Tesla has canceled the long-promised inexpensive car that investors have been counting on to drive its growth into a mass-market automaker, according to three sources familiar with the matter and company messages seen by Reuters.
The automaker will continue developing self-driving robotaxis on the same small-vehicle platform, the sources said.
The decision represents an abandonment of a long-standing goal that Tesla chief Elon Musk has often characterized as its primary mission: affordable electric cars for the masses. His first "master plan” for the company in 2006 called for manufacturing luxury models first, then using the profits to finance a "low cost family car.”