Key Takeaways
- Tesla’s inexpensive EV venture “Redwood” could also be shelved as focus shifts to Robotaxi.
- Redwood was alleged to be a compact crossover that may leverage new manufacturing applied sciences, probably serving because the platform for Tesla’s long-rumored Robotaxi venture.
The future at Tesla is lower than clear, as substantial layoffs, recollects, 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 inexpensive EV in 2024. Following an early 2024 report from Reuters, Musk spoke in regards to the venture, dubbed Redwood, throughout Tesla’s Q4 2023 earnings call on Jan. 24, 2024.
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“Our present schedule says that we’ll begin manufacturing towards the top of 2025, so someday within the second half,” Musk mentioned. He then hedged on the timeline, including, “We — I imply, I will not actually say — say issues with — they need to be taken with a grain of salt since I am typically optimistic. However, you recognize, I do not need to blow your minds, however I am typically optimistic relating to time.” Reuters just lately 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 had been set to search out out extra in regards to the Robotaxi throughout an August eighth unveiling, the reveal has now been pushed again till at the least October of this 12 months.
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Shareholders and the press obtained their first actual replace, and one thing of an admission that plans had shifted, in the course of the firm’s most up-to-date earnings name. In discussing Q1 2024 earnings, Musk said that new, extra inexpensive Tesla fashions would go into manufacturing in “early 2025, if not late this 12 months.” Although Tesla additionally said that these new automobiles shall be constructed utilizing the corporate’s present manufacturing platform and manufacturing services, 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 venture might have been pushed even additional down the highway.
Whereas we anticipate Redwood to finally, presumably, arrive, here is every part we all know in regards to the venture, together with a quick take 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 at some point manufacture a mass-market and inexpensive electrical automobile, aiming to shift shoppers from fossil fuel-powered autos to a brand new electrical customary. He mentioned the corporate would accomplish this partially by beginning with luxurious EVs just like the Tesla Roadster, after which working its means all the way down to extra inexpensive 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 attainable to increased 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 actually a extra inexpensive 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 automobile. Following the Roadster, it launched the Mannequin S in 2012. On the time, the Model S pushed the boundaries of what an EV may supply each by way of 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 actually a extra inexpensive electrical sedan aimed on the mass market. In actuality, the Mannequin 3 competed on the decrease finish of the luxurious section in opposition to fashions just like the BMW 3 Sequence. In 2020, Tesla launched the Model Y, a compact crossover SUV that in 2023 turned the best-selling car in the world. The Tesla Cybertruck, a slight deviation from the corporate’s unique path, lastly started making its strategy to shoppers in December 2023.
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It appears after an extended journey that Tesla is getting near attaining Musk’s grasp plan. The purpose has all the time been a $25,000 electrical automobile, accessible to the common shopper. Except for the purpose worth, not a lot has been recognized over time in regards to the next-gen automobile codenamed “Redwood.” Here’s what we do know.
Tesla
Mission Redwood, the consumer-friendly EV
Altering ambitions
In accordance with earlier reporting from Reuters, earlier than they reported the cancellation of the venture, 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 supply the automobile at its Austin, Texas Gigafactory.
“There’s plenty of — plenty of new know-how, like, an incredible quantity of latest, revolutionary manufacturing know-how right here… I’m assured that after it’s going, will probably be head and shoulders above some other manufacturing know-how that exists anyplace on this planet, it is subsequent stage,” he mentioned.
As manufacturing ramps up Tesla would add manufacturing traces at different factories reminiscent of its Mexico location. Tesla had reportedly predicted a weekly manufacturing quantity of 10,000 autos to start out. Considered one of Tesla’s long-term targets has been to create a fleet of robotaxis, based mostly on the idea that the corporate will finally crack actually full self-driving. Whereas it was thought that the $25,000 automobile would finally function the platform for that venture, the shape issue and way forward for each tasks is now much less clear.
“I’m assured that after it’s going, will probably be head and shoulders above some other manufacturing know-how 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 automobile 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 firms like China’s BYD.
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