Tesla plans to build a 25,000-euro ($26,838) car at its factory near Berlin, a source with knowledge of the matter said on Monday, in a long-awaited development for the electric vehicle maker which is aiming for mass uptake of its cars.
The source, who declined to be named, did not say when production would begin. Tesla declined to comment. Its shares were up 3% in pre-market trading in the United States at 0910 GMT. The steep price tag of electric cars – compounded by high interest rates – is one of several factors holding back uptake of the technology in Europe and the United States, consumer surveys show.
The average retail price of an EV in Europe in the first half of 2023 was over 65,000 euros, according to auto research firm JATO Dynamics, compared to just over 31,000 euros in China.
Musk had long planned to make a more affordable electric car, but said in 2022 he had not yet mastered the technology and shelved the plan.
Still, sources told Reuters in September the carmaker was closing in on an innovation that would allow it to die cast nearly all of the underbody of the EV in one piece, a breakthrough that would speed up production and lower costs. Expanding into the mass market is critical to meeting Tesla’s aim of increasing vehicle deliveries to 20 million by 2030.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 7th, 2023.
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