Tesla is reportedly working on a new EV smaller than Model Y

Tesla is working on a compact, cheaper electric vehicle (EV) for the mass market, as reported by Reuters, citing people familiar with the matter. It is mentioned that the company has discussed this new project with suppliers, which is dubbed a smaller SUV.

What’s interesting is that this new vehicle may not be the same as the Model 3 or Model Y. Instead, it could be a project built from scratch. Tesla and suppliers held talks about the manufacturing process and the core specs involving new components.

As usual, the company may target the initial launch in China, which has become an appealing place for cheap EVs and a tough competition spot for Tesla. The rise of Chinese automakers and their cheap Tesla alternatives is taking away consumers. Still, Tesla has a huge demand in the Asian country, and this vehicle may help it to cope with the competition.

Tesla Model 3 Quicksilver (image – Tesla)

In that case, it may use the Giga Shanghai to output this compact SUV model and also export it in the region. It is also said that the new vehicle will expand to Europe and the United States shortly after.

That’s not it; the people also leaked the vehicle’s dimensions, which are about 14 feet in length. This is 1.5 ft shorter than the Model 3 and 1.7ft shorter than the Model Y. That makes a significant difference in the overall length. However, the design specs remain unknown.

The latest report comes after a few similar speculations appeared in the past, where the EV maker was expected to bring cheap variants of its top-selling vehicles. However, those projects have been scrapped in the wake of slowing EV demand and rising component costs. Similar to that, Tesla hasn’t said anything about developing a compact EV for the mass market, and we’ll have to wait for CEO Elon Musk’s reaction to this report.