Affordable Tesla EVs still on-track for next year: CEO

Tesla has shared an update on the affordable electric vehicles (EVs) and confirmed it’s still on track to deliver in the first half of 2025.

Since last year, EV makers have been facing rough sales due to several reasons including new vehicle prices, cost of production, and low demand.

Some of these including Tesla announced a new strategy around affordable and cheap models to increase EV sales.

Last year, CEO Elon Musk hyped cheap models below $30,000. However, these plans shifted to affordable models as Tesla wanted to ease its schedule and save some investment on an entirely new lineup.

During the Q1 2024 Earnings call, Musk said Tesla will produce these affordable models at large volumes in its existing production sites. However, he didn’t reveal anything specific about the name of these cars or the design.

“We are still on track to deliver our affordable models starting in the first half of 2025,” said Musk during the Q3 2024 Earning Call on Wednesday.

The talks for low-cost EVs went down after Tesla announced Cybercab, its new autonomous Robotaxi, which may start at around $30,000. However, its volume production is slated for 2026-27.

Tesla expects up to a 30% growth in vehicle volume next year, which may heavily rely on these new affordable EVs.

If it is not part of the affordable campaign, the Tesla Model Y may also receive a refresh in 2025 to further increase sales.

“As customers acceptance of EV growth, we feel that is the right strategy to build affordable and more compelling leads. Our focus remains on growing unit volume while avoiding a buildup of inventory” said Vaibhav Taneja, Chief Financial Officer.