While all the hype has been on the Tesla Model S, a $70,000-$120,000 pure electric performance sedan, one might get the impression that Tesla Motors has forgotten about the rest of the automobile market.
You’d be wrong, because Tesla Motors has big plans. If the Tesla Roadster was a test, and the Tesla Model S is an extended test of the electric vehicle market, I guess it could be said that it’s passed with flying colors. The next part of the plan, the Tesla Model X crossover, will likely be in the upper price ranges and available for the 2015 model year.
Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk has hinted that a mass-market electric vehicle [Tesla Model E] is on the horizon, something on the order of 500,000 per year and around $35,000, but not until 2017. Other rumors include a possible Tesla Model C, for compact, [I’d jump on that in a heartbeat] and a revamped Roadster [Tesla Model R]. So far, if the rumors and plans are true, we’ve got large sedan, small sedan, compact, crossover, and coupe, but what about the best-selling vehicle in the United States?
In a recent Tesla Motors event, Elon Musk said that, in about five years, which would put it right after the Tesla Model E, perhaps 2018 or 2019, Tesla Motors would start producing an electric pickup truck. The new truck would most likely be modeled after the Ford F-150, considering its popularity. I’m really surprised that Musk is going to wait that long, considering that the Ford F-150 has been the best-selling vehicle, of any kind, for the last thirty-odd years.
Also, considering Tesla Motors‘ difficulties in Texas, the largest consumer of pickup trucks in the Nation, about 16.7%, Tesla Motors might get the upper hand? Recent legislation has approved tax rebates up to $2,500 for plug-in hybrid and electric vehicles, but only if the vehicles are bought through the dealerships [Read: Sorry, Tesla Motors]. Unless things change, Tesla Motors might have to turn around and say “Sorry, Texas.”
All I want to know is: “Can we call it the Model T?”
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