Most automakers function a public relations division that retains up a gentle cadence of stories releases about future merchandise and fields questions from reporters. Tesla doesn’t.
That leaves reporters gathering what info we will from CEO Elon Musk’s Twitter account and quarterly communications with shareholders.
The corporate’s fourth-quarter outcomes meant a sudden flurry of Tesla information.
Mannequin 3, Y maintaining everybody busy
New automotive gross sales are declining, but electric car sales are soaring. Total new automotive gross sales fell by greater than 21% between the final quarter of 2020 and 2021. However electrical automotive gross sales rose by practically 72%.
Tesla controls the electrical automotive market within the U.S. Greater than 72% of all electrical vehicles bought in America final quarter had been Tesla merchandise. The Model Y SUV was America’s best-selling electrical car (EV) final quarter, with greater than 63,000 bought. The Tesla Mannequin Three sedan got here in second, with greater than 41,000 bought.
Different automakers have begun introducing electrical vehicles, bringing Tesla a battle it hasn’t confronted earlier than. However the competitors continues to be small in Tesla’s rearview mirror. The Ford
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Mustang Mach-E got here in a distant third, with just a little over 8,000 gross sales.
With demand for the Mannequin Y and Mannequin Three so excessive, Musk says, practically each microchip the corporate can get its palms on goes into constructing one or the opposite. “If we had been to introduce new automobiles, our whole car output would lower.”
No Cybertruck, Roadster, Mannequin 2
With that in thoughts, the corporate has formally delayed the subsequent product it was scheduled to carry to market – its cyberpunk-looking electrical pickup, the Cybertruck. The truck’s imminent delay has appeared inevitable since Tesla eliminated all dates from its reservation web site for the truck final month. However Musk made it official in an investor name Jan. 26.
He additionally delayed a plan to resurrect the company’s first product – the Tesla Roadster – and a venture to develop an electrical semi-truck. Bringing out new merchandise now, Musk stated, “wouldn’t make any sense as a result of we’ll nonetheless be parts-constrained.”
As for a rumored try and construct a sub-$25,000 automotive — Tesla followers unofficially name it the Mannequin 2, although the corporate hasn’t formally named it — Musk says it’s not even within the planning phases.
“We’re not at the moment engaged on a $25,000 automotive,” Musk stated on the decision. “We have now an excessive amount of on our plate.”
See: Where is Tesla’s Cybertruck?
Some threat in delays
Delaying merchandise you’ll be able to’t get the elements to construct looks as if an apparent step. However there may be some threat for Tesla in letting future merchandise slip additional into the longer term.
Musk showed a prototype of the Cybertruck in 2019, at which level it regarded prone to be the primary electrical pickup to market.
The very best Tesla may do now’s fourth. Startup rival Rivian
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has already begun deliveries of its well-reviewed R1T electrical truck. The first GMC Hummer EV pickups have reached customers as effectively. Ford has accepted greater than 200,000 reservations for its F-150 Lightning and plans to start deliveries this 12 months. The Lighting is an all-electric model of the best-selling car in America, the Ford F-150 pickup.
Additionally see: Here is Ford’s F150 Lightning by the numbers
Ought to Tesla wait any longer on the Cybertruck, it could fall behind Chevrolet’s not too long ago revealed Silverado EV.
The Roadster, as a high-performance 2-seater, has no present equal.
If Tesla had been to construct a sub-$25,000 electrical automotive, they’d possible have that section of the market to themselves. At the moment, it’s attainable to purchase a Nissan Leaf for lower than $20,000 as soon as federal tax incentives are utilized. However Nissan
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has plans to switch the Leaf with an SUV that can most likely carry a better value.
Chevrolet has announced plans to build an electric version of its Equinox SUV with a goal value of “round $30,000.” A number of EVs at the moment in the marketplace carry value tags within the low $30,000 territory after federal tax rebates, however their sticker costs stay within the $40,000 vary.
This story initially ran on KBB.com.