Elon Musk's Tesla changes plan to introduce cheaper electric cars

Elon Musk's Tesla has recently announced that it intends to introduce cheaper electric vehicles (EVs) to be built on its current production lines, Electrek reported.

The company has been actively working on its "next-generation vehicle platform" that is expected to enable a new manufacturing process called "unboxed", which is likely to bring down the cost of electric vehicles.

Tesla has previously talked about two upcoming vehicles on the platform that include a model cheaper and smaller than Model 3, often referred to as the "$25,000 Tesla" or "Model 2".

Additionally, the EV manufacturing company is also working on its Robotaxi, which is purposely designed for self-driving.

A few weeks ago, Musk called Reuters "liars" for reporting that Tesla "canceled the long-promised inexpensive car".

However, Elektrek reported that Tesla had indeed stopped all work on the new planned cheaper vehicle based on the new platform. It cited inside sources that confirmed that Musk cancelled a Gigafactory Texas expansion for the new vehicle codenamed NV9.

With the release of its Q1 2024 financial results, Tesla confirmed the change of plans for its cheaper electric vehicles.

The company wrote: "We have updated our 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.

"These new vehicles, including more affordable models, will utilize aspects of the next generation platform as well as aspects of our current platforms, and will be able to be produced on the same manufacturing lines as our current vehicle line-up."

This confirms that more affordable vehicles are still confirmed, but not on the new production lines based on the "unboxed" system.

Finally, Tesla confirmed that its previously announced Robotaxi will still be built with the new "unboxed" system.