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Tag: model 3

  • Tesla readies revamped Model 3 with project ‘Highland’

    Tesla readies revamped Model 3 with project ‘Highland’

    According to four people with knowledge of the effort, Tesla is developing a revamped version of Model 3, as the top EV maker aims to cut production costs and boost the appeal of the five-year-old electric sedan.

    One focus of the redesign codenamed “Highland” is to reduce the number of components and complexity in the interior of the Model 3 while focusing on features that Tesla buyers value, including the display, according to the people, who asked not to be named because the revamp has not been announced.

    The previously unreported redesign comes as the electric sedan faces increased competition from models from the likes of China’s BYD, Hyundai, and coming releases from other major automakers.

    The revamp of the battery-powered sedan, which could also include some changes to the Model 3’s exterior and powertrain performance, will go into production at Tesla’s factory in Shanghai and the company’s Fremont, California plant, two of the people said. They said that Tesla’s Shanghai Gigafactory will put the redesigned Model 3 into production in the third quarter of 2023.

    It was unclear when production would start at the Fremont plant or how much a cost savings Tesla would achieve from the redesign as it works with suppliers.

    The effort spotlights an approach to vehicle development pioneered by Tesla and now being copied by other automakers, including Toyota Motor, that removes complexity – and cost – in production.

    It is also an example of a key project at Tesla that has rolled ahead even as Chief Executive Elon Musk has focused on his troubled acquisition of Twitter in recent months, an area of concern for Tesla investors.

    The redesign for the Model 3 builds on the revamp of the Model S — Tesla’s premium EV sedan — that was released last year. That redesign added an airplane-style yoke in place of a traditional steering wheel and removed buttons and traditional air vents as part of a minimalist interior where the centerpiece is a 17-inch electronic display.

    The Model 3, Tesla’s cheapest EV starting at just under $47,000 in the United States, had been the automaker’s best-seller but is being overtaken by the Model Y crossover. With only four models in production, styling changes to any part of Tesla’s lineup carry an outsized importance compared to established automakers.

    Ed Kim, president of AutoPacific Group, which tracks market trends and production, said the current Model 3 has already been updated from the version that first went on sale in 2017 because of the way Tesla updates battery performance, information and entertainment options through software, even if it still looks the same.

    “Having said that, consumers still tend to equate visual changes with newness,” he said. “Tesla knows visually tangible changes are in order.”

    “The upcoming changes that potential customers can see and feel will be very important in ensuring that EV customers still have Tesla at the top of their minds as truly excellent alternatives to Tesla are starting to flood the market,” he said.

    Musk has pushed a simplified approach to design and production at Tesla that the Highland project extends, said the people with knowledge of the development.

    Tesla has pioneered the use of massive casting machines known as Giga Press and built by IDRA Group in Italy to make single, larger pieces of a vehicle in assembly, reducing cost and speeding production. It has also designed a structural battery pack that does away with more expensive modules.

    Musk has said Tesla is looking to drive costs down through simplification and working on a small-car platform that would be half the cost of the Model 3.

    “Over and over, we found parts that are not needed. They were put in there just in case or by mistake. We eliminated so many parts from a car that did nothing,” Musk said in an interview at a Baron Funds conference earlier in the month.

    The approach is part of what has made Tesla the most profitable electric vehicle maker while many rivals are still running at a loss. In the third quarter, Tesla made a profit of just over $9,500 for every car sold, compared to roughly $1,300 for Toyota, according to disclosures by both companies.

    The revamp of the Model 3 comes at a time when sales in China, its second-largest market after the United States, are under pressure. Sales for the Model 3 in China fell 9% in the first ten months from a year earlier, while BYD’s Qin and Han electric sedans outsold the Model 3, according to China Passenger Car Association.

    To boost sales, Tesla cut prices for Model 3 and Model Y in China by as much as 9% in October and offered an additional rebate for buyers who took immediate delivery.

    Sam Fiorani, who tracks Tesla and industry-wide production at Auto Forecast Solutions, said the upcoming changes to the Model 3, which he understood were coming, showed the power of Tesla’s approach in taking out complexity.

    “They are always looking for ways to make EVs profitable, and more profitable,” he said.

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  • Tesla Sold 33,155 China-Made Vehicles In June

    Tesla Sold 33,155 China-Made Vehicles In June

    U.S. electric vehicle maker Tesla Inc sold 33,155 China-made vehicles, including those for export, in June, China Passenger Car Association (CPCA) said on Thursday.

    Tesla, which is making Model 3 sedans and Model Y sport-utility vehicles in Shanghai, sold 28,138 China-made cars in China and exported 5,017 cars in June.

    In May, Tesla sold 33,463 China-made cars.

    On Thursday, Tesla launched Model Y cars with a standard driving range in China, lowering the starting price for the vehicle to 276,000 yuan ($42,588) in the world’s biggest auto market.

    BYD sold 40,532 so-called new energy vehicles, which include battery-electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles, last month in China. General Motors Co’s venture with SAIC Motor sold 30,479 such cars.

    CPCA also said China sold 1.6 million passenger cars in June, down 5.3% from a year earlier.

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  • Tesla Cuts Prices Of Base Variants Of Model 3, Model Y On Its Website

    Tesla Cuts Prices Of Base Variants Of Model 3, Model Y On Its Website

    Tesla Inc has reduced the price of its cheaper variants of the Model 3 sedan and the Model Y sports utility vehicle (SUV), while raising prices for their performance variants, the electric-car maker’s website showed. The price of its Model 3 Standard Range Plus has been lowered to $36,990 from $37,990, while the Model Y Standard Range’s price came down to $39,990 from $41,990, according to the website.

    The carmaker has been making various models in its lineup more affordable at a time when legacy automakers are trying to make inroads in the electric vehicle market.

    The standard range of the Model Y was launched in January, bringing its SUV’s price closer to that of the Model 3 sedan, the electric-car maker’s least expensive car.

    The prices for the Performance variant of the Model 3 rose to $55,990 from $54,990 and Model Y to $60,990 from $59,990, the website showed.

    The price cuts come as Tesla looks to ramp up its deliveries. Overall, the company delivered 499,550 vehicles during 2020, above Wall Street estimates of 481,261 vehicles.

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  • Tesla Promotes Lower Priced China-Made Model 3

    Tesla Promotes Lower Priced China-Made Model 3

    U.S. electric vehicle (EV) maker Tesla Inc said on Friday it would price its China-made Model 3 vehicles from 328,000 yuan ($47,529), 13% cheaper than those it currently imports as it pushes sales in the fast-growing market.

    The carmaker has been building a factory in China since January where its initial output will be Model 3 cars. Pre-orders for the vehicles will also start on Friday, the company said on its website.

    The “standard range plus Model 3” is 49,000 yuan cheaper than China’s current cheapest version, also standard range plus, even though it remains unclear whether the carmaker will qualify for China’s subsidies for new energy vehicles.

    The starting prices for five different versions of China-made Model 3s range from 328,000 to 522,000 yuan. Customers can expect to receive the car in 6-10 months, the company said in a press release.

    It also said buyers will only need to put down a deposit of 20,000 yuan and that financing options on offer meant that monthly payment installments will start from 1,100 yuan.

    “The price drop is to make Tesla more accessible,” it said.

    The higher-end version of the Model 3 will still be imported from the United States.

    Investors are focused on whether the gross profit margin on the Model 3 will remain around 20% in China.

    Doubts about the Model 3’s production rate and sales performance have hit Tesla’s share price in recent months.

    Producing cars locally is likely to help Tesla minimize the impact of Sino-U.S. tit-for-tat import tariffs, which has forced the EV maker to adjust the prices of its U.S.-made cars in China.

    Keeping prices in check will also help Tesla fend off competition from a swathe of domestic EV startups such as Nio Inc, Weltmeister and XPeng Motors, as well as established carmakers including Volkswagen AG and General Motors Co.

    Tesla’s so-called Gigafactory is China’s first wholly foreign-owned car plant and is seen as a reflection of the country’s broader shift to open up its car market.

    Pictures of the Shanghai plant posted on Tesla’s social-media account showed the construction of its main section was nearly done. The company also held a recruitment event this week for car manufacturing and logistics workers.

    Tesla forecast its deliveries in 2019 would reach 360,000 to 400,000 vehicles and said it may produce as many as 500,000 vehicles if its China factory reaches volume production in the fourth quarter.

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  • Tesla Model 3 Outsells C-Class and 3 Series In Europe

    Tesla Model 3 Outsells C-Class and 3 Series In Europe

    February has not been a great month for carmakers in Europe as the market registered its sixth consecutive month of decline as 1.14 million vehicles were registered. This was largely because February marked a month of uncertainty for many of the bigger European markets, such as Spain and the Netherlands. However, according to a report by Jato, pure electric vehicles or BEVs showed a big growth in sales. Although their market share remained marginal at 1.9 per cent, their volume increased by a huge 92 per cent to 20,000 registrations.

    BEVs continued to gain traction in markets like Norway, where they counted for 40 per cent of overall registrations, and the Netherlands, where they counted for 7 per cent. Demand also increased by 81 per cent in Germany, which was the largest market for BEVs in February. This increase can be explained by the introduction of new models – most notably the Tesla Model 3. The hotly anticipated car excelled during its first full month on the European market and became the best-selling BEV. The Model 3 quickly outsold other big players like the Nissan Leaf and Renault Zoe, despite being more expensive and only available for a short amount of time.

    In fact it also was the top-selling premium midsize sedan in Europe – outperforming the popular Mercedes C-Class, Audi A4 and BMW 3-Series which speaks volumes about the success of the car. It’s also notable that most of the Model 3’s volume in February came from private registrations, which breaks the usual trend of a new vehicle’s volume being made up of business/fleet registrations.

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  • Elon Musk Says Tesla Likely To Come To India This Year

    Elon Musk Says Tesla Likely To Come To India This Year

    It was at the end of last year that Elon Musk told the world that India is on the company’s radar for introducing models from the Tesla brand. In fact, the company even slated India to be one of the countries where the Model 3 would be available for booking. Sadly though, Tesla has not yet come to India. It was in 2015 that PM Modi tweeted how he was impressed by the power wall technology of Tesla Motors which stores electricity in a battery for long term. Musk gave a presentation to PM Modi on the revolutionary technologies being developed by Tesla, which is likely to change the face of the motor industry and have wider implications on developing countries like India on renewable energy.

    We were quite certain that the electric carmaker would make it to India by 2017 and now those plans have been pushed forward. However, there’s no denying that the company wants to make an entry into the Indian market. A tweet from Elon Musk now suggests that he would love to bring Tesla to India this year. If not this then definitely in 2020. We had earlier reported that Musk is likely to come to India this year and it’s probably then that the plans will see fruition.

    While we can’t wait for Tesla to come to India, we certainly hope to hear a concrete plan from the company for India.

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  • Tesla Chief Elon Musk Unveils a $35,000 Model 3

    Tesla Chief Elon Musk Unveils a $35,000 Model 3

    Tesla chief Elon Musk said late Thursday that the automaker was preparing to sell the cheapest version yet of its newest electric car, the Model 3, signaling an attempt to get back to business after months of controversy. Musk said on Twitter that the sedan, with its “midrange” battery pack, would cost $35,000, bringing it in line with the mass-market model he had promised for years would revolutionize the availability of electric cars.

    But that price takes into account federal and state tax rebates. Before the discounts, it will sell for $45,000 – though the company says buyers should think of the car as far cheaper, because of the money they’ll save on gas.

    Musk sparked a frenzy of customer reservations in 2016 when he said the Model 3 would cost $35,000 before incentives, such as a $7,500 federal tax credit – a price point that would help Tesla expand beyond its traditional range of well-heeled buyers. That model, however, remains delayed until 2019, the company said Thursday.

    The surprise announcement, delivered via tweet to Musk’s 23 million followers, comes as Tesla seeks to steer attention away from a chaotic period in which Musk battled with critics, smoked marijuana during an interview and pledged that he had the money to take Tesla private – a promise for which he was sued by the Securities and Exchange Commission, and which he recently settled.

    Musk agreed as part of the settlement to step down as the company’s chairman for three years, opening a prominent void for which the company has yet to fill. But the announcement again highlights Musk’s enduring role as the company’s chief executive, designer and hype man.

    Musk said Thursday the car would be sold via Tesla’s “super simple new order page,” which estimated that delivery for its midrange model would take six to 10 weeks. That model, the company said, could go 260 miles on a single charge.

    The only available Model 3 for the last year has been a long-range version, offered mostly at luxury prices. But Musk said a “truer cost of ownership” for the midrange version would be about $31,000, his estimate for discounting the cost of gas.

    The move could ratchet up the pressure on Tesla’s already-straining California factory and its nationwide system built to deliver cars to customers, which Musk described last month as mired in “delivery logistics hell.”

    “As Model 3 production and sales continue to grow rapidly, we’ve achieved a steady volume in manufacturing capacity, allowing us to diversify our product offering to even more customers,” a Tesla spokesperson said in a statement.

    The move could frustrate Tesla fans who put down a $1,000 deposit two years ago for what they believed would be a sleek electric sedan costing about $27,500 after tax incentives.

    Tesla says the “standard battery” version will not be available for another 4 to 6 months. Musk has said the company, a cash-burning giant that faces billions of dollars in impending debts, must push out more profitable and expensive versions first: Shipping the cheapest “Model 3 right away (would) cause Tesla to lose money & die,” he tweeted in May.

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