Making an electric car that is accessible to everyone is one of the goals of Elon Musk’s Master Plan. Tesla has been playing cat and mouse for years with its hypothetical affordable electric car, intended for the mass market. Once confirmed by the CEO himself, speculation about its appearance, its technical characteristics, its price, and its release date are multiplying on the network. The latest information comes from Chinese sources, where this model is developed. Information published by the 36Kr website, citing several industry experts, claims to have accessed details about the next generation of Tesla’s smallest crossover.
Because that is precisely one of the data that has been leaked and that is a surprise, based on the appearance of the test mule photographed in China. It is not news that the Californian manufacturer is planning that its most affordable electric car will be an SUV developed on its next-generation platform. When the Tesla Model 3 became the best-selling electric car in the world, the Model Y was launched on the market, the crossover version of this saloon, which is now the best-selling in the range.
Although today the lines between the different formats are somewhat blurred due to the mix of designs that manufacturers print on their new vehicles, it would make a lot of sense that, for a model with as much volume as the Model 2, Tesla would have decided to go to the format SUV, the most appreciated currently by buyers. The new architecture and full-scale production will help drive down costs so the price stays at the $25,000 promised by Elon Musk. The latest generation electric vehicles will initially be manufactured in the new Gigafactory in Mexico, which the manufacturer wants to have up and running in record time.
New information coming from China adds some details about this upcoming model and its platform. He states that Tesla aims to produce four million units annually: “The low-priced model is a smaller version of the Model Y. Tesla is working to develop an annual production capacity of up to 4 million units.”
Currently, the Model Y is the only car that the manufacturer produces in all its factories and whose sales do well in most areas of the world. The only thing that keeps it from being a mass model is its high price, something that must be solved with the reduced version that is about to arrive. According to sources, Mexico will be in charge of producing two million units, distributing the other two between Giga Berlin and Giga Shanghai.
Lastly, the report notes that there is at least a year to go before Model 2 becomes a reality. Although the tests have already begun, the design of the final production prototype has not yet been presented, which will be followed by tests to finalize the tuning and achieve the relevant approvals. At the same time, Tesla needs time to build the Gigafactory in Mexico and start up all the manufacturing processes that this new model requires. Launching a new vehicle in a new factory in just one year seems like a pretty optimistic forecast.
