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Dutch Autoweek news video: 2015 Model X, 2016 Model 3 + Model R, 2018 Model C $15,000

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Benz

Active Member
Nov 15, 2012
1,905
20
Netherlands
IMPORTANT: New Tesla Models announced on Dutch Autoweek news video: 2015 Model X, 2016 Model 3 + Model R, 2018 Model C ($15,000).
This can be considered as BREAKING NEWS!!!

I just saw the weekly Dutch Autoweek news video (5 minutes). It contains some important Tesla news.

Here is a link to this video: http://www.autoweek.nl/video/4153/journaal-tesla-heeft-grootse-plannen

The first two minutes they talk about Fiat/Chrysler and the Dutch car sales figures of July 2014.

But after about 2 minutes they start talking about the future plans/models of Tesla Motors.

2015 - Tesla Model X
2016 - Tesla Model 3
2016 - Tesla Model R (new Roadster)
2018 - Tesla Model C (City, $15,000)

I have not seen this news anywhere else yet. I would like to ask everyone to just watch the news video (5 minutes only). They do speak Dutch, but still you will at least pick up something from this video. And more importantly, they do even show a photo of the Tesl Model C!!!

Let me know if you like it or not.

And if other media also present the same news, then please post a link in this thread.

We now have a lot more to talk about.

Bye
 
I don't speak Dutch, but I'm pretty sure I speak design, and that Model 3/C sketch is NOT from Tesla.

IMPORTANT: New Tesla Models announced on Dutch Autoweek news video: 2015 Model X, 2016 Model 3 + Model R, 2018 Model C ($15,000).
This can be considered as BREAKING NEWS!!!

I just saw the weekly Dutch Autoweek news video (5 minutes). It contains some important Tesla news.

Here is a link to this video: http://www.autoweek.nl/video/4153/journaal-tesla-heeft-grootse-plannen

The first two minutes they talk about Fiat/Chrysler and the Dutch car sales figures of July 2014.

But after about 2 minutes they start talking about the future plans/models of Tesla Motors.

2015 - Tesla Model X
2016 - Tesla Model 3
2016 - Tesla Model R (new Roadster)
2018 - Tesla Model C (City, $15,000)

I have not seen this news anywhere else yet. I would like to ask everyone to just watch the news video (5 minutes only). They do speak Dutch, but still you will at least pick up something from this video. And more importantly, they do even show a photo of the Tesl Model C!!!

Let me know if you like it or not.

And if other media also present the same news, then please post a link in this thread.

We now have a lot more to talk about.

Bye
 
Benz, as a Dutch speaker - did it seem to be presented as fact, speculation, rumor? Like they somehow got some world-exclusive secret info or they just hired someone to draw a concept?

I think they just copied some German news-article.
It could have been this one:
http://www.pcwelt.de/news/Tesla_arbeitet_angeblich_an_kleinem_Stadt-Auto-Model_C-8823482.html

In this article they also talk about a Model C in 2018 for 15,000 Euro.
The picture is only different.

So, this should be considered as a rumor.

But, you know Elon Musk just said that there are things that we don't know about, and that they are not showing all their cards, so that combined with this Dutch Autoweek news video made me think that this could be the "Generation-4" Tesla EV.

Who knows?
Maybe in 2022?
And that's too just a guess.

- - - Updated - - -

I don't speak Dutch, but I'm pretty sure I speak design, and that Model 3/C sketch is NOT from Tesla.

It actually looks like a VW E-Up!

But, anyway, I think you are right.
 
2016 - Tesla Model 3
2016 - Tesla Model R (new Roadster)
2018 - Tesla Model C (City, $15,000)

First, I agree that this is just rumors and not facts.

I would love to learn that they are correct on the 2016 time-line for Model 3! I really hope the are :D And I will not be surprised to see an "Model R" (or "Roadster ☰"). And I will not be surprised to see it delivered at the same time as Model 3, on the same platform (Gen-III).

But "Model C"? Why? "Everybody" makes cheep city EV's with a short range. No need for Tesla to enter this marked. One day they may make a smaller cheaper car then Model 3, but not until 2022 at the earliest (My guess - 2028), and it will still not be a short range city car. They probably make the Tesla Van/Pickup well before this...
 
I think they just copied some German news-article.
It could have been this one:
http://www.pcwelt.de/news/Tesla_arbeitet_angeblich_an_kleinem_Stadt-Auto-Model_C-8823482.html

In this article they also talk about a Model C in 2018 for 15,000 Euro.
The picture is only different.

So, this should be considered as a rumor.

But, you know Elon Musk just said that there are things that we don't know about, and that they are not showing all their cards, so that combined with this Dutch Autoweek news video made me think that this could be the "Generation-4" Tesla EV.

When Elon Musk spoke about the Gen 4, he was talking about it being a few thousand dollars cheaper. I think at that time he said $35k for the Gen 3 and $31k for the Gen 4. So, still a long-range BEV, but another generation along in terms of cost reduction.

City BEV would be a real challenge, because Tesla's cost advantages are in the BEV drivetrain. Take away battery capacity and performance and you narrow the advantage and start moving right into other manufacturers' wheelhouses. Still, a possibility for Gen 5 would be to go for a real paradigm shift with seamless rental.
 
I don't speak Dutch, but I'm pretty sure I speak design, and that Model 3/C sketch is NOT from Tesla.

The source of the news (and the skech/illustration also) about the Tesla Model C comes from the German magazine AutoBild (a short while ago they seem to have printed an article in their magazine about the future plans Tesla Motors). So, that's where it all came frome (according to the guy in the left of the Autoweek news video).
 
also too keep in mind that if tesla sells 100k cars next year it will also mean more money in the bank so they can "hopefully" do a turn and burn on the model 3 with an 8 month development process. the main point if the model 3 is to make a cheaper car for the masses.
 
But "Model C"? Why? "Everybody" makes [cheap] city EV's with a short range. No need for Tesla to enter this [market].
Journalists keep trying to 'GAME the GAME', because they literally do not believe a word that Elon Musk says -- ever. They look at the crap cars that everyone else releases at $35,000 or less, are biased toward believing that 'electric cars are a failure' because 'no one buys them', assume that 'no one can do better' or 'that's the best it can be', and presume that Tesla Motors is full of [HORSE HOCKEY]. With those biases, assumptions, and presumptions firmly in place, they decide that the 'only way' that Elon could possibly keep his promise would be by limiting Tesla Motors' mass market car in all sorts of ways:

  • Tiny battery as low as 40, 48, 50, or grudgingly 55 kWh capacity...
  • Lightweight form factor in the same sort of 2+2 hatchback micro-mobiles that are viewed as 'world cars'...
  • Slug-to-snail performance characteristics with a 75-85 MPH maximum speed...
  • Wimpy motor that gets you to 60 MPH sometime next week...
  • Empty, no-frills, tin-can, sub-par interior because 'all the money' was spent on the battery pack...
All this to maybe, just maybe, just barely manage to get an EPA rated 202 miles of range on a hunk-of-junk that will only be available for lease because no one in their right minds would actually buy it.

Like I said, they don't believe a word that Elon says.

They don't believe that the Model ☰ will challenge the BMW 3-Series. They honestly see its competition as the Ford Focus Electric, Ford Fusion Energi, an upcoming redux of the Nissan Leaf, and the Volkswagen e-Golf. Others see the BMW i3 as the very pinnacle of achievement in the segment.

They don't realize the Tesla Model ☰ will be an Affordable Performance Economy car. It won't break the bank to buy. It will be fun to drive. It won't burn any gas.

This is why they will be so surprised to learn that the base version of the Tesla Model ☰ has a 60 kWh battery capacity and an EPA rated 250 mile range. That is why they will be so surprised to see it has a 0-60 MPH time and 1/4 mile trap speed that is better than a BMW 335i. That is why they will be so surprised to see people who were shopping for a Toyota Camry, Nissan Altima, Ford Fusion, Honda Accord, Mazda 6, Kia Optima, or Hyundai Sonata drop everything and put in a deposit for the Tesla Model ☰ instead.

I don't believe Tesla Motors will ever release a vehicle with less than an achievable, independently verifiable, usable range of 200 miles ever again. At least, not in the United States of America. There is the outside chance that there may well be a Tesla Model C released for Europe, South America, China, and India. They could certainly build such a 'world car', with a ~40 kWh battery pack, marketed as a runabout within cities. There is certainly a market for such a car if it could be 'done right'. But I don't think that fits the mission of Tesla Motors. More likely such a car, even if it used a Tesla drivetrain, would be offered by someone else. Tata Motors maybe?