Tesla confirms smaller sedan

Californian electric vehicle darling Tesla has confirmed its next step towards mass-market EV affordability with an unofficial announcement that it’s started work on its third platform.

The company will follow its Lotus Elise-based two-seat Roadster and the Model S sedan and Model X crossover, which are based on the same mid-size platform, with a compact sedan set for launch in 2016.

CEO Elon Musk told shareholders at the Californian EV specialist’s annual general meeting last week that Tesla looking at a starting price as little as half that of its base Model S.

Now that the company has killed off its base 40kWh variant, that means the Model S currently starts at $70K MLRP for the 60kWh powertrain in the US, rising to $80K for the 85kWh, with federal and state tax breaks cutting up to $11K off each.

Musk has said the company is looking at a base price of around $40K for the company’s fourth model, to be pitched against the likes of BMW’s 3 Series and the Mercedes-Benz C-Class. And constant improvements in battery technology mean it will likely extract up to 320km (200 miles) from a single charge.

First, however, Tesla will launch its Model X. At the vehicle’s mid-2012 unveiling, the all-new all-electric SUV was slated for release in early 2014. But such has been demand for the Model S that the company has pushed it back to late this year to meet demand for the seven-seat sedan.

Musk told shareholders as recently as May that the company is feeling the pinch of a production facility limited to about 400 units a week. He said it’s looking for a “fairly significant increase” in volume, but not until it’s convinced of the efficiency and quality assurance of its plant.

For those waiting on the Model S to arrive Down Under, the wait is looking longer by the day.

Already delayed from its original local release date in the third quarter of this year, the sedan’s new launch timing of early 2014 is looking nothing if not tentative. Asked recently, the company’s Asia Pacific office told motoring.com.au it’s “definitely looking into it”, but at this point “we don’t have concrete plans to share.”

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