Musk says Tesla's affordable EVs coming next year
Tesla CEO Elon Musk said the EV-maker is planning to bring newer, more affordable models in early 2025 after recent uncertainty about the status of the company's long-discussed plans for a lower-cost EV in its lineup.
Musk pushed back on a report by Reuters from earlier this month, which cited sources familiar with the company's planning and internal documents, that indicated Tesla had backed off its plan to launch a $25,000 EV — often referred to in reports as the "Model 2" though Tesla hasn't offered a name. He offered an outline of Tesla's affordable EV plans in his opening remarks of Tuesday's earnings call.
"In terms of the new product roadmap, there's been a lot of talk about our upcoming vehicle line in the past several weeks," Musk said. "We've updated our future vehicle lineup to accelerate the launch of new models ahead of the previously-mentioned start of production in the second half of 2025, so we expect it to be more like early 2025 if not late this year."
"These new vehicles, including more affordable models, will use aspects of the next-generation as well as aspects of our current platforms and will be able to be produced on the same manufacturing lines as our current vehicle lineup," Musk added.
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"So it's not contingent on any new factory or massive new production line," he explained. "It will be made on our current production lines much more efficiently, and we think that this should allow us to get to over 3 million vehicles of capacity when realized to the full extent."
Musk did not elaborate during the call about a potential price range for the newer vehicles, so it's unclear at this time whether it will fall at or near the previously discussed $25,000 threshold, or if it will be closer to the Model 3 — Tesla's most affordable offering, which starts at around $39,000.
The company warned that the plan to use aspects of its current platform as well as a next-generation platform could result in "achieving less cost reduction than previously expected."
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Although he and other Tesla executives declined to go into greater detail about the affordable EV plans, Musk indicated on the earnings call that the company will "talk about this more on Aug. 8," when it plans to unveil its robotaxi.
Investors who had been unnerved in part by the reports of Tesla moving away from its plan to make a low-cost EV have rekindled their interest in the company's stock, which rose over 11% during Wednesday's trading session as of 2:30 p.m. Eastern.
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Those gains leave the company's stock down about 35% in 2024 to date, after Tesla reported weak first quarter sales figures as it faces intense price competition from China-based EV-makers.
Tesla has slashed prices for its leading models in the U.S. and other global markets in an effort to stimulate demand.