“Teslas are not affordable enough”. That’s what company chief Elon Musk said during a recent earnings call with investors, stressing that the company “won’t succeed in our mission if we don’t make cars affordable.”
What that mission is, we’re not entirely sure, but it’s probably something along the lines of market domination – and that includes both combustion-engined cars and EVs.
So how does the company plan to make its cars more affordable? By launching a family hatchback, of course.
The car, which is being referred to as the Model 2 among rumour sites, is expected to take the form of a European-style hatchback based on the same underpinnings as the Model 3 saloon. While Musk didn’t go into the specifics of the so-called Model 2, he did say it “would be reasonable to assume that we would make a compact vehicle of some kind and probably a higher-capacity vehicle of some kind.”
Why launch a hatchback? Well, it’s because the hatchback is emerging as the next big thing in the electric car scene. Not only do you have the long-established Renault Zoe, which has been waiving the EV hatchback flag since 2012, but there’s also the Honda e, Mini Electric and Peugeot e-208.
But Tesla will be more concerned about the ID.3, Volkswagen’s first EV to be built on an electric-only platform and one of the few electric cars to generate nearly as much hype as the Model 3 did before its reveal in 2016.
The ID.3 boasts a claimed WLTP range of just over 340 miles when equipped with the larger 77kWh battery pack, so the so-called Model 2 will have to go some to match, if not surpass, VW’s electric car.
If the Model 2 does get the green light, it could be built at Tesla’s new facility in Germany, especially as a hatchback is more likely to be successful in Europe than in the US.
Keyword: Tesla Model 2: will it take on the VW ID.3?