Affordable Tesla could be stripped-down versions of Model Y and 3

This was reported by the news agency Reuters, citing several Tesla investors and analysts. It comes after the Texan electric car manufacturer presented declining sales and business figures in its Q1 annual report last week, but also announced that it wanted to counteract this with an early model offensive. Tesla outlined that the brought-forward “more affordable models” will utilise aspects of the next-generation platform and aspects of the current platforms and can be produced on the same production lines as the current vehicle range.

Whether these will be entirely new models or variants of existing Tesla electric vehicles remained unclear. Industry experts quoted by Reuters consider the latter to be more likely and attest to Tesla’s approach, which is often adopted in classic car manufacturing. In their view, it fits with Tesla’s claims to be faster to market with the new tactic, but that it will achieve lower cost reductions than expected. That is because the latest Tesla models on the next-generation platform previously announced for the second half of 2025 were supposed to get their very own production logic with high cost-saving potential (called “unboxing” – read more here).

The Robotaxi as a representative of this new vehicle type is set, albeit without a timeline for the start of production. It is uncertain whether the announced compact model (often called Model 2) will also be built via “unboxing.” There have been rumours that Tesla, at the behest of CEO Elon Musk, stopped developing the compact model with steering wheel and pedals to concentrate fully on the Robotaxi on the same platform.

The fact that Tesla’s primary focus will likely be on the Robotaxi is underpinned by a surprise visit by Elon Musk to China, which has just been made public, to push ahead with introducing his FSD software in China. According to insiders, the visit resulted in a licence agreement with Baidu that grants Tesla access to Baidu’s map material in China. The licence allows Tesla to operate its FSD software legally on Chinese roads.

It is thus becoming apparent that Tesla intends to pursue a two-pronged approach with its future product launches: the Robotaxi on the one hand and new model variants of existing electric cars on the other. However, it is unclear to what extent the high-volume Model Y and Model 3 offer the potential for “stripping down.” In January, Tesla stated that it was approaching the natural limit to cost reduction with the existing vehicle range. Tesla investors should nevertheless be relieved that Tesla boss Elon Musk does not want to focus entirely on robotaxis, as had been feared in the meantime. In any case, announcing the more affordable models triggered a double-digit rise in shares since last week.

The next few days will probably show whether the rise is sustainable. After all, there could be more trouble at Tesla: According to new, unconfirmed information, Elon Musk is laying off Tesla’s entire Supercharger team headed by Rebecca Tinucci. Other departments will also allegedly be dissolved. The company is said to put pressure on its managers. As recently as mid-April, Tesla announced that it would be laying off ten per cent of its workforce at short notice.

reuters.com, reuters.com (China)