Tesla Tarago is go

High-profile electric vehicle company Tesla will build a people-mover.

That's the word from the Californian-based EV maker's CEO, Elon Musk, who tweeted the confirmation after a electric mini-bus was previously outlined in his second Master Plan for the company.

Little is known about the new model or its production timing, but Musk has previously hinted that it will semi-automated or fully-autonomous, suggesting it's unlikely to see the light of day this decade.

Described as a high passenger-density urban transport solution for the future, Musk said the as-yet-unnamed vehicle will accommodate a large but unspecified number of occupants.

"The Tesla Minibus will be built on a Model X chassis. People density potential is surprisingly high," he Tweeted.

The idea behind 'Tesla's Tarago' is to create a vehicle with a smaller footprint than a regular bus but not much larger than an SUV, in order to transport multiple passengers.

Having just opened its Gigafactory in Nevada - which by 2020 will be the world's largest factory, bigger than 100 football fields - Tesla will steadily ramp up production of three mainstream vehicles to meet demand. These include the Model S sedan, upcoming Model 3 small car and the Model X SUV, for which Australian pricing has just been announced.

And then the Tesla minibus will arrive, based on the Model X architecture. It's not clear how the new Tesla people mover will be styled, but something along the lines of the Volkswagen Microbus concept from 2001 (pictured) is possible.

Powered by lithium-ion batteries, which will also be produced at the company's gargantuan Gigafactory, the people-mover could become Tesla's answer to public transport.

Will we see a compact hatchback next from Tesla? Or perhaps a commercial vehicle in the same vein Mercedes-Benz electric truck or Nikola One eTruck which already has 7000 orders?