With Tesla poised to report record earnings on Wednesday, customers and analysts alike are hoping for an update on the production of the Cybertruck and — potentially more relevant to more consumers, the long-awaited $25,000 Tesla EV.
While Tesla has continued to impress, including delivering nearly 1 million electric cars in 2021, the company, like many others in the auto and tech industry, has been afflicted with throttled supply.
While analysts believe that production could be doubled with the new factories coming online, supply chain woes could hurt their prospects. Despite new factories in Texas and Berlin, it remains unclear if Tesla will be able to scale up production to meet demand. Another concern is whether large-scale production of their new 4680 battery has been achieved. According to Reuters, Panasonic and LG will only commence manufacture in 2023, whereas Tesla had hoped to have the cells in cars this year.
Also See: Could This Hint At An Imminent Cybertruck Announcement?
Moreover, those who placed orders for Cybertrucks will be keen to see where their trucks stand in Tesla’s new production roadmap — an earlier report claimed that Cybertruck production had been pushed back to 2023, with Tesla quietly scrubbing the truck’s production date in early January.
What about the so-called Model 2 compact EV?
Tesla Model 2 speculative rendering
Another eagerly awaited car will be a small electric car, possibly named “Model 2.” Tesla CEO Elon Musk promised that a cheaper car to sit below the Model 3 would arrive in three years. That was in 2020. But in October 2021, Tesla vice president Lars Morav is said that the company would not add new vehicles while battery cells were constrained.
Reuters reports that the Model 2 is the car that longer-term investors are keen on. According to Gene Munster, managing partner at venture capital firm Loup Ventures, without a cheaper model in the lineup, Tesla would not be able to grow volume by 50% every year.
Note: The lead image is a speculative illustration for a compact Tesla model made by Jean Francois Hubert/SB-Medien for CarScoops that is neither related to nor endorsed by Tesla.
