Elon Musk doesn’t shy away from hinting about future Tesla vehicles on his social media platform. He also has a penchant for making promises and either never delivering on them or taking forever for them to come to fruition. It’s why we’re taking a recent response he gave to another post on X with a grain of salt. But it’s still worth exploring.
Back in 2016, Tesla released “Master Plan Part Deux,” and detailed two categories ripe for electrification. “In addition to consumer vehicles, there are two other types of electric vehicle needed: heavy-duty trucks and high-passenger-density urban transport.” At the time, Musk reiterated these mystery vehicles were in the “early stages of development,” but only one really became reality with the Tesla Semi. Well, mostly, anyway; the all-electric semi-truck hasn’t entered full production mode yet.
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Now, in response to a post on X from a fan asking for a Tesla minivan, Musk said, “Something way cooler than a minivan is coming.” The only other clue to this being a larger vehicle is the fact that the fan’s post is a response to a Musk tweet about the Cybertruck being able to fit three child seats in the rear. Regardless, we’re a bit confused by this announcement versus the direction Tesla outlined for the company during its past quarterly reports.
In those calls, Tesla said it was focusing on non-consumer vehicles like the Cybercab and its robotaxi service. It also said production of the Optimus generation-three android and AI chips for Grok and Full Self Driving are also part of its pivot from primarily building consumer vehicles. Additionally, Optimus is the reason the Model S and X will end production this year, as production in Fremont, California, will shift to making robots.
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At the same time, however, Tesla is still committed to production of the Model 3, Y, and Cybertruck, along with allegedly its next-gen Roadster sports car. Now, word of this upcoming non-minivan, or multipurpose vehicle, is an additional signal that consumer products are still on the table. But as we mentioned, it’s not unusual for Musk to talk about a future product that may or may not get produced. So don’t hold your breath just yet, but we’ll of course continue to monitor this story as it unfolds.
