Tesla accelerates plans for cheaper electric vehicles, but not the $25,000 EV

Tesla has reiterated its plans to build cheaper electric vehicles, but you shouldn’t expect the previously announced $25,000 electric car.

When Tesla announced its plan for its 4680 cell, structural battery pack, and unboxed manufacturing process, the automaker said that a combination of those technologies would enable Tesla to launch a $25,000 electric car.

However, there was a change of plan earlier this year.

CEO Elon Musk decided that Tesla needed to double down on AI and self-driving, primarily through its upcoming Robotaxi dedicated self-driving vehicle.

As we previously reported, Tesla canceled two vehicles based on the unboxed manufacturing process and confirmed that now only the Robotaxi is planned on the new platform.

Instead, Tesla plans to bring to market two new cheaper vehicles based on Model 3 and Model Y, but the automaker made it clear not to expect the same previously mentioned cost reduction aka the $25,000 Tesla.

With the release of its Q2 2024 earnings, Tesla shared an update on those plans, reiterating the upcoming more affordable models, and accelerated the timeline to the first half of 2025:

Plans for new vehicles, including more affordable models, remain on track for start of production in the first half of 2025. These vehicles will utilize aspects of the next generation platform as well as aspects of our current platforms and will be able to be produced on the same manufacturing lines as our current vehicle line-up.

Previously, Tesla had mentioned production in the second half of next year.

The automaker is again reiterating that the strategy is going to enable them to fully optimize the currently deployed production capacity at existing plants to 3 million units.