Tesla CEO Elon Musk says that the automaker might design and engineer a small electric hatchback in Germany.<\/p>\n
Earlier today, Electrek reported that Volvo bought a Tesla Model Y in the US and brought it to Sweden, presumably to reverse engineer it.<\/p>\n
Commenting on the story, Musk said:<\/p>\n
Berlin Model Y is the one to watch. That is a revolution in automotive body engineering (finally).<\/p>\n
The CEO seems to imply that Volvo should instead take a look at the version of the Model Y that Tesla plans to build at Gigafactory Berlin since it will be greatly improved though its not available yet so they cant really do that.<\/p>\n
Following the comment, Musk was asked if Tesla could build a smaller European style hatchback and the CEO responded:<\/p>\n
At the very least, it sounds like Musk is interested in the idea.<\/p>\n
Lately, the CEO has been discussing not only building cars where they are building new factories, in Germany and China, but also designing and engineering cars in those markets.<\/p>\n
In China, Tesla has been taking design submissions for a Chinese-made small electric car.<\/p>\n
Musk already announced plans for Tesla to open a European design center in Germany.<\/p>\n
Now it sounds like the design and engineering team that Tesla plans to hire at the location could end up designing a smaller electric hatchback.<\/p>\n
Tesla fans have been asking for a small electric hatchback for years now and I think this is the first time that Elon has openly talked about the possibility.<\/p>\n
It looks like we might be getting it from China based on the drawing that the automaker released for a Chinese-designed Tesla vehicle, but now it sounds like this new German-designed Tesla car could be a whole separate vehicle program.<\/p>\n
Those vehicles are also exciting because they likely mean that Tesla is thinking about going downmarket from Model 3, which is something that Elon has pushed against in the past.<\/p>\n
Could you imagine a Tesla 5-door hatchback with 250 miles of range starting at $30,000? That would be a killer.<\/p>\n
Tesla could also offer a dual motor Performance version for $40,000+ to create a hot hatch that would just be an autocross machine.<\/p>\n
I basically want Tesla to do their own version of the Zoe RS hot hatch that Renault has been teasing for years but never released.<\/p>\n
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Tesla electric hatchback: Elon Musk says new car might be designed in Germany - Electrek<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Tesla CEO Elon Musk says that the automaker might design and engineer a small electric hatchback in Germany. Earlier today, Electrek reported that Volvo bought a Tesla Model Y in the US and brought it to Sweden, presumably to reverse engineer it. Continue reading