Tesla Inc. CEO Elon Musk appeared to kill off plans to construct a $25,000 automobile for the lots earlier this yr with feedback that such a car was not within the works — solely to revive hypothesis this month that it is nonetheless on the way in which.
The tech billionaire mentioned throughout the firm’s Oct. 19 earnings name that Tesla is actively engaged on a 3rd car platform that will price Tesla about half as a lot to construct because the platform underpinning its present quantity automobiles, the Mannequin 3 sedan and Mannequin Y crossover. The bottom Mannequin 3 begins at $48,440 with transport.
“We do not know the precise dates, however that is the first focus of our new car growth group,” Musk mentioned. The brand new car ultimately will exceed the quantity of all different Tesla automobiles mixed, he added.
Some analysts and Tesla observers are deciphering that to imply the corporate is reviving the $25,000 mannequin that Musk had strongly promoted at an occasion in September 2020. Musk predicted then that the car would take about three years to construct.
However his feedback in January of this yr instructed the mainstream car, dubbed the Mannequin 2 by Tesla followers on social media, was on a again burner.
“We aren’t at the moment engaged on a $25,000 automobile,” Musk mentioned in response to a query on the earnings name for fourth-quarter 2021. “Sooner or later we are going to. However we’ve sufficient on our plate proper now — an excessive amount of on our plate, frankly.”
Musk has gone backwards and forwards over time on prioritizing a cheap Tesla.
For many of this yr, Musk has promoted robotaxis as a greater reply to cheap transportation than private automobile possession. In April, he mentioned Tesla would construct a devoted robotaxi mannequin with out driver controls for quantity manufacturing in 2024.
Analysts took Musk’s feedback final week as a reference to his robotaxi challenge. George Gianarikas, Canaccord Genuity managing director, informed Yahoo Finance that the robotaxi platform may promote adoption of EVs globally as a consequence of its sharply decrease manufacturing prices.
Nonetheless, Tesla followers speculated on social media that there may very well be a driver-controlled car approaching the brand new platform, particularly if Tesla’s self-driving software program shouldn’t be prepared for robotaxi deployment by 2024.
“I am glad to see Tesla is targeted on this new platform for a less expensive car as soon as once more after Elon mentioned they weren’t engaged on it,” mentioned Ryan Shaw, a YouTube content material creator with 203,000 subscribers who focuses on Tesla information and evaluation. “However I personally do not suppose this car is perhaps what individuals suppose it’s.”
Musk has not offered any further particulars on the brand new platform, and Tesla has disbanded its press workplace.
The platform might be supposed for the robotaxi, Shaw mentioned, quite than human-operated Teslas. Nevertheless, one twist may very well be that Tesla realizes that it also needs to use the platform to construct and promote a Mannequin 2 with human controls whereas robotaxi points are being labored out.
“My guess although is that Tesla will find yourself needing to alter this platform a tad and promote a extra inexpensive car that can be pushed,” Shaw mentioned in a video final week.