Tesla has used the internet to achieve a very high level of notoriety around the world, and despite the fact that the facilities to build and sell cars in Europe or other places outside the US are not fully completed yet, the brand has attracted a big worldwide following, comprised mostly of eco-minded people who can’t even begin to consider affording their only offering, the rather expensive Model S.
A report from Bloomberg says that company CEO and co-founder Elon Musk is very keen on making a much cheaper entry-level car that will be in the price range of many looking to buy a regular sedan, but offer much fewer of the drawbacks of cars which it will compete with like the Chevrolet Volt.
This new car would start at under $40,000 or €31,000, but with options and a predictable choice of batteries, a model you would want would probably be more expensive than that – virtually nobody buys the ‘base’ Model S, despite it being a more expensive car.
Expect the new smaller EV from Tesla to have a range of around 200 miles or 320 km, and compete for market share directly with the Nissan Leaf. This is good, because if a small automaker has the power to make such a tempting model, then this will spur on the mainstream automakers to comply with these new standards and be competitive.
It should be here in two or three years’ time, and chances are it’s already under development, and we should see it in concept form after the launch of the Model X all-wheel drive twin-motor crossover, which unlike the Model S, uses two motors, one for each axle.
By Andrei Nedelea
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