Tesla Won't Make A $25,000 Car That Isn't A Robotaxi

"Having a regular, $25K model is pointless. It'd be silly," Tesla CEO Elon Musk said on an earnings call on Wednesday.

Tesla Cybercab Robotaxi

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Tim Levin

By: Tim Levin

Oct 23, 2024 at 6:27pm ET

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Tesla won't make a regular, $25,000 car.
Instead, Tesla's long-promised $25,000 EV will be the Cybercab, a vehicle without a steering wheel or pedals.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk said on Wednesday that it would be "pointless" and "silly" to make a conventional $25,000 electric car.

Don't hold your breath for a $25,000 Tesla you can actually drive.

The automaker's CEO said on Wednesday that the upcoming Cybercab will be its model at that price point. So if you want a $25,000 Tesla, you'll have to be OK without a steering wheel or pedals.

"Basically, having a regular $25K model is pointless. It would be silly. It would be completely at odds with what we believe," Elon Musk said on Tesla's third-quarter earnings call. He was responding to a question about when investors can expect a $25,000 non-robotaxi electric car.

Musk said that isn't in the cards. "I think we've been very clear that the future is autonomous," he said.

Tesla revealed its design for an autonomous taxi called the Cybercab during an event earlier this month. Tesla says it will reach production in 2026 and cost $30,000. It lacks a steering wheel or pedals and has two seats. "It'll cost roughly $25K, so it is a $25K car," Musk said on Wednesday. It was unclear at the time if he was quoting a price including federal tax credits.

Musk has floated plans for an entry-level, $25,000 Tesla for years, saying at an event in 2020 that the car would arrive within three years. Then, in April, Reuters reported that Tesla had scrapped plans for that cheap car, colloquially called the Model 2, in favor of a purpose-built robotaxi. Musk disputed the report, without naming specific inaccuracies.

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Tesla needs to broaden its vehicle lineup if it wants to keep growing sales, industry analysts say. And a cheaper vehicle could unlock a huge new segment of buyers, particularly in an era when EVs are way more expensive to buy new than gas vehicles. But Musk has repeated time and time again that the key to Tesla's future is creating self-driving cars.

Meanwhile, some rivals are picking up the slack. General Motors began rolling out the Chevy Equinox EV this year, at a starting price of roughly $27,500 including tax credits.

On Wednesday, Musk said Tesla planned to someday produce 2-4 million Cybercabs per year, an audacious figure that would make it by far the highest volume vehicle ever made. It's still unclear whether Tesla can master reliable self-driving technology in its existing cars, much less sell inexpensive autonomous cars to the masses on a relatively short timeline.

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Musk is less keen to discuss Tesla's plans for more affordable future models that aren't the Cybercab. Tesla's third-quarter earnings deck reaffirms that the automaker will start producing cheaper vehicles in the first half of 2025. But it's still not clear whether those will be stripped-down versions of existing models or clean-sheet designs.

Contact the author: tim.levin@insideevs.com