Friday 10 April 2026 12:57 BST Bookmark A Tesla Model 3 - one of the most popular current Tesla models. (Getty Images) As Tesla chases a driverless future, some analysts predict a third-straight year of declining sales for the ⁠traditional EVs that provide the vast majority of its revenue. So far, Tesla operates a small number of robotaxis only in Austin, Texas, many with human safety monitors in the passenger seat. Tesla didn’t respond to ​requests for comment about ⁠plans for a new vehicle. The four people familiar with the project said it remained in ‌an early development stage. Reuters couldn’t determine whether Tesla has given the green light for the car’s production. The automaker has a history of starting development on products that end up long delayed or canceled. Tesla showed off concept vehicles for a Roadster supercar and a Semi freight truck in 2017, for instance, but still hasn’t produced the sports car or mass-produced the Semi. Two of the sources said Tesla aims to offer the new vehicle at a ‌substantially lower price than its entry-level Model 3 sedan, which starts at $34,000 in China and about $37,000 in the United States. They said Tesla ‌planned to save costs in part by using a smaller battery, which would mean a shorter driving range compared with 306 to 327 miles for the Model Y. One of the people added that the automaker would also offer a single electric motor instead of two, a performance option on current Tesla models. Tesla also wants to make the car much lighter, this person said, at about 1.5 metric tons compared with about two tons for the Model Y. Three of the people said the new model would be produced at Tesla’s Shanghai factory. While the timing remained unclear, the car’s production ⁠is unlikely to begin this year, the people said. Tesla’s start-and-stop history on affordable EVs For years after Tesla started in 2008 producing luxury electric cars, Musk said the company’s real mission was to produce affordable, mass-market electric-vehicles that would be critical to fighting the climate crisis. But start-and-stop efforts to deliver on that goal have so far fallen short. Beginning in 2020, Musk said Tesla aimed to sell 20 million vehicles annually by the end of the decade, nearly double that of Toyota, the current global sales leader. A project Musk touted to produce a $25,000 EV, often called the “Model 2” by Tesla fans and investors, was expected to drive explosive vehicle-sales growth. Then in 2024, Reuters reported that Tesla had abandoned plans for the Model 2, although it still planned a driverless robotaxi on the same platform. Tesla’s biggest EV rivals in China had already started producing much cheaper EVs. Later that year, Musk said it would be “pointless” and “silly” for Tesla to make a $25,000 EV for human drivers because the company would soon offer driverless vehicles. open image in gallery