Tesla’s new affordable electric car is coming soon, but it may not be what you were expecting
April 30, 2025 by Jamie Edkins
Car changing is a big deal
Elon Musk has been promising an entry-level EV for years now, but during Tesla’s Q1 earnings call he said that it was coming in the first half of 2025, so it appears that the so-called Model Q is imminent.
- New, more affordable Tesla model coming soon
- Rumoured to be a stripped-back version of the Model Y
- Could get a smaller battery…
- …And less equipment
- Production said to be starting in a few months
- Prices estimated to start at around £25,000
After years of speculation, it looks like Tesla’s new entry-level model is almost here. Tesla’s Q1 earnings report says that plans for the production of new models remain on track for the first half of 2025, so you can expect an announcement over the next few weeks.
What’s less clear is exactly what this car will be. Speculation online has gone from an all-new model, to a tweaked version of the self-driving Cybercab and now there are murmurings that this will be a stripped-back Tesla Model Y.
New Tesla budget EV: what is it?
That’s a tricky question to answer, because exactly what this new affordable EV has been a mystery for years.
When it was first announced it was assumed that this would be an all-new model. A few design drawings which were believed to be the new budget EV were leaked, however with hindsight these were likely initial drawings of the Cybercab.
That aforementioned Reuters report then led to speculation that the budget EV would be a Cybercab with a steering wheel and pedals, however Elon Musk quickly quashed these rumours.
So what will this car be exactly? Well a line in Tesla’s Q1 2025 earnings call could shed some light on it.
An unnamed journalist asked if the affordable EV would be an all-new model, and Tesla’s Chief Financial Officer Dev Ateneja responded with:
“The real thing which we are trying to focus on is affordability. And using our existing lines, there’s always limitations when you’re using existing lines as to how many different form factors can you bring to. So that’s the way I would say you should think about it.”
This car will also be built on the same production line as the new Model Y, making it seem likely that Tesla’s sub-£25,000 electric car will simply be a stripped-back Model Y.
Reports from Chinese social media suggest that it could get fabric seats with no ventilation functions, a non-powered tailgate, fewer speakers and single-colour ambient lighting. As cool as it would be to have steel wheels and black bumpers like in the image above, this is unlikely to be how the car ends up looking.
🔥🔥 Tesla is rumored to launch a more affordable Model Y, codenamed E80, this July!
According to reports from Chinese social media, key features include:
✅ Fabric seats
✅ No ventilated seats
✅ Manual frunk
✅ Single-color ambient lighting (white)
✅ Reduced speaker sound… pic.twitter.com/hMu2ndctrQ— Tesla Newswire (@TeslaNewswire) April 27, 2025
Reports also suggest that it could use a smaller 55kWh battery pack as opposed to the 75kWh one you get in the standard Model Y. Some quick maths yields an estimated range of around 280 miles if this is the case.
New Tesla budget EV: where is it?
That’s a good question, because it seems like this car has been “just around the corner” for years now. This car’s timeline has been a turbulent one to say the least, with a lot of changes and rumours keeping the internet talking about it.
Reuters is lying (again)
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 5, 2024
Back in 2024, Reuters published a report saying that the affordable EV would be cancelled in favour of the self-driving Cybercab, citing an anonymous Tesla insider as a source. Elon Musk quickly took to social media to deny these claims.
Fast forward a few months and Tesla unveiled the Cybercab – a futuristic-looking pod with no steering wheel or pedals. A few days later during a Tesla earning call, Elon Musk said something which left us all scratching our heads.
“I think having a regular $25K model is pointless. It would be silly. Like it would be completely at odds with what we believe.
In an autonomous world, what matters is the lowest cost per mile of efficiency of that vehicle. And that’s what we’ve done with the robotaxi.”
This threw the future of the new affordable model into doubt and you’d be forgiven for thinking that the Cybercab has indeed taken its place. It’s set to cost less than £25,000 after all.
Well the rumour mill was fired up again late last year following a report from the Chinese media that the “Model Q” was discussed in a meeting between Tesla and Deutsche Bank. That’s unlikely to be the car’s official name, rather just an internal codename.
And that brings us to the present day, and Tesla’s Q1 2025 earning report. There’s a rather interesting excerpt which reads: “Plans for new vehicles, including more affordable models, remain on track for start of production in the first half of 2025.”
This is exciting news because, if this timeline is to be believed, that would mean the new affordable EV is coming in mere months from now. Given Elon Musk’s track record with dates – Roadster, anyone? – this is best taken with a pinch of salt.
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