Lower-cost Tesla drawing crowds

DETROIT — The promise of an affordable electric car from Tesla Motors had hundreds of people lining up to reserve one.

Tesla planned to unveil its Model 3 Thursday night at its Los Angeles design studio. It doesn’t go on sale until late 2017, but potential buyers could reserve one with a $1,000 deposit at Tesla stores starting Thursday morning.

Long lines, reminiscent of the crowds at Apple stores for early models of the iPhone, were reported from Hong Kong to Austin, Texas, to Washington.

At a starting price of $35,000 — before federal and state government incentives — the Model 3 is less than half the cost of Tesla’s previous models.