Update: Wall Street Journal reporter Becky Peterson says she acquired a copy of Deutsche Bank’s report on the Autonomous Day convention that took place in New York on December 5. The report confirms many issues discussed in the Chinese media, and adds that Travis Axelrod met with Deutsche Bank at the convention.
Peterson highlights five key issues from the report and adds that Deutsche Bank refers to the “new Tesla model” as the “Model Q. ” The report also mentions that the electric vehicle is expected to launch in the first part of 2025, priced under $30,000 with federal tax credits or under $38,000 without, and built on Tesla’s existing platforms. However, it is not clear from his tweet whether those statements are Axelrod’s own words or Deutsche Bank’s assessment.
On Twitter, Peterson noted that the report does not mention “Redwood, the internal codename of a customer vehicle, built on a new platform, which Musk discontinued earlier this year,” adding that it “also says nothing about length. “or cost, or how it might differ from a 3” model.
We’ve reached out to Peterson and will update this story if we hear more.
If a report coming out of China is to be believed, which mentions statements from a Deutsche Bank convention and Tesla’s vice president of investor relations, and that’s a big if until there’s official confirmation or first-hand verification that Tesla is allegedly preparing to launch a new electric vehicle. called Q style next year, priced at just $30,000.
Or at least, that’s the gist of a story that’s been circulating in Chinese media lately. The report claims that Travis Axelrod, Tesla’s head of investor relations, showed off the lifestyles and imminent arrival of the new entry-level car at Deutsche Bank’s Autonomous Driving Day conference.
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The story appears to have originated with Wall Street CN, which claims Axelrod said the baby Tesla will debut in the first half of 2025 prices at $37,500. But if returning president, Donald Trump, opts not to trash the current EV tax credit system the transaction price could drop to just $30k.
And that’s not the only secret car Tesla has in store for us next year, according to the same report. He says the automaker will also launch other new models to expand its market with the aim of achieving a 25 to 30 percent expansion target. One of those additional electric vehicles could simply be a three-row, long-wheelbase Model Y, designed primarily for China, but which could also do well in other countries and close the huge gap of the Y. and X SUVs. The Model Y will receive a facelift in 2025.
Tesla warned however, that rolling out new product would inevitably lead to a temporary drop in profitability, Chinese media says. Other news supposedly coming out of the conference includes Tesla’s affirmation that it would launch a self-driving taxi service in California and Texas in 2025 using Model 3 and Y vehicles ahead of the launch of the company’s real robotaxi, the Cybercab, in 2026. Tesla will eventually cut the cost of Cybercab production to $30k per unit, the report claims.
We reached out to Travis Axelrod, Tesla’s Investor Relations team, as well as Deutsche Bank’s North American and Chinese divisions for comment, but have yet to hear back from anyone, so for now you probably ought to take the news with a pinch of salt. But if it’s true, legacy carmakers are going to have a nightmare on their hands trying to compete.