Key Takeaways
- Tesla’s reasonably priced EV mission “Redwood” could also be shelved as focus shifts to Robotaxi.
- Redwood was presupposed to be a compact crossover that may leverage new manufacturing applied sciences, probably serving because the platform for Tesla’s long-rumored Robotaxi mission.
The future at Tesla is lower than clear, as substantial layoffs, remembers, manufacturing delays, and normal instability have crept up in latest months. After years of hypothesis, and one thing of a tease by CEO Elon Musk at Battery Day in 2020, Tesla had initially confirmed it was engaged on a next-generation and extra reasonably priced EV in 2024. Following an early 2024 report from Reuters, Musk spoke concerning the mission, dubbed Redwood, throughout Tesla’s Q4 2023 earnings call on Jan. 24, 2024.
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“Our present schedule says that we are going to begin manufacturing towards the tip of 2025, so someday within the second half,” Musk mentioned. He then hedged on the timeline, including, “We — I imply, I will not definitely say — say issues with — they need to be taken with a grain of salt since I am typically optimistic. However, you understand, I do not need to blow your minds, however I am typically optimistic concerning time.” Reuters not too long ago published a report claiming Tesla had shelved the Mannequin 2 to deal with robotaxi improvement, one thing Elon Musk was fast to dispute. Whereas we have been set to search out out extra concerning the Robotaxi throughout an August eighth unveiling, the reveal has now been pushed again till no less than October of this 12 months.
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Shareholders and the press bought their first actual replace, and one thing of an admission that plans had shifted, throughout the firm’s most up-to-date earnings name. In discussing Q1 2024 earnings, Musk said that new, extra reasonably priced Tesla fashions would go into manufacturing in “early 2025, if not late this 12 months.” Although Tesla additionally said that these new automobiles can be constructed utilizing the corporate’s present manufacturing platform and manufacturing amenities, a far cry from the revolution that was promised because the genesis of the rumored Mannequin 2. So it appears clear that this considerably mythological mission might have been pushed even additional down the street.
Whereas we anticipate Redwood to ultimately, presumably, arrive, here is every part we all know concerning the mission, together with a quick have a look at its historical past.
A brief Tesla and Musk historical past lesson
The Grasp Plan
In 2006, Musk laid out his plan for the way Tesla would sooner or later manufacture a mass-market and reasonably priced electrical car, aiming to shift shoppers from fossil fuel-powered automobiles to a brand new electrical commonplace. He mentioned the corporate would accomplish this partially by beginning with luxurious EVs just like the Tesla Roadster, after which working its approach right down to extra reasonably priced fashions.
“The technique of Tesla is to enter on the excessive finish of the market, the place clients are ready to pay a premium, after which drive down market as quick as potential to larger unit quantity and decrease costs with every successive mannequin,” Musk wrote at the time.
In 2017, Tesla launched the Mannequin 3, and whereas the corporate missed the mark in promoting the Mannequin 3 as cheaply because it had hoped, it was the truth is a extra reasonably priced electrical sedan aimed on the mass market.
In 2008, Tesla launched the Tesla Roadster, a high-performance sports activities automobile that may function the corporate’s debut car. Following the Roadster, it launched the Mannequin S in 2012. On the time, the Model S pushed the boundaries of what an EV might supply each when it comes to vary and efficiency. The Tesla Mannequin X arrived in 2015, including an SUV for the primary time to Tesla’s lineup.
In 2017, Tesla launched the Model 3, and whereas the corporate missed the mark in promoting the Mannequin 3 as cheaply because it had hoped, it was the truth is a extra reasonably priced electrical sedan aimed on the mass market. In actuality, the Mannequin 3 competed on the decrease finish of the luxurious section towards fashions just like the BMW 3 Sequence. In 2020, Tesla launched the Model Y, a compact crossover SUV that in 2023 grew to become the best-selling car in the world. The Tesla Cybertruck, a slight deviation from the corporate’s unique path, lastly started making its solution to shoppers in December 2023.
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It appears after a protracted journey that Tesla is getting near attaining Musk’s grasp plan. The aim has at all times been a $25,000 electrical car, accessible to the typical client. Apart from the aim worth, not a lot has been identified through the years concerning the next-gen automobile codenamed “Redwood.” Here’s what we do know.
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Challenge Redwood, the consumer-friendly EV
Altering ambitions
In keeping with earlier reporting from Reuters, earlier than they reported the cancellation of the mission, Redwood was slated to be a compact crossover. In the identical earnings name talked about above, Musk had defined that Tesla would leverage new applied sciences in Redwood’s manufacturing course of, with the automaker first planning to provide the car at its Austin, Texas Gigafactory.
“There’s lots of — lots of new expertise, like, an incredible quantity of latest, revolutionary manufacturing expertise right here… I’m assured that when it’s going, will probably be head and shoulders above some other manufacturing expertise that exists anyplace on this planet, it is subsequent stage,” he mentioned.
As manufacturing ramps up Tesla would add manufacturing traces at different factories corresponding to its Mexico location. Tesla had reportedly predicted a weekly manufacturing quantity of 10,000 automobiles to start out. Considered one of Tesla’s long-term targets has been to create a fleet of robotaxis, based mostly on the belief that the corporate will ultimately crack really full self-driving. Whereas it was thought that the $25,000 automobile would ultimately function the platform for that mission, the shape issue and way forward for each initiatives is now much less clear.
“I’m assured that when it’s going, will probably be head and shoulders above some other manufacturing expertise that exists anyplace on this planet, it is subsequent stage,” Elon Musk.
The subsequent few years will show to be an exciting time for EV’s as extra producers come on board and the race for a mass-market electrical car actually heats up. Time will inform if Tesla’s Redwood will certainly start manufacturing in 2025, or in any respect. Within the meantime, the corporate faces renewed competitors from corporations like China’s BYD.
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