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Tesla to make affordable hatchback, New car to be designed in Germany, says Elon Musk

Tesla Chief Elon Musk has said that the company intends to make a small electric hatchback in Germany, this car is supposed to compete with the likes of Volkswagen’s ID.3, Renault Zoe, BMW i3, etc. Musk was asked on Twitter if Tesla could build a “smaller European style hatchback” and he responded to this by tweeting “Probably a good one to design & engineer in Germany”. This hints that Musk might actually be interested in the concept.

Tesla to make affordable hatchback, New car to be designed in Germany, says Elon Musk

Tesla to make affordable hatchback, New car to be designed in Germany, says Elon Musk

Recently, Elon Musk has been discussing about building cars in large numbers wherever the Gigafactories are established which as of now is in China and another one is confirmed in Berlin, Germany. Further, the CEO also discussed the idea of designing and engineering cars for these markets. Tesla is taking design submissions for its Chinese-made small electric car. Elon has already announced plans for Tesla to open a European design center in Germany. It is beginning to sound like the design and engineering team that Tesla is planning to hire at the production facility in Germany would probably design and engineer a small European style hatchback.

Elon Musk recently visited the United Kingdom and this has given rise to speculations that the Tesla Chief is looking for a location to set up the company’s second facility in Europe. The proposed hatchback could be in high demand throughout Europe as well as Asia where due to the crowded and narrow city streets, the hatchback trend still lives on. Moreover, if the hatchback is sporty and efficient it could also become the perfect eco-friendly tool to attack a good old British B-Road on a Sunday morning. The hatchback market is also quite hot in India and if Tesla decides to expand its operations to India there is a potential for this hatchback to gain considerable traction in the Indian automotive market.

Earlier today it has been reported that Volvo has bought a Tesla Model Y in the US and brought it to Sweden, and there is a rumor that this was done to presumably reverse engineer it. Musk had commented on this by saying “Berlin Model Y is the one to watch. That is a revolution in automotive body engineering (finally)”. The tech billionaire seems to imply that Volvo should instead take a look at the version of the Model Y that Tesla plans to build at Gigafactory Berlin since it will be greatly improved, but as it is not in existence yet Volvo couldn’t get their hands on one.

A Cheaper Tesla?

Tesla CEO also suggested that in maybe 3 years time Tesla might launch a low-cost car starting at a price of approximately $25000 in three years, but he also did share his concerns regarding this venture as it is very tough to launch an EV at this price point due to the business conditions and the fierce competition. This new car if launched would be cheaper than a Model 3, this topic came up recently as Elon Musk did an interview with YouTuber Marques Brownlee to chat about the future of EVs. Mr. Brownlee himself is a proud owner of a Tesla Model S.

Musk said in this interview that Tesla is really aiming at making cars more affordable, but in order to do so, Tesla needs to produce vehicles in high volumes and economies to scale. Musk compared car manufacturing to the primitive days of cellphone manufacturing when phones were bulky and less functional as compared to the smartphones we have in our palms today. He said “With each successive design iteration you can add more things, you can figure out better ways to produce it, so it gets better and cheaper” and further added “natural progression of any new technology, it takes multiple versions and large volumes to make it more affordable”. EVs do command a premium over there petrol-powered counterparts at present, but it will not be the case in the future.

Tesla: A true pioneer

Musk told that Tesla is a company that does not advertise or endorse and their publicity is purely through word of mouth. Tesla is a brand that has become a household name in many countries, the company has become extremely popular and people tend to identify EVs synonymously with the Tesla brand. Even though the car did suffer from a few electrical gremlins and still continue to do so, along with a few instances when Tesla’s famous autopilot system failed, the consumers still trust the Tesla brand and the shareholders certainly seem to have no objections with the company as investments keep pouring into Tesla.

Vinaayak Menon
Vinaayak Menon
Automotive Enthusiast who is passionate about writing blogs for Electric Cars

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