Tesla sends out official Model 3 unveiling invites with “3” stylized as 3 horizontal lines

Around the same time Tesla allowed its employees to place an early reservation for the Model 3 last night, the automaker also sent out the official invites for the Model 3 unveiling event on March 31st.

650 Tesla owners have been chosen at random to attend the event in Los Angeles. It will be a much smaller, more intimate event than Tesla is used to with around 800 people in total in attendance. The company also confirmed that rides will be available not only for the press, but also for the Tesla owners in attendance.

The invites seem to confirm that the “3” in “Model 3” will be stylized with 3 horizontal lines just like the “E” in Tesla’s logo.

Since 2013, Tesla officials have been referring to the company’s upcoming third generation vehicle as the “Model E”, which would have joined the models S and X in Tesla’s lineup to make “S-E-X” with the Model Y to follow later.

The name stuck for a while, but during the shareholders meeting in July 2014, Tesla CEO Elon Musk revealed that the company had to drop its “Model E” trademark after Ford threatened to sue over having a similar naming scheme. At the time, Musk said that “Ford tried to kill sex.”

Since then, Tesla has been referring to the upcoming third generation vehicle as the “Model 3”, but Musk wrote in a tweet last year that the “3” will likely end up being stylized with three horizontal lines exactly like the “E” in Tesla’s logo.

Hopefully, Ford will let it go.