Only a short month and half ago, Tesla CEO Elon Musk told investors that outside of the just-released driverless robotaxi, a regular Tesla model priced at $25,000 would be “pointless” and “silly”.
“It would be completely at odds with what we believe,” Musk said.
Call it the art of marketing suspense, but he never said anything about a Tesla model priced under $30,000.
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And that appears to be just what’s in store for 2025, according to Deutsche Bank analysts who recently attended meetings with Travis Axelrod, head of investor relations at Tesla.
“The new Tesla model [referred to as ‘Model Q’] should launch in [the first half of 2025], and will be priced under $30,000 including subsidies,” Deutsche Bank analyst Edison Yu wrote in a note.
That means the Model Q, if that does end up being its name, would be priced at most at $37,499 without the Biden administration’s $7,500 federal tax incentive on the purchase of a new electric vehicle.
Since the incoming Trump administration is reportedly planning to end the incentive early next year, maybe Musk wasn’t playing with words and numbers when he declined to elaborate about the price of a new affordable Tesla model.
The Tesla CEO, a close adviser to President-elect Donald Trump, has given his blessing to ending the incentive, saying the move would be “devastating” to Tesla competitors.
Tesla has been floating the idea of a new affordable model since at least 2020, with many expecting this model to be cheaper than the Model 3. It’s worthy of note, however, that the most basic Model 3 is currently priced at under $30,000, including incentives, on Tesla’s U.S. website.
No further details about the features of the new Model Q were given by the Deutsche Bank report, nor presumably by Tesla’s Axelrod.
At the start of the year, Reuters reported the automaker was developing a compact crossover, with production slated for 2025. In May, it was reported that this new model looked like a “slimmed-down” version of the Model Y.