[HN Gopher] Tesla reportedly developing new smaller, cheaper EV ...
___________________________________________________________________
Tesla reportedly developing new smaller, cheaper EV after killing
Model 2
Author : jethronethro
Score : 20 points
Date : 2026-04-09 19:33 UTC (3 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (electrek.co)
(TXT) w3m dump (electrek.co)
| BonoboIO wrote:
| Yeah ... vapoware like the roadster.
| Morromist wrote:
| I wouldn't be too shocked if they're real. They aren't going to
| be making humanoid robots that actually are useful and don't
| price 99% of people out of buying them and they have to come
| out with something new eventually.
|
| And they can copy a lot of features from the better, cheaper
| chinese cars and just sell them for 3x as much in the american
| market because they have no competition here and the chinese
| are barred from selling their cars here.
|
| Still, even if the are real it doesn't mean their company
| should be valued at 21x Ford's value, or even 1x Ford's.
| FireBeyond wrote:
| I'd say they're as real as the $35K Cybertruck Musk promised
| us (not that many of us wanted it).
| Morromist wrote:
| Exactly! That's a perfect analogy.
| cyanydeez wrote:
| Tesla is basically proof positive that the market, oligarchy and
| fund managers are all in the Epstein-sphere of influence. No
| rational market would suffer the type of business management and
| products that Tesla produces.
| quantified wrote:
| You're forgetting a fan base. It's in the same category as a
| meme stock or NFT back in the day. Same way that haters gonna
| hate, believers gonna believe, and sometimes attack those who
| question/threaten their worldview. The boosters boost because
| they BELIEVE.
| jfengel wrote:
| I don't think the comparison is entirely fair. There was
| never anything to NFTs. It was always a scam.
|
| Tesla builds actual cars. For a while, these cars were
| innovative, and the best of their class. Their price was
| based on a wildly optimistic version of what they could
| become, but at least it had some nonzero value.
|
| It's true that they've stopped innovating and have fallen
| behind, so that "optimism" has turned in the direction of
| "pure delusion". But I still think it's unfair to compare it
| to something that never demonstrated any value of any kind.
| quantified wrote:
| NFTs actually appreciated in price for a while. Still
| waiting for our FSD Teslas to appreciate and be useful as
| robotaxis as promised by Musk.
|
| There is definitely a meme element here. It is fair to
| compare anything to anything, just not to equate anything
| with anything. There is, I think, sufficient overlap on
| certain dimensions to warrant looking at them together.
| cbeach wrote:
| Your comment has more than a whiff of "never driven a Tesla"
| tapoxi wrote:
| It's a shame what happened to this company. I used to really want
| a Tesla, but now the brand signifies your support for Musk/DOGE,
| they killed half their lineup, and they keep mentioning that cars
| aren't the future as they aim for driverless taxis and robots.
|
| At least they opened the supercharger network. My mom picked up a
| Cadillac Optiq and even with her being on the other side of the
| country she was able to seamlessly transition to an EV.
| verdverm wrote:
| I was able to drive across the US in the winter in an Ioniq 6
| without using Tesla chargers. All but a couple were 350V, WY
| was the worst state (NY->WA), battery conditioning had charges
| ~200V for the first phase until charge levels became the
| dominant factor.
|
| Ionna is 8 automakers building an alternative network
|
| https://www.ionna.com/founding-partners/
|
| Hyundai has their EV platform which has been 800V for a couple
| of years, future proof for the lifetime of the car considering
| how slow EV rollout is in the US...
| Toutouxc wrote:
| > All but a couple were 350V, WY was the worst state
| (NY->WA), battery conditioning had charges ~200V for the
| first phase until charge levels became the dominant factor.
|
| Sorry but what? I can maybe understand "V" instead of "kW"
| (why?), but what does the second part mean?
| tapoxi wrote:
| Yeah I've had an ID4 for a few years and its certainly
| possible, but seemingly overnight the charging network
| doubled and its a net win for everyone.
|
| Also, my mom is in her 70s, those CCS plugs are huge! I'm
| glad everyone was able to standardize on NACS.
| 4ndrewl wrote:
| It'll be a case study in years to come.
|
| Dually turning the brand toxic to your core customers, and
| having a bonfire of a strategy around products.
| burnt-resistor wrote:
| Absolutely waste but with insufficient accountability. I don't
| understand how or why shareholders haven't sued him into
| penury. Taking political positions as a business figure is
| inherently fraught with risk, but then taking extreme political
| positions, openly flaunting drug use, and suggesting human
| decency is weakness is bloody weird and insane that will only
| lead to hubris. I don't want to know a CEO's religion or
| politics because these should be private matters.
| the_biot wrote:
| Because while Musk is certainly running Tesla into the
| ground, without him it would sink even faster. Without his
| hype jacking up the share price, it's just a carmaker with
| 2.5 models, cratering sales, fast obsoleting tech, and no new
| models in the near pipeline.
|
| All the shareholders can do is hang on to the ride for as
| long as they can.
| dzhiurgis wrote:
| I finally test drove friends BYD Sealion 7. Yes interior is
| very nice, soft materials, etc (to a point where it almost
| feels tacky). Drive felt much softer than my mid-gen Model Y
| (almost too boaty and rolly but thats is completely fine for a
| family car).
|
| The software is not great tho, really misses the point and I
| can see why people hate touchscreens. No single pedal driving
| (idk perhaps they haven't enabled it), no phone as key, no
| profiles, engine start/stop button.
|
| Overall I'd say people are sold on features without looking in
| depth what you get with Tesla. And Tesla still outselling any
| other brand here in NZ.
|
| Hope I can try out Zeekr 7x performance in couple of weeks. I
| heard a lot of good things about it.
| andrecarini wrote:
| My impression as a driver-in-training is that people are too
| complacent and forget they are handling a machine that could at
| any moment kill and maim you, your loved ones and random innocent
| bystanders. I wish we all were more responsible about it, and I
| hate the Tesla philosophy of going the opposite way (the
| touchscreen, the sorta there but not really autopilot, etc)
| Toutouxc wrote:
| That's also my impression (experienced and competent driver).
| The other day I saw a video of someone testing Tesla FSD in
| Prague (where I live), the person was praising it for dealing
| with various situations quickly and with confidence, while I, a
| local, was basically cowering non-stop in front of the screen.
| There was certainly a lot of YOLO energy.
| estimator7292 wrote:
| The prevailing attitude in America is that as long as _you_ are
| safe and comfortable in your gargantuan car, killing
| pedestrians and other drivers doesn 't matter. Everyone else is
| beneath your contempt and if someone gets hurt or killed due to
| your recklessness, they deserve it.
| dzhiurgis wrote:
| Every new car has autopilot now, whats your point?
| xnx wrote:
| Original source:
| https://finance.yahoo.com/sectors/technology/articles/exclus...
| ramesh31 wrote:
| It will still be $30k+ out the door, guaranteed. There's zero
| interest in making an actual affordable car when their margins
| are so high at that level.
| jerlam wrote:
| There are a lot of new $30K EVs on the market right now, as
| manufacturers have added a lot of incentives since the EV
| rebate expired. And a lot of slightly used EVs are coming off
| lease this year.
|
| Tesla is going to struggle since their brand no longer has any
| cachet and people aren't interested in subscribing to a kinda-
| self driving feature.
| mullingitover wrote:
| It's not that it doesn't have cachet, it has _anti-cachet_.
|
| People of Musk's exact political stripe absolutely are not
| impressed if you drive a Tesla, and everyone else, at
| minimum, is silently counting it as a character flaw and
| judgment problem.
|
| To top it off, they're not the latest or the greatest EVs
| available and it's common knowledge at this point. The two
| metrics that they maximize, range and 0-60, are not really a
| big factor in day-to-day ownership in the way that a smooth
| ride and build quality are.
| znkynz wrote:
| Will be eaten alive by the chinese competitiors at that
| ridicilous price point.
| devonnull wrote:
| File this under _I 'll believe it when I see it_.
| microtherion wrote:
| Quarterly earnings will be released April 22. My impression is
| that in recent years, such rumors tended to cluster around
| earnings reports (which largely haven't been great the last 2
| years or so), presumably as distractions.
| bdangubic wrote:
| They don't really need this though, every TSLA investor already
| louds that TSLA is _not_ a car company - I think now it is no
| longer "Robo"taxi company either but humanoids-data-center-on-
| Jupiter-moon-mining company. Hence, absolutely no need for any
| EV announcements :)
| klooney wrote:
| I saw a Cybercab on the 280 today, it looked kind of cool but
| kind of weird, too. I wonder if it'll be the same thing
| physically.
___________________________________________________________________
(page generated 2026-04-09 23:01 UTC)