Elon Musk has decided to go on the counterattack. After the ‘surprise’ carried out by BYD in the last quarter of 2023, taking the lead as the world leader in sales of electric vehicles, the CEO of Tesla has confirmed to its suppliers that it will begin to produce a new zero-emissions car intended for the mass market. mid-2025.
Musk’s response to the Chinese car company’s sales success is not a decision taken lightly. The businessman of South African origin already announced in 2020 his intention to manufacture, starting in 2023, a ‘low-cost’ electric car, of which he did not give great details. He alone said that it would cost around 25,000 dollars (about 22,950 euros) and that it would help more users have access to electromobility.
Four years after that announcement, alarmed by the threat that Chinese electric vehicle manufacturers represent to Tesla, Musk has taken his old project out of the drawer and has released more details of the project known by the code ‘Redwood’. According to Tesla sources, it is an SUV model, a smaller car than the brand’s current bestsellers, the Model 3 and Model Y, with a starting price of approximately $25,000.
This new car is positioned considerably below the prices of current Tesla models. For the Model 3, the company’s cheapest, it is necessary to pay at least 39,990 euros in Spain, which is the price of access to the range, without counting the financial aid from the Moves Plan. However, it remains to be seen if Musk will maintain the price he announced four years ago for his ‘low cost’, since the Cybertruck has turned out to be almost 50% more expensive than what was announced at the time.
Tesla’s intention with this new car that will hit the streets next year is to compete with other cheap models that run on gasoline and electric ones from the Chinese market. Musk has already warned about the threat posed by brands like BYD, stating that their cars “will have significant success outside of China, depending on what types of tariffs or trade barriers are established.”
The crossover with which Musk intends to hit the table will begin production in June 2025. However, as is the case with the Cybertruck pickup of which he delivered the first units at the end of last November, mass production will not be achieved until later, probably in 2026 with the manufacture of about 10,000 units per week.
Tesla’s new car will sit on a next-generation platform known internally as NV9X. It is the same one that will support the autonomous robotaxi with a futuristic appearance that Elon Musk also intends to manufacture. In fact, it is a project that was announced in 2022 and that is currently paralyzed, despite the fact that it said then that the production of autonomous taxis would begin in 2024.
The measurements of the car known for now with the code ‘Redwood’ will not exceed 4.50 meters in length. By size, its competitors in the market will be models such as the BYD Atto 3 and the MG ZS EV, both made in China, as well as the Peugeot E-3008 and the Renault Scenic E-Tech. But if we stick to the estimated price, its rivals for now are the BYD Dolphin, the MG Electric, the Citroën ë-C3, the Renault 5 and the Volkswagen ID.2, which will arrive in 2025.
When these two new projects become a reality, Elon Musk will be able to check whether the ambition of selling 5 million cars a year, as he said last year, is fulfilled or not. For now, the ceiling for the American brand is the 1.8 million cars delivered in 2023, with the threat posed by BYD after the good results obtained by the Chinese firm in the last quarter of the year.
