Tesla Confirms the “New, Cheaper Vehicles” Under Development Are Just a Stripped-Down Model 3 & Y – Adds the Most Important Thing is “They’ll be Cheaper & You’ll be Able to Buy One”

For the past year, Tesla has been teasing “new and more affordable vehicle models” that are set to start production in the middle of 2025.

Elon Musk asked about these vehicles in previous earnings reports, had responded, saying, “Earnings calls are not a place for new product announcements."

Given these statements, the Tesla community was excited, dreaming of various new vehicles, including a compact car, a Tesla van, a full-sized SUV based on the Cybertruck platform, and more.

However, last night during the Q1 2025 earnings call, Tesla’s Vice President of Vehicle Engineering, Lars Moravy, and Tesla’s Chief Financial Officer, Vaibhav Taneja, both confirmed that the new vehicles under development will be stripped-down versions of the current Tesla models, including the Model 3 and the Model Y.

The Tesla executives gave this clarification during the earnings call in response to a question from Wells Fargo analyst Colin Langan.

Colin asked…

“There were just media reports the other day that the affordable model is delayed. It doesn’t sound like that is correct. Those reports also mentioned that it was just a more affordable version of the Model Y.

Any color as to what we can expect? Is it just a cheaper version of a Model Y, or is there actually going to be a design change with it?”

In response Tesla’s CFO Vaibhav Taneja said…

So I believe Lars already addressed it in response to one of the earlier questions.

The real thing that we are trying to focus on is affordability and using our existing lines, and there are always limitations when you're using existing lines as to how many different form factors you can bring to market, so that's the way I would say you should think about it.”

Vaibhav stopped short of confirming that the cheaper vehicles in development are just stripped-down versions of Tesla’s current vehicles.

However, thankfully, Tesla’s Chief Engineer, Lars Moravy, followed up on Vaibhav’s response and once and for all confirmed that the new vehicles will simply be stripped-down versions of the Model 3 and Model Y.

Lars continued to say…

“To add more to that, I think I've said this before on other calls; with the recent upgrades to the Model 3 and Model Y platforms, we made some pretty great cars at pretty great prices, and we added a bunch of features and things like that.

I think it's important to consider moving forward that Tesla doesn't make bad cars. Our intent has always been to ensure that the vehicles we produce are not worse than any car we've ever made in the past.

The models set to be released in the coming months will be built on our existing lines and will resemble our current vehicles in form and shape.

The key is that they'll be affordable, and you'll be able to buy one.”

This is disappointing for a lot of Tesla fans and investors who were excited for the launch of new vehicle form factors.

However, this news is even more disappointing in light of the recently launched, more affordable rear-wheel-drive Cybertruck.

This version of the Cybertruck comes with cloth seats instead of faux leather. It has a soft mechanical tonneau cover in place of the powered, sturdy one and does not include outlets in the bed. Additionally, it features coil suspension rather than the air suspension available in other Cybertruck models, and provides 9 inches of ground clearance compared to 16 inches in other Cybertruck variants.

Additional features have also been removed from this Cybertruck variant, such as the secondary rear-facing 8-inch screen, tailgate lights, and 18-inch wheels instead of 20-inch ones. 

However, despite all the features that were removed, Tesla only reduced the price by $10,000, still setting a starting price of $ 70,000 for this version of the Cybertruck.

Returning to the upcoming, more affordable Tesla vehicles set to release in the next few weeks, examining the RWD Cybertruck reveals that Tesla plans to remove some important features to meet the lower starting price.

This should provide an opportunity for some people who truly desire a Tesla but cannot afford it to purchase these vehicles.

However, the sentiment in the Tesla community is that it would have been better if the EV maker had created a new, smaller vehicle on a dedicated platform to target the more affordable market segment.

However, please let me know what you think in the comments. Share your ideas by clicking the RED “Add new comment” button below. Also, be sure to visit our site, torquenews.com/Tesla, regularly for the latest updates.

Image: Courtesy of Tesla, Inc.

For more information, check out: A Tesla Cybertruck Owner Says Brown Liquid Has Seeped into His Truck Bed After Carrying Mulch – Now He Says He’s Afraid “It Could Damage or Corrode the Electronics and Metal”

Tinsae Aregay has been following Tesla and the evolution of the EV space daily for several years. He covers everything about Tesla, from the cars to Elon Musk, the energy business, and autonomy. Follow Tinsae on Twitter at @TinsaeAregay for daily Tesla news.