Tesla Model 3 dashboard

📸: Photo courtesy MotorTrend.com

And now for something completely different... a car with no dashboard at all.

Actually, the soon-to-be-hopefully-released Tesla Model 3 has instrumentation, but it's all wrapped up in the single, center-mounted 15" touchscreen, taking Tesla's trademark interior minimalism to a new... low?

Until we see some real world performance figures, one could make the argument that the Model 3 shouldn't get any love from The Design of Speed. But Tesla's new mid-price sedan, with it's nearly 400,000 pre-orders, is just simply interesting enough to be included in this series.

Besides, look at that interior!

📸: Photo courtesy CNet.com

A single screen floating above a clean band of finished wood, offset enough to give the driver an uncommon view of the road ahead. Yes, these pictures tend to result in more questions than answers: is 15" large enough to provide space for a speedo, nav system, entertainment system and climate controls (along with window and sunroof controls)? Although Tesla says the first production versions of the Model 3 has been delivered (to employees and Tesla insiders), no enthusiast publication has been allowed to do a full road test, so we'll have to wait a while longer to see this interior in action.

📸: Photo courtesy AutoTribute.com

No matter what one thinks of Tesla (or of it's leader Elon Musk), one must admit that the Tesla touchscreen interiors are an innovative break from the normal automotive control surfaces. And all of the other manufacturers are already designing larger and larger touchscreens in there cars to keep up. Is this the perfect instrumentation for a pure sporting vehicle? We don't think so, but then again... TFTand/or LCD screens are the standard for pure racing vehicles at the highest levels of the sport (e.g. F1), so perhaps we are wrong about that. Welcome to the future.