Tesla Teaser Hints At A New, Small Hatchback – Reveal In Coming Months | V3Cars

Currently, the Model 3 sedan is the most affordable electric car in Tesla’s lineup and it helped the company accelerate their reach across global markets. A smaller car could help them demolish the competition further and capture the affordable EV market with ease — that is, if they can ramp up production in time to meet the demand.

More Details About Affordable Tesla Hatchback

According to reports, Tesla will call the hatchback the Model 2, so it'll naturally sit below the Model 3 in Tesla’s vehicle lineup. More importantly, the car is likely to use Tesla’s Gen 3 platform and production techniques. The Model S and X, which are based on the Gen 1 platform, are about a decade old and waiting for a generation change. The Model 3 and Y sit on Tesla’s Gen 2 platform, which helped them greatly improve vehicle packaging and production efficiencies.

We should expect a similar improvement with the Model 2 and it could serve as a test bed for the next-generation Model S and X, which are likely to directly make the jump to the Gen 3 platform. They better make that jump to Gen 3 to make it worth the 12-year long wait.

Here’s everything you need to know about Tata’s EV platforms:

Tata Gen 1 EV Platform Explained With Examples

Tata Gen 2 EV Platform Explained With Examples

Tata Gen 3 EV Platform Explained With Examples

In terms of range, reports suggest that the Model 2 might bring a 50kWh battery pack and offer around 400km of range per charge. It could cost around US $25,000 (~Rs. 20.0 lakh). We also expect Ola to launch their first electric car under the Rs. 20.0 lakh price point and add more affordable options to the lineup later on.

Also Read: The First Ola Electric Car Will Use Ola’s Own Battery Cells

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Tareek Pe Tareek, Tareek Pe Tareek…

Tesla and Elon Musk, in general, are well known for establishing crazy deadlines for their product launches and missing them by a mile. However, their customers didn’t mind such delays in the past because the company ultimately delivered high quality products.

But in the recent past, their delays are more than difficult to ignore. Tesla have blown past the deadline they promised for delivering full self-driving capabilities. They ran into big legal, technical and logical problems and their rivals have overtaken them despite a late start. According to a Consumer Reports test, Ford, Chevrolet and Mercedes have the best driver assistance features with Ford’s being the best they have tested. Tesla’s ranks somewhere in the middle among the 12 systems tested.

The Semi truck, which was showcased in 2017, was promised to enter mass production and have hit the pace to achieve 1,00,000 units mark per year by the end of 2022. It hasn’t even entered mass production yet and is in low volume, test production phase. According to Electrek’s source, it’s only likely to achieve 50,000 units per year production by the end of 2025.

The Roadster 2.0, which was also showcased in 2017, should have entered production in 2020 but it’s nowhere in sight. The Same goes for their much-hyped pick up truck as well.

Hold Your Horses

Tesla have an event lined up for tonight. They may reveal the hatchback at the event but even if they do, don’t expect it to enter mass production any time soon. In fact, for good measure, you should double whatever timeline Musk promises to arrive at a more realistic launch time frame. Ultimately, we shouldn’t expect to see the Model 2 enter mass production before 2025.

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