looking car.

Tesla showed off three colors on stage: red, silver, and a metallic gray color. All three looked smooth and gorgeous in their own right, but my favorite is the dark gray model. This one right here.

Tesla

Stunning.

The car isn't lacking in specs either. It can go 0-60 miles per hour in just six seconds, and it boasts a starting range of 215 miles. Musk said that more expensive versions of the car will achieve faster speeds and longer range. "We don't build slow cars," Musk said on stage.

Like the Model S and Model X, the car is incredibly roomy with seats up to five people and cargo space in the front and rear trunks. Musk even said the Model 3 can fit a 7-foot surfboard. I don't even own a surfboard and I'm excited about this fact.

Families will like this car - all Model 3's are built to be incredibly safe and sturdy, which is an aspect we look forward to seeing in further tests down the line. But it'll also appeal to techies, too. The car comes with a large built-in touchscreen for information, entertainment and navigation, but it's interesting that Tesla also designed this screen to show all the car's information like current speed. It's possible this design could change before the car hits production next year, but it'll be interesting to see how important heads-up display information will be presented to the driver.

Another very awesome note: Every Model 3 also comes with Autopilot and supercharging standard.

Supercharging will allow Model 3 owners to charge their cars anywhere there's electricity - including free long distance travel on Tesla's supercharger network. As far as Autopilot, which can help drivers steer, change lanes, avoid obstacles and even self-park, we don't know if this is something that's solely hardware-standard and still requires customers pay for the software activation. We've reached out to Tesla on this particular point, and we look forward to getting an answer.

There's lots of other questions to ask about this car, but all in all, Musk and Tesla put on a great show for the Model 3. The event was only about 30 minutes long, but it did its job in generating excitement for the car. As Tesla's alluded to many times, the company's future depends on this particular car, the affordable Model 3. Thankfully, it doesn't look like Tesla cut corners to cut down on cost. The car looks gorgeous and sounds impressive, and I know many of us at Tech Insider can't wait to try it.