Yahoo Autos Sub-$30K Tesla Compact Crossover Reportedly Canceled Before Arrival
Tesla's affordable compact SUV (a.k.a. the Model 2) has been canceled, according to a report by Reuters.
The company will instead shift resources towards its driverless robotaxi project, which has been promised since 2019.
The new information follows a previous Reuters report stating the codenamed "Redwood" project would enter production in June of 2025.
Tesla has canceled the sub-$30,000 compact SUV it's been working on behind the scenes for the past few years, according to a new report by Reuters. Tesla CEO Elon Musk first mentioned the vehicle at an event in 2020. At the time, Musk suggested the car would carry a $25,000 price point, be capable of fully autonomous driving, and arrive within three years. The "next-generation vehicle," as Musk dubbed it, was set to be smaller and significantly cheaper than the current Model 3 and Model Y, which start at $40,630 and $44,630 respectively.
The new information follows a January report by Reuters that said Tesla had alerted suppliers of plans to begin production for a new car in mid-2025, codenamed "Redwood." Now, Reuters is reporting based on multiple sources that Redwood will be scrapped, in favor of shifting resources towards Tesla's driverless robotaxi project.
“Elon’s directive is to go all in on robotaxi,” one source told Reuters.
As with many of Musk's claims, the initial timeline for launching the robotaxi has come and gone multiple times. He first announced the project in April 2019, targeting a 2020 launch. That timeline came and went, with Musk bringing the project back into the news cycle in 2022, when he claimed it would be ready by this year. That, of course, is not the case, though Musk has given a new target reveal, posting "Tesla Robotaxi unveil on 8/8" on his social media site X, formerly known as Twitter.
According to Musk's claims, the robotaxi will be void of a steering wheel or pedals and will instead drive itself using Tesla's Full Self-Driving software. That's said to make it a Level 5 autonomous vehicle, but there are currently no vehicles with SAE Level 5 autonomy on American roads.
When the project does eventually launch, Tesla's goal is to make the taxi fare as cheap as possible. Musk claims that Tesla believes a ride in its robotaxi will cost less than a subsidized public bus or subway fare.
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