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Tesla Compact canceled ?

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Reuters published a report earlier today called: “Tesla Scraps low-cost car plans amid fierce Chinese EV Competition”.

That is quite a shocking headline. The upcoming “$25 000 Tesla” is maybe the most anticipated car model in the world right now. With the much more expensive Tesla Model Y being the world’s most-produced car last year, most observers were predicting an even bigger success for a $ 25,000 model.

Reuters claims they got this news from 3 different sources. 1st, the entry-level Tesla will not the built. 2nd, Tesla will instead focus on self-driving robot taxis. (These will be based on the platform developed for the new compact). And finally, this drastic shift comes because of the extreme competition Tesla faces from China.

These 3 bits of news are all strange and go against years of speculations. It seems everyone is actually working on a cheaper “$25,000 EV”, not just Tesla. VW is working on many different models under $ 30,000. And so are Hyundai/Kia, and other big players in the EV world. Even GM is working on a Chevrolet Bolt replacement. While Ford announced just a few weeks ago their new simpler EV platform will allow them to build a cheaper SUV and pickup starting at around $25,000.

The robot-taxi idea isn’t news since Telsa had mentioned multiple times that the new platform will be used for both models, the robot-taxi and the new compact. It makes no sense for Tesla to just abandon the compact EV market and totally give up against the Chinese competition. This would also mean all legacy carmakers are actually in a better place to compete. No one else has abandoned their upcoming smaller EV projects yet.

If true, this would be the worst news ever for Tesla. Especially with their investors. (Shares fell over 6% today after the article was published). The future compact was the only new model we’ve heard of so far. The Model 3 has been revised but it’s basically still a 6-year-old car. The revised Model Y has also apparently been pushed to next year. And it all also mostly the same car, still looking a lot like the 6-year-old Model 3. Is there a new Model S or X on the horizon? A new 3-row SUV above the Model Y? When is a truly new Model 3 coming out? A smaller pickup? Anything???

Tesla also mentioned all these new factories in Mexico and India being built to prepare for a huge demand for the new compact.

So many questions. Crazy Elon Musk’s only answer so far is: “Reuters is lying (again)”.

However, at this point, who can believe anything the crackpot billionaire is saying?

Conversation 7 comments

  3. Not at all surprising. How was Tesla supposed to make a $25,000 EV when even ICE vehicles at that price have been disappearing.

    Not possible for any manufacturer (unless Chinese).

  5. Musk is an opportunist of the worst kind. Of course he’s going to say they lied and deny it. It would further tank Tesla stock (and affect his own personal wealth) which is already being affected by huge inventories of undelivered vehicles. Falling prices, falling demand, ramping competition and a bad reputation for product quality and CEO f**ktardness all hitting at the same time. He’s only going to get worse and more desperate, as his last cash cow falters. Twitter(X) is dying. Boring is dead. Hyperloop is dead. The US government and NATO/Allies are already pulling away from Starlink satellites and SpaceX rocket services due to Musks actions to help Russia via blackouts of service during counter-offensives and passing classified information. No company is going to sign up for a FSD Tesla as insurance companies are realizing they can’t insure them, so that’s DOA. And BYD is killing Tesla across the world. Expect an Elon-scale tantrum shortly, and another company purchase/take-over attempt in the wireless communication industry (which will be blocked).

  6. Poor Elon. Now, Neuralink. This from The Atlantic today – he’s lost a large number of his scientists, that went elsewhere to start their own company.
    https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2024/04/neuralink-bci-implant/677996/

    What’s a budding psychotic power hungry drug user supposed to do now in his quest for US national subordination? That little Tesla is sounding better and better, isn’t it? He’ll turn on a dime, make another BIG announcement after Q1 reporting/Q2 projection estimate are released, and then will flog his Tesla engineers to death to get it done cheap. But it’ll fumble like the Cybertruck’s Rust-gate. Cuz it turns out, Elon is a bad manager and a messy thinker.

  7. Meh. Who cares?! We need hybrids now. Not something the US doesn’t have the infrastructure for. Everyone knows BEVs are just as bad for the environment as big ole SUVs.

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