Tesla announces cheaper electric car models earlier

Tesla announces cheaper electric car models earlier

On Tuesday, electric car maker pioneer Tesla published its long-awaited first quarter results. After a significant decline in sales, company boss Elon Musk wants to bring cheaper models onto the market faster than planned. This should now happen before the originally targeted date in the second half of 2025. Tesla has recently come under pressure from cheaper competition from China and buyers' growing interest in hybrid models. Musk insists on the future of purely electric drives and promises to revolutionize the industry with self-driving cars. However, the tech billionaire did not reveal any specific details about when and at what price the cheaper Teslas will be available.

The original plan was for a new, cheaper Tesla model to be developed on a new vehicle platform, as well as a robotaxi without a steering wheel or pedals. Musk promised revolutionary production techniques to achieve extremely efficient manufacturing. The planned robotaxi will remain based on the new platform, while the more cost-effective models will be produced on the current production lines using a mix of old and new processes. Tesla expects a noticeable slowdown in the pace of growth this year compared to 2023, but is still planning for an increase in sales.

Tesla continues to present itself as a pioneer in the field of self-driving cars. Musk once again emphasized the vision of offering Tesla owners the opportunity to use their cars autonomously in order to make money. Currently, however, the advanced version of Tesla's "Autopilot" software, called "Full Self-Driving", only functions as an assistance system. Despite skepticism in the industry that purely camera-based autonomous driving would be possible in the near future, Musk remains convinced of this technology. As Musk pushes forward with his long-term plans, reality is emerging: Tesla's robotaxis are not yet fully autonomous as they still require driver control.

When it comes to Tesla's financials, its quarterly results were worse than expected. Sales fell nine percent year-on-year to $21.3 billion, while quarterly profit fell 55 percent to $1.13 billion. The declines were expected after Tesla missed deliveries by 8.5 percent in the first quarter. Musk responded to the challenges and announced that he would bring cheaper models to market more quickly, which made investors positive. Tesla shares recovered from their lows and rose around 14 percent in early US trading. The developments at Tesla show that the company continues to rely on technological innovations and an adapted product strategy in order to remain successful in the changing market environment.