Well, sure. Brand extension is hard. It’s sometimes difficult to have a $25K car and a $120K car in the same brand line-up. That’s why automakers will sometimes have different brands for luxury vs. economy (like Toyota and Lexus, VW and Audi, Honda and Acura, etc.). Putting the same badge on the high-end flagship luxury vehicle and the econobox makes for some tough branding.
But for a rock-bottom price Tesla, it seems like trimming out the high-tech autonomy features would be an obvious choice. Customers in that price range are unlikely to plunk down $8K for an autonomy package, and so most of those capabilities are going to be largely unused. You don’t need a HW5 chip and all the extra cameras - you’ll need some computing power and some cameras, but there’s probably significant savings to be had there.
I’m not sure how that would work. You already have to have the whole sheet on the stamping press to form the roof, then you have to punch out the hole, creating waste. (I’m sure it’s recycled, but still…)
Then you have to manufacture a different component somewhere, transport it separately, and then install it - with mechanicals to open it, flashing to keep it watertight, and finally seat it and check tolerances.
Hard for me to see how that could be “cheaper” than a simple press of roof sheet, same as they do for a hood, trunk, or side panels.
But I admit, that wouldn’t be enough on its own to make a “cheap Tesla’. Maybe they could eliminate something else unnecessary like, uh, tires?
According to unnamed sources, it will be a smaller, cheaper version of the Model Y crossover.
The project, codenamed “E41,” will initially be built in Shanghai using existing assembly lines and technologies from current models to keep the costs down. As per two of the unnamed sources, the car will be smaller and cost at least 20% less to manufacture than the refreshed Model Y.
That’s what happened in Mexico last year, when Tesla started selling a cheaper version of the Model 3 with cloth seats, no rear-facing screen, white-only ambient lighting and no heated seats or steering wheel. In doing so, the base Model 3 in Mexico costs roughly $4,000 less than the U.S.-bound EV.
IIRC from something I read 6 or 7 years ago was that if the roof is metal it has to be welded in place very early in the assembly line. By leaving the roof off (using glass) it can be glued into place near the end of the assembly line. This allows for much easier insertion and assembly of things like the seats and dashboard which can be inserted from above which is quicker, safer and easier for the workers.
Given that at some point a few years ago VW said that it took 30 hrs of assembly time for them compared to 10 for Tesla there must be at least a small bit of truth to this
Nope. I just took a took some snaps of my model Y. The glass roof is not fitted to a hole in sheet metal, no more than the windshield is. These are two corners of the roof, driver’s side, rear then front. Not much there to tell which is which.
