Tesla Denies Developing Smaller, Cheaper Electric SUV

On April 10, in response to market rumors that Tesla is developing a new, smaller, and more affordable electric SUV, Tesla China officially stated that the report was false. Earlier reports claimed Tesla had already discussed detailed plans for the compact SUV with suppliers, indicating the vehicle would be manufactured in China, measure approximately 4.28 meters in length—shorter than the Model Y—and be priced significantly below Tesla’s current entry-level Model 3, which starts at around $34,000 in China and about $37,000 in the U.S. Tesla had previously announced it would pause development of low-cost new models to focus instead on fully autonomous vehicles. However, driverless cars are neither widely adopted nor approved for public roads in most global markets in the near term. Resuming development of a lower-cost model could help sustain production capacity at Tesla’s vehicle manufacturing facilities.