Tesla’s US$25k EV likely soon

Reports from China indicate the smaller and more affordable US$25,000 Tesla is close.

Claims a prototype has already been completed have come from a “prolific auto leaker”, Teslarati reports, adding that earlier this month Tesla China announced its research and development centre is about to go online.

“It would then take a strong supply chain and some serious mass manufacturing strategies to ensure that the $25k Tesla is as profitable as its siblings like the Model 3 and Model Y,” Teslarati explains.

Tesla’s Gigafactory Shanghai is the company’s primary export hub, producing the Model 3 and Model Y for the local and overseas markets like Australia and New Zealand.

Nio has announced it’s also planning a “mass-market” EV.

Tesla China has increased localisation of parts for its EVs, with suggestions that Tesla is already at 90% localisation in Giga Shanghai confirmed by the Lingang New Area Party undersecretary.

Teslarati believes that would likely allow Tesla China to pursue projects such as the US$25k Tesla, expecting prototypes to be tested later this year for possible production in 2022.