Tesla will draw on its existing parts bin and electric vehicle (EV) platforms to accelerate the launch of its lower-cost new-generation models as early as late 2024.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk said in his first-quarter investor presentation today that the brand will leverage “aspects of the next-generation platform as well as aspects of our current platforms” in its new electric vehicles.
The announcement comes less than a month after the prestigious release Reuters reported that Tesla’s long-awaited $25,000 small electric vehicle has been scrapped in favor of a robot taxi. Mr. Musk responded at the time by saying, “Reuters is lying,” without elaborating on where the report was inaccurate.
Addressing investors today, Mr Musk said the new vehicles could go into production as early as the end of 2024 – although such a timeline seems bold given previous models such as the Cybertruck and Semi have been delayed for years.
“We have updated our future vehicle lineup to accelerate the introduction of new models ahead of the aforementioned production start in the second half of 2025,” Musk said.
“We expect it [start of production] more likely early 2025, if not the end of this year.”
While various reputable media outlets have previously speculated that Tesla’s upcoming, cheaper models could be produced in Mexico and India, it is believed that the new vehicles will likely be built on existing production lines, relying on the existing Model 3 for parts and Model Y supports.
Despite announcing its plans to release the cheaper models sooner, Tesla didn’t want to go beyond what we can expect from the vehicles.
Instead, Tesla explained what using existing parts and platforms will mean for its production plans.
“This update may result in a smaller cost reduction than previously expected, but allows us to increase our vehicle volumes in a prudent and more investment-efficient manner during uncertain times,” the automaker said in its presentation materials.
“This would help us fully utilize our current expected maximum capacity of almost three million vehicles and enable growth of more than 50 percent over production in 2023 before investing in new production lines.”
Last year, Tesla produced 1,845,985 vehicles worldwide, a new record for the brand and a 35 percent increase over the previous year.
However, Tesla reported 433,371 vehicles produced and just 386,810 sales in the first quarter of 2024, marking the lowest quarterly deliveries since 2022.
While Tesla’s Robotaxi was previously reported to be based on the same platform as the $25,000 model, we’ll have to wait until August 8 for the autonomous vehicle’s unveiling to see if it shares any parts with the budget car for private buyers .
As there is no information on the new Tesla models, we cannot provide a timeline for when – or if – they will come to Australia.
Currently, Australia only receives the Model 3 and Model Y, both from Tesla’s factory in Shanghai.
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