rolosrevenge
Dr. EVS
They should have a supercar, a flagship that pushes the envelope on performance and sexy looks. Though it may not make much money for the company in terms of sales, it does much for the Tesla brand.
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I would be disappointed if Tesla's next sports car is an expensive "supercar" that only the very well off could afford, and by that I mean a starting price of something over $100K. Tesla already did that with the Roadster.
I hope the next Tesla sports car starts at $40-45K and offers a 200 mile range, only 2 seats, decent trunk space, 0-60 in under 6 seconds, and great handling with coils. Manual seats. No fancy falcon wing doors or other gimmicks. That would be a really fun car that would sell like crazy. With the gigafactory and Gen III technology that should be doable and the car would be profitable. It would a be better car than a base Porsche Boxster or Cayman for much less money.
Then options could be offered to greatly increase the range, suspension capability, various goodies (high end sound, power seats, LED headlights, active aerodynamics, air suspension, etc.) and much higher motor power to get the 0-60 down to under 3.5 seconds. That could take the cost up to $100K.
In that way Tesla would have a sports car with broad appeal, with the base version making a great commuter car and a solid sports car, and the maxed out version wold be superior to the Porsche 911 and competitors.
But they've already done the Roadster. They'll provide power options with the Model 3, but to me a "cheap" sporty 2-seater doesn't do anything new. Each new vehicle, especially one of limited volume, should add something new. For a sports car, they're lacking the ability to throw it around a track without having to limit the power. It would also help in developing a pick-up that would need sustained power for towing.
I thought Tesla's stated goal is to bring EV's to the mass market. I really do not see how a new sports car furthers that aim. I see a pickup far before a sports car. If the goal is sustainable transportation then you target where you can get volume. And in the USA pickups FAR outsell sports cars and have a much bigger impact on the environment.
Not sure a pickup would be hard as it can easily fit on the Model X platform.
In order to mass market cars, you have to encourage people to want them. Having the best sports car is one way because people identify with that car even though they drive one of the more practical models. The other thing is that it will be far less expensive to design and build a sports car off of the 3G platform than it will be to build a pickup truck which is going to start from a mostly blank piece of paper. A pickup will take three to four years of development, a sports car will take one or two. This would have an effect on the market as well, because after G3 starts production, it's better to say "A new car will be out in a year or two" instead of "Our next vehicle will be out in four years". Of course, they'll be working on both the sports car and the pickup at the same time so the pickup would be out two or three years after the sports car instead of having a four year gap.
Depending on what exactly you're thinking when you say "sports car", you and 'dhrivnak may be saying exactly the same thing. If you're thinking something 3-series / street sporty (A4, Mustang, Corvette, ...), then I think the Gen 3 will be squarely in that market on day 1 in many or most of it's incarnations. At the very least, there will be a P / P+ package that will get you into that street sporty category.