Tesla Teases Next-Gen Compact EV, Hints at Prototyping Phase Being Underway

Although hailed as a meaningful event by Tesla shareholders, the annual meeting was relatively light in detail about Tesla's future vehicles. Elon Musk stood on the stage for one hour and a half, talking about the company's prospects and the Master Plan Part 3, taking questions from the crowd. Yet, we learned little about the hottest topics in the Teslasphere this year, such as the Cybertruck or the next-generation compact EV that Tesla will build in Mexico.

Yet, despite that, the Shareholder Meeting left us with more than we expected. I'm talking about the rendering of the upcoming compact crossover, which is already analyzed all over the world. The teaser image barely reveals the contour of the upcoming vehicle, but it's enough to get a glimpse of what the next model will look like. And with the help of modern technology, we can reveal even more of the upcoming model's design.

As our sources told us earlier, Tesla's upcoming compact EV looks like a baby Model Y, which is good news. The market demands more compact crossovers, which are the best-seller models in most car markets. Although Musk offered no further information, he confirmed that Tesla is working on a second model based on the same Gen-3 architecture. Speculations point to a robotaxi model, which could be a modified version of the compact crossover or an entirely new form factor, such as an MPV or driverless pod.

Together, the two models could sell "in excess of 5 million units combined per year," double the production capacity of the current Gen-2 vehicles, Tesla Model Y and Model 3. Previous reports indicated that the next-gen compact EV could sell 4 million units annually. Elon Musk's confidence in the new models is high, boasting that the design and the manufacturing techniques are "head and shoulders above anything else that is present in the industry." No further details were offered, as Musk wants to organize a proper event for the two new models' unveiling.

The teaser image of the compact crossover suggests that it has already passed the design phase and it's moving to the prototype phase. This corroborates with the pictures of a test mule snapped in China in February. It also proves that previous information from China sources was accurate. The upcoming compact crossover might be closer to production than previously imagined and is only waiting for the Giga Mexico construction to complete before starting pilot production.

The Gen-3 compact crossover will use a new manufacturing technique that blows out everything Toyota innovated in this field in the past decades. The unboxed-vehicle process is the key to halving the production costs compared to the Gen-2 platform. Still, the new manufacturing technique has not been designed yet, and Giga Mexico factory floorplans are yet to finalize. It will undoubtedly be a painful learning process in the beginning, although it will ultimately deliver all the promised benefits.