The Tesla Model 3 interior is unlike anything we have ever seen before (TSLA)

Tesla Model 3

The Tesla Model 3 has the most minimalist interior we've ever seen in a production car.
Not every decision was brilliant, but most were, and the ultimate impression is extremely satisfying.
The Model 3's interior design is a powerful symbol of both the company's philosophy and what it believes cars should be like in the future.

Tesla has reset expectations with the interior of the Model 3, the company's mass-market vehicle.

We'd already spent some time with the car at a launch event for the $35,000 all-electric machine at Tesla's California factory in July. At the time, I wrote that it was the most minimalist auto interior I'd ever seen.

I experienced the Model 3 for only about 15 minutes back then. But this time Tesla let us borrow a bright red Model 3 for several hours. My colleague Ben Zhang and I drove it around Manhattan and New Jersey, and we took in the Zen-like interior environment, where subtraction is everything.

This was a $55,700 version of the Model 3 — the company isn't yet manufacturing or delivering the base $35,000 car, just the $44,000 premium-level vehicle. So although the interior was obsessively minimal, it was made of the best bits and pieces Tesla has available.

Here's what we thought:

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The Model 3 is Tesla's long-awaited, all-electric vehicle for the masses. It's smaller than the Model S, its big-brother sedan.

The Model 3 is also much less expensive. Our loaner was fully loaded and priced at $55,700, but that was still considerably less than the on-average $100,000 Model S.

The designer Franz von Holzhausen came to Tesla from Mazda, and you can certainly see some Mazda in the Model 3. But the car is its own thing, with a sleek visual language that carries over from the Model S.

Flush, chrome door handles are simply the beginning of what will be a complete minimalist experience.

Von Holzhausen's minimalism serves several purposes.

First, it's all about who he is and how he believes cars should look and feel. Second, it symbolizes Tesla's overall philosophy about the automobile: Cars shouldn't be complicated.

Finally, it connects Tesla with the world of consumer technology. The Model 3 could fairly be called the iPhone of cars, and it has been!