Is the Tesla under 25,000 euros already on the road?

Tesla announced it is pausing its project for a small car under 25,000 euros. To explore a different path?

We have read and heard everything about the small Tesla project priced under 25,000 euros. A one-piece stamped chassis, design inspired by the Cybertruck to simplify bodywork, availability for autonomous taxi use,… Ultimately, Elon Musk spoke about it best, even though he made the decision to suspend its development. The Tesla CEO shared his thoughts on the car in October 2023, describing it as “cool” and “beautiful,” but above all “practical.” “ It is not meant to fill you with admiration and magic, he emphasized, but to get you from point A to point B. “

So there’s no need for avant-garde design or cutting-edge technology. Just a practical and inexpensive car. So why not take a few Model Y chassis from the production lines and equip them with the bare minimum to lower their price? The model will be replaced in a few months, but the factories are still running at full capacity. One can easily picture a coexistence between the new Model Y Juniper and the old “Low Cost” Model Y.

Cheaper because less good!

The Tesla Model Y is offered in France starting from 36,900 euros, so there’s no need to look very far to lower its price. Let’s start by removing all unnecessary comfort accessories such as seat ventilation and some non-essential electric adjustments or induction chargers. We seal the roof with a metal plate to save on glass and the shading system, thereby saving a few more euros. On the technology front, we can scrap the matrix headlights, Autopilot, and all the expensive gadgets.

Next, let’s look at the battery, which offers a range of 455 km on the basic Propulsion version. That’s way too much for our “less” Model Y, and it should be possible to negotiate a very low price with BYD or CATL for a few units of older generation batteries with a charging power of less than 100 kW. For example, a BYD Atto 3 battery with 82 kW charging might not be worth much anymore. There’s no need to break records when trying to reduce the price. In the same vein, we limit the speed to 150 km/h and set the motor to economy mode for a 0 to 100 km/h time of 10 seconds instead of 6.9 seconds. And with everything we’ve just removed and a smaller battery, it’s easy to reduce weight, and therefore, increase range. We wrap things up with 18-inch wheels and lower quality, and thus cheaper tires.

With all of this, we are certainly not very far from 25,000 euros.

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