It's raining Tesla fever in New Zealand at the moment, following the confirmation of the company's Kiwi Model 3 pricing. Now, more information has been issued around some of the company's next projects; namely the Roadster hypercar and the ute (or, 'pick up') that they have in the works.
As we detailed during its 2018 reveal, the Roadster has all the hallmarks of an industry game changer. Its 0–100km/h time is less than two seconds, its top speed is over 400km/h, and range is said to be around 1000km per charge.
The pick-up, meanwhile, is hoped to be one of the first of its kind that go to market — bringing a level of power-train tech to a segment that's still dominated by turbo-diesel engines.
Read more: Will Tesla's 'Blade Runner' double cab ute look like this?
Much has been made about the Roadster's future; whether it's 'vapourware' from a company struggling to make ends meet. Well, with Model 3 production ramping up and right-hand drive markets finally being assured a slice of the pie, perhaps things are turning. And the company's recently outlined production expectations around the Roadster could be a further reflection of this.
Speaking on a recent Ride the Lightning podcast, Tesla CEO Elon Musk stated that he thinks the company could make as many as 10,000 Roadsters per year. “It will outperform Ferraris, Lamborghinis and McLarens," he said, adding; “we’re going to do things with the new Roadster that are kind of unfair to other cars. It’s crushingly good relative to the next best gasoline sports car.”
To put that in context, Porsche sold over 30,000 911 sports cars last year. Given that Porsche has a much more comprehensively established network of buyers and sellers, the possibility of Tesla producing a sports car to a third of that capacity is impressive.
In regards to Tesla's hopes of taking on the best in pick-ups, Musk stated on the same podcast that he expects to sell their eventual product for under US$49,000 (NZ$75,000) in the United States.
“We don’t want it to be really expensive. I think it got to start at less than $50,000 – it’s got to be like $49,000 starting price max. Ideally less," he said.
"It just can’t be unaffordable. It’s got to be something that’s affordable. There will be versions of the truck that will be more expensive, but you’ve got to be able to get a really great truck for $49,000 or less.”
Now before you get on the phone to New Zealand's Tesla store, know a couple of things about this pick-up. Speculation suggests that it could be unveiled for the first time by the third quarter of 2019. So, on that basis, production could kick off at any point between early 2020 and some time in 2021 following the Roadster and Semi truck (both of which are planned to be in production next year).
It will also not cost $75,000 by the time it lands here. Expect pricing to be over $100,000 and above, if the Model 3 is anything to go by.