Elon Musk commented on the upcoming low-cost Tesla electric car, saying that it is “advanced” in its development. The CEO also commented on the “revolutionary” manufacturing advancements that Tesla is making to make the vehicle a reality.
While the cost of Tesla vehicles have come down recently, they are still not financially accessible to most people – like most new cars.
The launch of the Cybertruck, which is about 50% more expensive than when originally announced in 2019, is not helping Tesla’s vehicle price range in becoming more affordable.
But we know that Tesla has been working on a “low-cost” electric vehicle – often referred to as the “$25,000 Tesla”.
That would be less than half of the current average new electric vehicle price in the US.
Earlier this year, Tesla unveiled its new “unboxed” manufacturing concept that it believes will enable the production of cheaper vehicles, like the “$25,000 Tesla” and the upcoming “robotaxi”.
During a new interview about the Cybertruck, Tesla CEO Elon Musk briefly commented on the next-generation Tesla vehicles:
After warning that he can’t get into details because he can’t share financially material information about Tesla, a public company, the CEO said:
We are working on a low-cost electric vehicle that will be made in really high volume. We are quite far advanced in that work. I review the production line plans for that every week. I think that the revolution in manufacturing that will be represented by that car will blow people’s minds.”
The CEO also confirmed that Tesla will first deploy the low-cost vehicle’s production line at Gigafactory Texas and then later at Gigafactory Mexico.
Electrek’s Take
I cringe every time Elon says that something will “blow our minds” because he said that about too many FSD Beta updates that were just “meh”, but I am excited for this vehicle.
To me, it feels like Cybertruck is a tech test bed for some of the technologies that will make it to the next-gen vehicles, like 48-volt and steer-by-wire steering.
If Tesla can make sure to fine-tune those technologies in the Cybertruck, they will pay dividends on high-volume vehicles like the $25,000 car and robotaxi.
He didn’t want to comment on timing, but I would think Tesla will have to unveil this low-cost vehicle fairly soon because it needs it to start ramping up its overall deliveries.