Tesla’s new cut-price EVs: A $39,990 Model Y and $36,990 Model 3
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... you do not give enough information to deduce whether the 69KWH pack is good enough for 321 or 357 miles (whether it is a range-locked upgradeable pack). Please illuminate.
In addition ... is a pack under range lock able to last longer since it is never stressed to full range?
GSM
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I wish there were still Tesla fanboys on this site, because I'm dying to know how this is competitive with other similarly priced EVs (nevermind similarly priced ICEVs).
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FWD only has a benefit in the snow for cars with more than 50% of their weight over their front tires (that is, front-engined ICE cars). It’s not useful otherwise and makes handling worse. Most FWD EVs are just for platform sharing or packaging reasons.
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Well that kind of sucks to hear, nothing like having to pay more due to living in an area with inclement seasonal weather. But at least it seems cars like the Equinox EV that someone else linked to are FWD or AWD and not RWD
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I guarantee you these prices were set with the tax credit in mind. The original plan was likely to promote them as being under $35k for the Model Y and under $30k for the Model 3, but whoops, the tax credit is gone now, and as a result, they can't do that anymore.
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They've gone from looking like generic ugly cheap pieces of crap to even more generic ugly pieces of crap. Well done.
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"Full stop" subject to established FSD margin of error. In the vein of "California stop," call it an "Full Sometimes Doesn't Stop," maybe?
- signed, A Californian
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Tesla is still ahead of the pack in propulsion efficiency and in overall system efficiency. But with a veeeeery thin margin.
See: https://www.electriccarscheme.com/blog/what-are-the-most-efficient-electric-cars - NIO is technically a bit better, but only by making the battery lighter (with the corresponding range decrease).
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$5k isn’t going to move the needle. Tesla has tried cheaper models before with no success. I don’t see this being much different. I predict this will be a low volume trim.
Cybertruck has been a failure. If they’ve got factory space for 250k units per year of Cybertruck, they should scale back and repurpose some of that space, update the Cybercab with steering wheel and pedals and a smaller screen and sell it for $25-30k base.
I don’t know if their factories for Model Y are capable of building anything other than a 3 or Y, but they could have shrunk the size of the vehicle to save on materials and came out with a small crossover, but that might compete with the price of the 3 and maybe they don’t want that. Idk.
None of this will overcome the brand damage Elon has done and continues to pile on. Robots and FSD are still a long way to go. The Tesla staff can only do so much with these chains on their ankles.
Cybertruck has been a failure. If they’ve got factory space for 250k units per year of Cybertruck, they should scale back and repurpose some of that space, update the Cybercab with steering wheel and pedals and a smaller screen and sell it for $25-30k base.
I don’t know if their factories for Model Y are capable of building anything other than a 3 or Y, but they could have shrunk the size of the vehicle to save on materials and came out with a small crossover, but that might compete with the price of the 3 and maybe they don’t want that. Idk.
None of this will overcome the brand damage Elon has done and continues to pile on. Robots and FSD are still a long way to go. The Tesla staff can only do so much with these chains on their ankles.
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All the Model Ys look like the same Model Y they’ve been making since they introduced it too. Other car makers do a recognizable refresh every year and then a whole big redesign every couple of years. You could buy the first-year Model Y used and almost no one would know it wasn’t this new one or even the fancy new one. Hyundai and GM have a dozen completely distinct versions of their original EV.
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I don't know about Tesla specifically, but RWD EVs can perform pretty well in bad conditions, including snow. Being able to switch between zero and 100% power (or anywhere in between) a couple hundred times a second does wonders for traction control.
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In what universe would it ever be appropriate to talk about vehicle price without taking inflation into account?
It's not 2020. 2020 dollars have nothing to do with what the vehicle costs now or the impact inflation has had on people's incomes.
And back in 2020, Elon was talking about a $25K EV, not a $30K EV. It doesn't matter -- expecting Elon Musk to keep a promise is deeply foolish -- but even shifting to a $30K vehicle is moving the goalpost.
It isn't hard to see that Elon Musk has little interest in manufacturing cars. The fact that none of these vehicles have received significant refreshes says a lot about where his priorities are.
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Not so much vapourware as failed. The manufacturing breakthroughs they had achieved weren’t sufficient to get to volume production (I’m not sure it’s public what exactly went sideways).
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I'm not sure, but if I had to guess - it prodded those on the fence, or those looking to buy a vehicle 'soon-ish' to bring the decision forward to take advantage of the credit whilst it was still available.
It will almost certainly result in a corresponding dip in sales.
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Not really - I liked the car well enough but it just isn't worth the moral cost I was paying.
I'm not going to say I'm a man of principle and act holier than thou but not renewing a lease (and looking the other way - when I can afford to) seemed a low enough bar to clear.
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As per above, yup. It's basically a price increase if you qualified for the credit, so buy while the price was low last month. This month the fence-sitters are leaning away and prospective buyers are going to generally be more distant without the cuts like Hyundai. Tesla is offering a worse product that might have meant something on psychological numerical breakpoints with the tax credit, but obviously misses when introduced after the sunset.
Also sounds like the hullabaloo about AM radios resulting in the big manufacturers committing to keep them without regulatory/legal policy has given Tesla an opening to drop the base feature list of the market lower...
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The only real 'feature' of these new models is that they're incompatible with the "I bought this before we knew Elon was a Nazi" stickers.
I still do NOT understand the demographic fit between Elon and the 'I care enough about the planet not to buy an internal combustion engine car' demographic. At least the old models came with a sliver of plausible deniability.
I still do NOT understand the demographic fit between Elon and the 'I care enough about the planet not to buy an internal combustion engine car' demographic. At least the old models came with a sliver of plausible deniability.
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They should retool the factory to make 250k normal-looking trucks, which Elon's new target audience are likely to buy in droves (do they even remember the Big Beautiful Breakup?).
They'd print money, despite the electrics-cant-tow crowd, because most trucks never tow anyway, but that sweet 0-60 is what they wanna brag about...
They have all the pieces to make a very successful truck, it just needs to be more normal, and optionally pack more battery at a decent price. The truck audience doesn't boycott Elon's antics.
The low-margins $25k car can wait for sucking up to a hypothetical future D president.
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The main issue is if you’re in a rut needing to turn; you can end up just pushing the wheels sideways through the snow. On the flip side, going uphill you have better traction with RWD than with FWD.
With a BEV the weight is fairly balanced front/back, unlike in a typical ICEV with the engine up front. So you get efficiency improvement from having RWD — the weight balance shifts backwards when accelerating.
This new 3 is trying to be an electric Corolla. It’s not at all trying to be a luxury car; even the original 3 wasn’t.
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That was my first thought when I saw that no radio was included. The only other EV that isn't going to have a radio at all is the Slate Truck, but then again it doesn't even have any kind of sound system with how barebones it is.
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I’m pretty certain that a car that exists handles better in snow than a car that doesn’t exist. They’ve never build an FWD car.
Sure, AWD is better in snow. But RWD versus FWD is a wash.
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The credits were ending after Q3. So anyone wanting to buy soon, bought in Q3 instead.
We see this everywhere that subsidies end: the quarter that they end, sales rise substantially. The quarter after, they drop off a cliff. The BEV is deemed to be a dead technology, a passing fad. Then sales recover.
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ChrisMarshallNY
Ars Praetorian
Paying 40 grand for a car with fewer amenities than competitors at lower prices. Not good optics.
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Having driven 3 vehicles in the snow rather extensively, S2000 (RWD), Honda N-One (tiny kei FWD), and a ridiculous AWD car, they all seemed fine and TBH, I found the S2000 the easiest to drive. But also I don't drive like I want to die.
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The first part might not be true, since Tesla lies so blatantly about range.
With the Ioniq, you'll actually get what Hyundai claims you'll get.
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But they have known for months that the tax credit was going away. Not adjusting their pricing to compensate for this is another fail on Tesla's part.
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