Video: Driving Smart: Tesla Model 3

Is this the breakthrough electric car? Or is it just hype for a model that shoppers won't see for another 18 months? Tesla ended months of speculation by unveiling its long-awaited Model 3, an allegedly affordable electric car that looks like a junior version of Tesla's flagship Model S. The Model 3 unveiling had shoppers lining up by the thousands at Tesla dealerships around the country, all to put down a $1,000 deposit on the car. It was the sort of lines that you would expect at a Black Friday shopping event. And that was before Tesla even unveiled any details about the car. So why all the excitement? And when will shoppers actually be able to get their car? People lined up for the Model 3 because it's affordable with a starting price around $35,000. Even at that, it'll be loaded with plenty of Tesla technology from a giant dashboard touchscreen that controls most of the functions inside the car to an electric battery that gets an estimated 215 miles of range. Of course, being a Tesla electric car, the Model 3 will be plenty quick with an estimated under six second, zero to 60 time Tesla says. It will also offer Tesla's autopilot system, which can do most of your driving at highway speeds. Tesla says that within days of unveiling the Model 3, it had receive more than 270,000 reservations worldwide. But these buyers won't get their cars right away. That's because Tesla doesn't plan to start building and selling the Model 3 until late next year. And given the delays in the current Model X SUV's rollout, we're skeptical that Tesla can even hit that target. For cars.com, I'm Kelsey Mays.