New, Cheap Tesla Coming?
Most of the conversation around Tesla recently has been focused on the Cybertruck. The huge, angular pickup truck with the stainless-steel body, first announced in 2019, is promised to enter production in late 2023 after several very public delays, and many well-documented issues. But while the Cybertruck has been experiencing very public teething problems, Tesla has also been working on an electric economy car – one that will likely sell in huge numbers and could help the company achieve its ambitions of selling 20 million EVs a year by 2030.
Cybertruck at the High End, New EV at the Low End
Even as CEO Elon Musk has even warned investors and customers that ramping up Cybertruck production could take a long time, and that eventual volumes will be low by Tesla standards, Tesla has been working on technology that should allow it to manufacture the new EV’s chassis as a single piece. And according to a recent report by Reuters, the new small electric car will be first produced at the company’s factory outside of Berlin, Germany.
According to Reuters, Musk visited the company’s factory in Gruenheide, Germany, in November to thank staff for their hard work – and informed them of plans to build the new, unnamed vehicle there. The price is estimated to be set at just 25,000 euros – or about $27,000 in American dollars. At that price, the new small EV would be nearly $15,000 cheaper than the price of an average new vehicle sold in the U.S., and about half the price of the average new electric vehicle.
Tesla Factory Expansion in Germany
Tesla’s factory in Germany currently produces the popular Model Y crossover, which is now the best-selling new vehicle in the entire world, and which is manufactured in several Tesla factories around the world. The German factory currently produces about 5,000 vehicles a week, or 250,000 vehicles annually. Reuters says that Tesla plans to up the German facility’s capacity to a million vehicles a year. Local authorities still have to approve the plant’s expansion, as it would have to be compliant with nature conservation laws.
