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Tesla Aims For $30,000 Price, 2017 Launch For Model E

Posted by Soulskill on from the economics-of-scale dept.

An anonymous reader writes The biggest complaint about Tesla Motors' electric vehicles is that they're far too expensive for the average motorist. The Roadster sold for $109,000, and the Model S for $70,000. Chris Porritt, the company's VP of engineering, says their next model will aim for much broader availability. The compact Model E aims to be competitive with the Audi A4 and BMW 3-series, which both start in the low $30,000 range. To reduce cost, the Model E won't be built mostly with aluminum, like the Model S, and it will be roughly 20% smaller as well. The construction of the "Gigafactory" for battery production will also go a long way toward reducing the price. Their goal for launch is sometime around late 2016 or early 2017

4 of 247 comments (clear)

  1. Re:What about range on this smaller car? by Trepidity · · Score: 4, Informative

    Musk has mentioned in the past a range of around 200 miles.

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  2. As a Quebecer... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    I'm pretty jealous of American billionaires who *do* things. Our billionaires mostly do things like wearing clown noses in space or union-busting convenience stores.

    With our hydro electric resources, we should be pioneering electric cars.

    But no, *doing* things is not in our culture. Corruption, incompetence and thinking small, that's Quebec.

    1. Re:As a Quebecer... by Trepidity · · Score: 4, Informative

      Our billionaires mostly do things like wearing clown noses in space or union-busting convenience stores.

      Oh, the U.S. has plenty of those too: 6 of the top 10 richest Americans have either the surname "Walton" or "Koch", and they do roughly the same kinds of things with their money that someone like Péladeau does. One of the remaining four has the surname "Ellison", and his visionary thoughts mostly involve yacht races.

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  3. Re:I hope they're planning another model after tha by jo_ham · · Score: 4, Informative

    The compact Model E aims to be competitive with the Audi A4 and BMW 3-series, which both start in the low $30,000 range.

    So... is there going to be a compact Model LC for the sub-30K$ market? A car for the majority of drivers?

    I'm sure they are. They started with the premium sedan Model S, then next is the Model X SUV, then this 30k Model E. The trend is definitely towards more affordable vehicles. You just need to establish yourself as a solid manufacturer first with high-profit sales. The success of the 70k+ Model S has helped to fund the factory to allow them to build the cheaper models to come.

    It just takes some time.