Tesla says it will begin production of new vehicle models earlier than previously communicated, and that these launches will include more affordable cars. This is due to a change in vehicle architecture, with the company saying it will be mixing both old and new technology to accelerate their plans.
Tesla has long talked about plans to release a more affordable car for the masses, with this car targeting a price point around US$25,000. As recently as last year CEO Elon Musk said that plans for this next generation model are “quite far advanced” and that he reviews “production line plans for that every week.” It had also been revealed that the next-generation platform would underpin both the $25k car, and the dedicated robotaxi, and that production would begin as soon as mid-2025.
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However those plans were put in doubt earlier this month when it was reported that Tesla had prioritized development of the robotaxi ahead of the $25K car, a claim which Musk later denied.
Now Tesla has provided the clearest guidance yet on its next model(s), and it looks like it will be launching sooner than everyone thought.
In the the company’s Q1 2024 shareholder deck, Tesla says it has “updated our future vehicle line-up to accelerate the launch of new models ahead of our previously communicated start of production in the second half of 2025.”
Tesla goes on to say that these accelerated plans will “include more affordable models [that] will utilize aspects of the next generation platform as well as aspects of our current platforms,” indicating the company will produce vehicles with architecture from both the current and new platform.
The advantage to this approach is that these new vehicles will be able to be produced on existing manufacturing lines as the current vehicles.
It appears as though this change in plans also means a delay for the next generation platform. “This would help us fully utilize our current expected maximum capacity of close to three million vehicles, enabling more than 50% growth over 2023 production before investing in new manufacturing lines,” Tesla explains.
We will likely hear more about this change of plans in the earnings call, scheduled for this afternoon at 4:30pm CT (5:30pm ET/2:30pm PT).
