Tesla says it is going to construct extra inexpensive electrical autos — maybe as quickly as 2025 — refuting latest reviews that Tesla CEO Elon Musk had canceled plans for a cheaper “Model 2” car in favor of getting a robotaxi out the door. However Musk didn’t make clear whether or not the lower-cost EV can be a model new mannequin for Tesla or simplified variations of its present autos.
“When it comes to a brand new product roadmap, there’s been numerous discuss,” Musk mentioned through the firm’s first quarter earnings name, addressing the considerations buyers have expressed over the previous month in regards to the delayed plans for a low-cost EV. “We’ve up to date our future car lineup to speed up the launch of recent fashions.” Musk mentioned we’d see the autos in early 2025, if not later this yr.
“When it comes to a brand new product roadmap, there’s been numerous discuss”
The autos will mix “facets” of a next-generation platform with the present platform that undergirds the corporate’s top-selling Mannequin 3 and Mannequin Y. “This isn’t contingent on a brand new manufacturing facility or huge new manufacturing strains, it’ll be made on our present manufacturing strains way more effectively,” Musk mentioned, predicting it may speed up the corporate’s manufacturing to over 3 million autos a yr.
Tesla has reported $21 million in income for the primary quarter of 2024, a 9 % drop yr over yr. Internet earnings dropped 55 % to $1.1 billion. The corporate bought fewer fashions this quarter as demand for electrical autos cooled. Analysts say a extra inexpensive mannequin is essential to Tesla’s future development.
Musk began the decision by addressing considerations that the market is emphasizing the event of hybrid autos over absolutely electrical ones, which he believes is “not the fitting technique.”
“We’ll speak about this extra on August eighth.”
“We’ll speak about this extra on August eighth,” Musk mentioned, as he reemphasized that 7 million automobiles by the tip of this yr can be a part of a robotaxi fleet. August eighth is the date Tesla plans to unveil a new robotaxi vehicle.
Though Tesla is once more promising to launch cheaper EVs, it hasn’t confirmed whether or not solely new low-cost fashions will come. It’s doable cheaper fashions may simply be stripped down Mannequin 3 and Mannequin Y autos, which alone drive the vast majority of the corporate’s revenues.
Proper now, you should purchase a Mannequin 3 for $38,990, which is almost the most affordable the car has ever been — however nonetheless not on the elusive $35,000 price point that was promised virtually a decade in the past. The corporate has promised {that a} simplified “unboxed” manufacturing course of will carry down prices even additional.
When requested straight by an investor about cheaper EVs like Mannequin 2 and the place Musk’s “coronary heart is at,” Musk largely shut down on the topic. In distinction, he was comfortable to go on at size about autonomy, self-driving, and even aliens.
“If in case you have an important product at an important worth, gross sales can be wonderful,” Musk mentioned at one level, responding to a query about worth. He mentioned Tesla will maintain bettering affordability to make the “worth for cash” higher.