Elon Musk says Tesla aims to introduce a $25,000 model in 2025

There is a new chapter in the ongoing saga that is the legendary and mysterious $25,000 Tesla. The $25,000 Tesla EV is supposed to be the culmination of Elon Musk’s ultimate plan for Tesla’s product line. Start with an aspirational luxury vehicle—the Model S—and allow its sales to subsidize future, more affordable models until finally reaching the bargain $25,000 accessible entry-level Tesla.

While the plan seems straightforward, in reality it’s been anything but. In a 2022 Q3 earning’s call Musk reaffirmed that the mythical $25k Tesla would be coming on a new platform and generating some hope that it would actually come to fruition. Then, Musk himself dumped some cold water on the possibilities at the start of 2024 when he said, “certainly I say things that should be taken with grain of salt because I am optimistic.”

However, in that same call Musk said that Tesla was targeting production on its new platform—which will include the “affordable” model—in “late 2025.” So, in the same call Musk tells everyone to take what he says with a grain of salt but also confirms a production window for the car he’s been promising since 2020. Wait, what?

Adding further confusion was a Reuters report citing unnamed inside sources at Tesla telling them that the company announced the $25,000 model was dead during an employee meeting in February 2024. Musk took to X and accused Reuters of “lying,” but didn’t specify which part of its story was inaccurate which would seemingly mean the whole thing was false according to Musk.

Fine so for the sake of argument let’s take Musk at his word that Reuter’s had bad info. What’s the actual deal with this $25,000 Tesla that he’s been teasing for so long? Musk provided another update during a Q2 2024 investor call saying that the timeline for production on the new platform has been moved up.

“We’ve updated our future vehicle lineup to accelerate the launch of new models ahead,” said Musk during the call. “Previously mentioned starting production in the second half of 2025, we expect it to be more like early 2025 if not late this year.”

Why is Tesla able to move up the production timeline for the new platform? According to Musk, part of the reason is because the new models will still use some assets from current models. “These new vehicles, including more affordable models will use aspects of the next generation platform as well as aspects of our current platforms,” said Musk.

“We’ll be able to produce on the same manufacturing lines as our current vehicle lineup so it’s not contingent on any new factory or massive new production line. It will be made on our current production lines much more efficiently.”

Considering how “optimistic” it sounds, we’re going to follow Musk’s own advice and take this news with a grain of salt. Though for what it’s worth, we’re fans of having more options for affordable cars in the market so hopefully Tesla can make this $25,000 model a reality rather than a pipe dream.