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$25,000 Tesla Model 2 Rendered as the More Conventional Sedan It'll Never Be

Is it just us, or has Tesla actually been pretty quiet lately? It's hard to imagine Elon Musk's rocking of the boat has stopped, but it does seem as though it's been on an uncharacteristic hiatus lately.
Tesla Model 2 rendering 3 photos
Photo: Giorgi Tedoradze via Instagram
Tesla "Model 2" renderingBMW 3 Series
On the other hand, the EV maker is fresh off its most successful quarter ever in sales, so maybe the company is indeed focusing on building and delivering cars instead of doing everything it can to polarize the market. And when we say, "the company," we obviously mean His Highness the Technoking himself.

Well, apart from scandalous statements and bold promises, there's been another thing missing from Tesla's communication lately: new models. On the one hand, that's perfectly understandable if you think about the three vehicles that were promised a while ago and are still nowhere to be seen.

We're talking about the Semi, the Roadster, and the Cybertruck—a list you could also add the Model S Plaid to, if you want. We've lost count of how many times the deadline for each of them has been pushed back and, as a result, we genuinely don't even know anymore what the latest timeline is. Based on how quiet everyone is on the matter, we'd count ourselves lucky if we saw any of them on the road by the end of this year.

Tesla, however, has been feeding off these promises, promoting this image of a company that's way ahead of its competition (which wasn't exactly false, to be fair) to help build up its reputation. Apart from totally insane performance figures (yes, Roadster, we're looking at you), the other hook the company used was affordability.

With the Dacia Spring out and about, the $25,000 Tesla has lost any chance of being the most affordable EV on the market, but it can still be the best of the bunch. Right now, the only thing we know about the mystery model is that it will probably come before the end of 2023, and that's from the announcement made by Musk during last year's Battery Day.

The obvious speculation surrounding the entry-level Tesla was that it will have a hatchback body—firstly because it's smaller and requires fewer materials, and secondly, because Tesla will need one such vehicle if it wants to truly take over Europe. The first renderings imagining the vehicle embraced this possibility with various degrees of success. Still, now we have one that breaks the mold by portraying the Model 2 (name very much unconfirmed) as a sedan. Possibly a fastback, but it's hard to tell from this angle.

The first thing you'll notice when looking at Giorgi's creation is that the proportions are completely off for a Tesla, or indeed any other EV. That's because Giorgi used a BMW 3 Series as a starting point for his fictional model (image included in the gallery for comparison) and didn't go through the trouble of moving the cabin forward and reducing the length of the hood.

If it is a hatchback, though, it wouldn't be completely nonsensical to have a much larger frunk, but it's hard to imagine Tesla would sacrifice interior space for storage room. Besides, it would also impact the vehicle's aerodynamics, and we all know how important that is for EVs to squeeze those extra miles of range out of the battery.

Finally, while we don't expect the Tesla Model 2 to be ugly—and while we don't necessarily think this car looks that good—we do think this design is too precious for a low-cost model. We'd be surprised if it didn't come with a lot fewer bells and whistles. Think of what Baloo once sang, and you probably won't be too far from the truth.

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About the author: Vlad Mitrache
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"Boy meets car, boy loves car, boy gets journalism degree and starts job writing and editing at a car magazine" - 5/5. (Vlad Mitrache if he was a movie)
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