Tesla says it will now focus on 'more affordable models' after facing pressure on EV sales, and are planned to launch by the end of 2024
Tesla’s been undergoing some major changes, after it announced that it will be upending its product roadmap because of “pressure” on EV sales, as reported by TechCrunch.
The recent announcement by Tesla includes a revised plan to introduce "more affordable models" that the company aims to launch next year, potentially by the end of 2024, according to CEO Elon Musk.
Following this unexpected news, Tesla's stock experienced a significant surge of over 11% during after-hours trading on Tuesday. The stock price did not decline even as Musk and other Tesla executives declined to provide further details during a call with investors.
In early April, Reuters published a report claiming that Tesla had discontinued its efforts on a low-cost, next-generation car. This particular vehicle was intended to be built on the same electric vehicle (EV) platform that Tesla was developing for its proposed robotaxi vehicle. Tesla had previously mentioned that this next-generation car could potentially be available as early as late 2025.
In response to the Reuters report, Elon Musk publicly disputed its accuracy, stating that Reuters was "lying." However, both Electrek and Bloomberg News subsequently reported that the development of the mentioned EV had been delayed or de-prioritized within the company. Musk later took to the social media platform X and announced that Tesla would reveal the robotaxi on August 8.
Tesla provided the update in its less-than-stellar first-quarter earnings report, which showed profits falling 55% year-over-year. The company said in the report it had “updated [its] future vehicle line-up to accelerate the launch of new models ahead of our previously communicated start of production in the second half of 2025.” The slate of new vehicles includes “more affordable models,” the company said.
These new offerings are not being spun out of whole cloth, though. Tesla says it will build these vehicles on existing production lines and that they will “utilize aspects of” the next-generation platform it has been developing, “as well as aspects of our current platforms.”
