- After a rough start to 2024, Tesla’s vehicle production and revenue rose in the third quarter
- Elon Musk has confirmed his promised inexpensive “Model 2” is not going to happen
- And the high-performance Tesla Roadster has been delayed—again
Tesla’s revenue rose 8% in the third quarter of 2024 compared to the same period in 2023, as reported in the automaker’s quarterly earnings call late October, and its stocks rose in response the next morning — a considerable turnaround from the second quarter when deliveries and shares were down.
But during the third-quarter call, Elon Musk also announced that he won’t be building a lower-cost consumer car as he previously promised, and that his also-promised Tesla Roadster has been delayed again.
Some six years ago, Musk promised an electric car, speculatively dubbed the Model 2, which he said would start at US$25,000 — about US$14,000 less than a Model 3. Early in 2024, he told investors the car would go into production in the second half of 2025. In April 2024, news agency Reuters reported the car had been cancelled. Reuters said Musk didn’t respond directly to the agency, but on social media, Musk declared that “Reuters is dying” and that “Reuters is lying (again).”
But it does seem that Reuters was telling the truth. In a glitzy presentation in mid-October, Musk unveiled his “Cybercab” prototype, a ride-hailing vehicle which he said will be completely autonomous with no steering wheel or pedals; which will charge its battery wirelessly; and which will retail for around US$30,000 before incentives, and will start production in 2026.
During the earnings call, Musk was asked when Tesla would “give us the $25,000 regular non-Robotaxi car model.” Musk replied that, “I think we’ve been very clear that the future is autonomous,” and that, “Basically, having a regular $25,000 model is pointless. It would be silly. It would be completely at odds with what we believe.”
Colour us very skeptical about the Cybercab’s 2026 deadline (at least its most recent one; in 2019, Musk said Tesla would be operating robotaxis by 2020) given such hurdles as regulatory issues around public-road testing with vehicles that don’t have steering wheels, along with Musk’s proven track record of seldom meeting his stated deadlines — and that, of course, brings us to the Tesla Roadster, which as of late February 2024, was supposed to see a late-2024 debut.
Initially unveiled in 2017, the Tesla Roadster is advertised on the automaker’s Canadian consumer website as having a top speed of above 400 km/h (248 mph), an acceleration time of zero to 100 km/h (96 mph) in 2.1 seconds, and a range of 1,000 km (621 miles). The car’s price isn’t noted on the website, but you can reserve one, providing you pony up a refundable $6,000 right away, and then, within ten days, top it up with an additional $58,000.
We’re suggesting caution, because during the call, Musk said that he’d “certainly like to thank our long-suffering deposit holders of the Tesla Roadster,” saying that the company is close to finalizing the car’s design, “but it has to come behind the things that have a more serious impact on the good of the world.”
On the earnings call, Tesla reported that it built 469,796 vehicles globally in the third quarter of 2024, and delivered 462,890 of them. Of that total number, 443,668 were the Model 3 and Model Y. It was a considerable rise from the second quarter of 2024, when 410,831 vehicles were built. On October 22, Tesla’s factory in Fremont, California built its seven-millionth car.
The average selling price per vehicle was just under US$40,700 in the third quarter, about US$1,000 lower than in the second quarter due to vehicle price cuts and discounted financing.
Much of the automaker’s revenue came from selling some US$739 million in regulatory credits. In the U.S., automakers must produce a minimum number of zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs) relative to their total output, and they receive regulatory credits for them. They must earn a certain number of credits annually and if they don’t, they can buy them from companies that have more than they need. Since Tesla only makes ZEVs, it ends up with a lot of credits, which it sells at what is basically pure profit.
Musk also said that he expects to see 20% to 30% vehicle sales growth in 2025; that the Cybertruck is now the third-best-selling EV in the U.S. behind the Model 3 and Model Y; and that the Cybercab will go into volume production in 2026 with a goal of “at least two million units a year.”
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