In the end, there will be two cheap Teslas: here's why

The company is working on an affordable electric car derived from the Model 3, expected in 2025. Then it will be the turn of a second model

By: Francesco Barontini

Apr 26, 2024 at 6:26am ET

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At the meeting with shareholders to present its financial results for the second quarter of 2024, Tesla returned to talk about the famous £22,000 car: the Model 2, as it has been called for some time now. The company has finally shed some light on the matter, after conflicting rumours about the model's development had been circulating in recent weeks.

The summary is: the affordable Tesla will be made and will be ready in 2025, probably. But it will not be the result of the NV9 project. The company has radically revised its plans to speed up the timetable.

Some unboxed and some not

Initially, the 'Tesla for All' and the Robotaxi were to be built on the next-generation platform and unboxed, which would allow the company to drastically reduce costs and production time.

However, such revolutionary vehicles need time and Tesla has no time. Therefore, it announced: 'We have updated our future vehicle line-up to accelerate the launch of new models and begin production before the second half of 2025, as previously announced.

Cyberuck platform, already has structural batteries and 4680 cells

These new vehicles, including those that will be affordably priced, will take advantage of some aspects of the next-generation platform and others of the current platform, and can be built on the same production lines as today's models.

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Saving money, but not too much

The company has therefore decided to approach a more gradual paradigm shift. "This programme update may result in lower cost reductions than previously planned, but it allows us to increase production volumes more efficiently and fully utilise our maximum production capacity of around 3 million vehicles. This would result in a 50 per cent growth compared to 2023 and would allow us to invest a larger sum of money in the new lines".

A drawing that could anticipate the shape of a future Tesla accessible model

So, in essence, we envisage a first accessible Tesla built in a "hybrid" way, perhaps starting with the Model 3, and a second accessible Tesla, the NV9 project, which will instead take full advantage of the new platform and new production methods. Those of the Robotaxi, which will be unveiled on 8 August and which - has been confirmed - will indeed be 100 per cent new. One wonders given that there are two affordable Teslas on the horizon, what will the Model 2 be? And what will the other one be called?