The next Tesla
Forget reusable rockets or armoured pick-ups – Elon’s saved his biggest moonshot for last: a $25k Tesla to give the EV its Model T Ford moment
Tesla has always been clear – making cars is, for Musk’s marque, more a crusade than a commercial enterprise. Its Fremont plant has a display that perfectly sums up its mission statement about transitioning the world to sustainable transport: a 20th-century petrol pump next to a sleek 21st-century Tesla Supercharger, echoing the classic illustration depicting the evolution of primate to homo sapiens.
Lose sight of the mission statement and nothing much Tesla does makes sense. Back in 2016 it could have sat back on the Model S and Model X and remained a niche, premium player. But no. Along came the Model 3, orders sky-rocketed and Tesla was wracked with growing pains as it evolved to cope. Its fourth car, the Model Y, has proved even more popular. But despite recent price cuts the most affordable Tesla remains a £40k proposition. To complete the job Tesla needs a £25k car, dubbed the Model 2. It promises to be nothing less than the battery-electric equivalent of the Ford Model T.
CEO Elon Musk has described the new car as ‘our next-generation low-class vehicle’, and for ‘low-class’ read financially accessible. A silhouette teaser shown at the shareholder meeting last May hinted at a smaller Model Y, designed for slipperiness and ease of manufacture, rather than aWTF head-turner like the Cybertruck. Which is a relief.
As with the Model 3 and Model Ytwins, there are likely two cars in the works –Musk told shareholders as much last May. Both will use a new architecture, codenamed NV9X, and further versions are expected, although Musk has publicly attacked established manufacturers for building ‘variants for the sake of variants’, so those hanging on for, say, an estate will likely be disappointed.
Tesla needs two body styles because it needs international sales. Larger models have a broad appeal globally, but the big three markets diverge when it comes to smaller cars. Hatchbacks will sell in Europe, but not really in the US or China. Similarly small saloons are niche in Europe but fine in China.
Together, Tesla is targeting annual sales of five million units, up from 1.81 million total in 2023 (1.74 million of which were Model Y/3). Musk has goals of ousting the Toyota Corolla or VW Golf globally.
In February Ford CEO Jim Farley called the upcoming smaller Tesla ‘the ultimate competition’. Before fulfilling that wildly ambitious promise, Tesla has to perfect the assembly process. Because once again the company is throwing its innovation behind the production of the car, rather than reinventing the elements that the consumer will engage with.
‘This is a revolu
