I don’t yet have a transcript of the full Tesla Q1 2025 “Investor Call” with Elon Musk and other Tesla executives, which just finished moments ok, but Tesla’s VP of Engineering Lars Moravy just said that the long-rumored “cheap” Tesla will “resemble in shape and form the cars we make now.”
The company had long been expected to make a $25,000 car, with the company indicating it would use its new “unboxed” production model to produce a lot of cars very cheaply.
Then something changed. All of a sudden CEO Musk said that building such a car would be “silly” and “pointless,” because autonomous cars would be the future. He reiterated this idea again tonight, saying that driving a gas-powered car without autonomy in the future would be like riding a horse and talking on a flip phone.
Instead of a brand new car with a brand new production model, as far back as the Q1 2024 call last year, Musk was hinting that the next round of vehicles would be built on existing product lines and use a lot of what the company already has.
This has led many to speculate that the cheap new cars will be quite similar to Model 3s or Model Ys, with Electrek going so far as to say the new car would be a “stripped-down Model Y.” This was based on what was reported by site 36kr, which brought us this info:
People familiar with the matter told 36Kr that the new model is a “lower – priced Model Y”. Compared with the currently sold Model Y, there are basically no major changes in parts such as the battery, power system, and chassis of the new car.
“It is developed through the depop method,” revealed the person familiar with the matter. Depop is an internal development concept at Tesla, which means to quickly launch products by simplifying configurations while keeping the main functions unchanged.
Before the low – priced “Model Y”, Tesla launched a stripped – down and low – priced version of the “Model 3” in Mexico last August. In comparison, “the former is more led by the China team, while the latter is more led by the headquarters.”
On the call tonight, Tesla was asked about this, and Moravy did his best not to completely answer the investor’s question, talking instead about lowering monthly payments and using similar production lines.
Later on, during the analyst Q&A, the question was asked more directly, and Moravy gave a more direct answer, saying “they will resemble in form and shape the cars we make now.”
This seems to confirm the 36kr report that they’ll look substantially similar to the existing models. Tesla has already made a cheaper Cybertruck with RWD and a cloth interior.
Whether or not these new cars will be called Model Y and Model 3 isn’t known, nor exactly how Tesla will “depop” them. The decontenting might look similar to what Tesla did with the Model 3 in Mexico, which dropped some lighting, trim, added cloth seats, and removed the passenger screen. Exactly how much you can take out of an already spartan Model 3 is another open question.
Top photo: Tesla
Readers Digest version: He’s not interested in cars any longer.
Maybe they can get rid of all the screens, put a blank double din (factory extra or get your own), ream mechanical door handles then I’ll consider it.
I get the impression that I and a lot of us here who might be in the EV market just want a reasonable 1980s-90s shitbox that happens to be electric. Regular people who are in the same market tend to just want a 2000s-ish shitbox that happens to be electric. Relatively few people actually care about the electronic ding dongs and subscription hoo-has but all the marketing is focused towards them.
Like, why is this so damn hard.
Because dealers buy them to sell to us. Dealers are their customers.
“driving a gas-powered car without autonomy in the future would be like riding a horse …”
Actually, horses are remarkably autonomous, so I’m not sure I get the point.
My grandmother used to tell a story about how her family had the first car in a town in western Pennsylvania, and about a week after another family purchased a car, they had a very slow speed collision because up until then the horses took care of not running into each other other.
I’m picturing this like an ’80s or ’90s base model economy car. Grey unpainted bumpers. Block off holes for the fog lights. No passenger mirror. 17″ silver painted steelies with center caps. No inner tail lights on the trunklid. Cloth seats with no center console. Greyed out icons on the center screen reminding you of the options you didn’t get.
“Greyed out icons on the center screen reminding you of the options you didn’t get.“
that is hilarious!
That sounds nice.
There are lots of opportunities to cost-reduce the Model Y by $10,000:
Oh, wait…
Pull the rear seats/seatbelts/airbags/windows, make the rear like the HHR Panel option, that’s a few thou right there. For the letter, they can start spelling a new word instead of Sexy, got the Cybertruck for C, then maybe this cheap model can be the U for “Utilitarian”, maybe a N for the New Roadster, I’m sure they’ll have some snazzy model that’ll start with a (insert jingleheimer junction technical difficulties card here)
Lose the light bar
Lose the glass roof
Lose the heated seats and heated steering wheel
Lose the 19″ wheels and tires and oversize brakes
Lose the tail light crossover bar
Lose the Matrix headlights
Lose half the sound system speakers and amp
Lose a portion of the battery/speed/range
Lose the rear screen
Lose the cargo cover again
Lose the interior accent lighting strip
Reduce price by $10k and there will be some buyers. By being able to use the existing production lines for additional volume the line itself is almost free for any additional unit bar some maintenance and of course labor but that’s directly recouped by the sale of each unit. The line sits there 24hrs a day, if it can get used for two or three shifts instead of one that significantly reduces costs.
There’s plenty of scope here to reduce costs without significantly reducing profit on each unit sold.
Assuming of course someone wants a Tesla. The car itself is solid, it’s the dude at the helm that’s the issue, but not necessarily for everyone.
The only way to save Tesla is to get rid of Elon, but the board lacks the balls and the will to make it happen. What other employer would let their CEO moonlight in what, 4 or so other companies as CEO? The guy isn’t doing anything for the brand but destroy it. He’s a phony, and the DOGE shit is kerosene on the dumpster fire.
In all honesty… I wish other car companies did this more?
After all, what’s a Skoda but tried and tested VW group parts, powertrain that meets emission requirements and a structure that meets crash standards. There’s body and interior panels to “brand it” a Skoda, but that’s it.
Scion kind of did this, as they were heavily de-contented, and the tC didn’t offer SRS airbags when they were becoming common.
You could argue that the market for this strategy has mostly been “not the United States” but so long as they met emissions and safety regs there’s certainly be a market for it. I guess that’s the rub, as it’d cannibalize sales of existing models more than it would bring people in to buy new over used.
They’ll find something cheaper than cloth for the seats. Elon recently visited the camping section at Target, so now you’ll get folding beach chairs zip tied to the floor, flashlights providing lighting, and a tent like roof.
I’m guessing immigrant skin leather, supplied by private El Salvadoran prisons.
But only available in brown.
How is this company worth so much money
It’s not. It’s a meme stock.
Elon has proven time and time again that he will say and promise anything to prop up his stock price.
He is also incapable of delivering anything in such a short timeframe.
But his investors will be scammed out of their money once again.
They are just flopping all over the place. I wouldn’t doubt they have ideas in Shanghai how to make a cheaper smaller car. But too busy talking about crazy ideas that not many people are into. Just make a cheap a kei bev thing and call it day.
What do you call a company that has the P/E valuation of a growth stock but shrinking profit and revenue?
A unicorn fart?
Marshmallows!
My niece said they taste like happiness I just tasted hot air
So the ultra modern Tesla company is going to provide cheaper models by following the Stellantis business model of old power trains and no upgrades? Well I guess that is as good as Bezos doing bare bones and upcharging like a cheap ass airline where even use of an air ramp is an upcharge.
Or the AMC model of constantly rehashing the same decade-old product and pretending its new
Unbuyable at any price
Just call it the model swastika. All jokes aside, I don’t see a cheaper EV doing much of anything for their issues right now. They need to vote Musk out but that isn’t gonna happen.
Musk isn’t elected. He already said his stint is ending by the end of the year and also yes he only owns 12.5% of the company. Why people aren’t pissed about Biden destroying the economy but against elimination of fraud and abuse is amazing. Liberal journalists are coming out and stating they were threatened and abused to lie for the Biden administration but people who believed the lies won’t trust them when they say how they were abused. Liberal journalists need to start a metoo movement.
What the fuck take is this? Grow some critical thinking skill here man and stop letting fox news think for you. Biden ruined the economy? WTF? Yeah, and somehow the current administration has taken trillions off the market just by dicking around with tariffs. I personally have lost six figures worth of my retirement savings since this goddamn traitor took office thanks to his complete lack of understanding of the economy. I mean for fucks sake dude, ECON 101 D students know more than this dumb shit.
You’ll have to cut him some slack. It’s been drilled into the American folklore that Republicans are good for business.
It’s patently wrong (just google GDP vs presidential party affiliation), but it’s what everybody believes.
The Republicans are very good at selling themselves and convincing people a false narrative is true, and the Dems absolutely suck at messaging. (In fairness, I blame Clinton, as he basically personified “you can’t trust a Democrat”.)
Uh, Biden certainly had his issues, but destroying the economy is objectively wrong. Overall, the economy was running great- too great, in fact, hence the inflation (which was actually coming down towards the end of his administration, but way too late and with prices still way too elevated to save the Dems from an angry voting public). Pretty sure we had ever increasing and record GDP during the Biden years. I’m also pretty sure we’re going to break that streak this year.
Wages weren’t and aren’t keeping up with inflation so we all felt the squeeze, but the wage issue isn’t something that can be controlled by any administration’s hand waving, no matter which party is in office.
Unless we hit a major bout of deflation, prices are never coming back down, and things are looking shaky as far as wages catching up with the increased prices anytime soon, unfortunately.
Oh look – pissy made up nonsense.
Was being a flacid immature troll always your goal in life?
Elimination of “fraud and abuse” by decimating institutions that actually provide valuable services without regard to either the people (yes, people) that work for them or the people (again, actual people) that rely on them is stupid as is your idiotic reductive Newsmax bullshit. If Musk “isn’t elected” then why the ACTUAL FUCK was he allowed to run rampant through our government leaving chaos and destruction in his wake? Do you LIKE the idea of unelected Elon and his trusted intern Bigballs69 or whatever rummaging through your personal data? Does the assertion that it he’ll be done by the “end of the year” make you feel better about it? I usually don’t get in the mud with you MAGA idiots but pull your head out of your ass and take a look around at what you have wrought on our country.
It’s no secret to anyone (well, maybe to 1978fiatspyderfan and other FoxNews-watching rubes) that dismantling the guardrails against fraud and abuse is the real goal.
The MAGA morons talk about the deficit, while they gut the IRS who brings in most of the revenue for barely noticeable cost.
It’s all a ruse, but the stupid are guaranteed to fall for it, just like they’re guaranteed to keep voting against their own interests, they’ve been doing it for decades.