During the third quarter earnings call, Elon Musk stated that Tesla has no plans to produce a version of the Cybercab that is equipped with a steering wheel and pedals. While this effectively put a period on the idea of the Cybercab becoming a low-cost, human-driven car, this does not mean to say that Tesla will no longer be producing a cheaper vehicle.
In fact, it appears that Tesla is poised to start the production of more affordable models sooner than expected. This was indicated by Tesla in its Q3 2024 Update Letter, which noted that plans for new vehicles, including more affordable models, are still on track to start production in the first half of 2025. That’s just a few months from now.
Tesla described its plans as follows:
“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.
“This approach will result in achieving less cost reduction than previously expected but enables us to prudently grow our vehicle volumes in a more capex-efficient manner during uncertain times. This should 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 wrote in its Q3 2024 Update Letter.
These comments were reiterated by company executives during the Q3 2024 earnings call. With this in mind, it appears that consumers will soon see the release of cheaper Teslas, perhaps just not vehicles that the electric vehicle community expects. Considering Tesla’s comments about its affordable vehicles utilizing aspects of its current and next-generation platforms, there seems to be a chance that the EV maker will release notably lower-priced versions of the Model 3 and Model Y to consumers next year.
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