Tesla Model 3: new blue release candidate spotted testing on the highway [Video]

The first sightings of Tesla Model 3 release candidates on public roads started this week after the Elon Musk released the first official images last month.

We had so far only seen a black vehicle, but it looks like Tesla is expanding its fleet for testing on public roads with a new blue prototype.

Tesla’s fleet of release candidates are used for testing internally the performance and production processes, but a few vehicles are also being tested on public roads – always not too far from Tesla’s headquarters in Palo Alto.

The new blue prototype was spotted on the 280 highway – again not too far from Tesla HQ.

Interestingly, the other release candidate didn’t feature any model badge or Tesla logo and while this blue release candidate still doesn’t have the rear badges, it features the usual Tesla logo on the rear-end.

The video was shared on social media today (via @omg_tesla):

While we can’t spot anything new on this prototype beyond the logo, the color is sure to launch some speculation about the colors that will be available at production. Blue and black are the only colors seen on the release candidates so far, while silver and matte black were the colors of the pre-alpha prototypes.

The black release candidate was previously spotted with a BMW for a chaser car, but this blue one was chased by a Model S.

Tesla hasn’t commented on its test program beyond saying that things are still going as scheduled and that they are testing different release candidates at different stages of readiness.

All those sightings are getting reservation holders excited, but we are still a few months away from the start of production. The first units are expected to come off the line in July, but those units will go to Tesla and SpaceX employees who placed early reservations.

The first vehicles are not expected to go to customers outside of the company until later in the summer.

In the meantime, Tesla is trying to remind everyone that the Model S is available and an alternative, albeit significantly more expensive, to the Model 3.

Update: the vehicle was also spotted by someone at the Tesla Show podcast and we can see the front end with some LED or sensor embedded in the fascia: