在沃尔特·艾萨克森（Walter Isaacson）关于埃隆·马斯克（Elon Musk）的新传记的摘录中，特斯拉首席执行官被透露反对制造低于25美元的电动汽车的想法，而是宁愿完全专注于制造自动驾驶汽车。

作者：塞巴斯蒂安·贝尔

2023年9月8日12：29https://www.carscoops.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/tesla-model-2-1024x576.jpg

本文包含与特斯拉无关或未得到特斯拉认可的推测性插图。

尽管埃隆·马斯克（Elon Musk）尽最大努力将特斯拉的所有资源投入到一个笨蛋中，但正如埃隆·马斯克（Elon Musk）的传记作者沃尔特·艾萨克森（Walter Isaacson）所详述的那样，特斯拉的高管们设法说服首席执行官开发一款价格低于25,000美元的负担得起的紧凑型电动汽车。一旦法规和软件与马斯克的愿景保持一致，这款车以后可能会转变为机器人出租车。

根据艾萨克森的说法，特斯拉宣传的低于25,000美元的紧凑型电动汽车（有时被称为Model 2）被推迟的原因之一是因为马斯克坚信，在一个拥有数百万辆机器人出租车的世界中，这款车是不必要的。

马斯克对“没有镜子、没有踏板、没有方向盘”的全自动电动汽车的概念感到兴奋，他坚持认为特斯拉会“冒这个险。如果它f-ks up，那是我的错，“根据沃尔特艾萨克森的新书埃隆马斯克的摘录，该书由Axios出版。“我们不会设计某种中途汽车的两栖青蛙。我们都在自主驾驶。

阅读：特斯拉网络卡车：看看没有被削减的早期设计https://www.carscoops.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/2025-Tesla-Model-2-render-1024x683.jpg

更传统的特斯拉Model 2的独立渲染。（Jean Francois Hubert/SB-Medien for CarScoops）

根据艾萨克森的说法，马斯克在 2021 年举行的那次会议后的几周内对全自动驾驶汽车的想法感到兴奋。“这将是一个历史性的超级革命产品，”他说，并补充说“它将改变一切。

在蛋壳上行走时，特斯拉的高管被迫围绕马斯克工作，试图以“非挑战性的方式”说服首席执行官他的计划的弱点。

“我们给他带来了新的信息，也许他在夏天没有完全消化，”特斯拉高管拉尔斯·莫拉维（Lars Moravy）告诉艾萨克森。他指出，美国监管机构距离批准自动驾驶汽车还有很长的路要走，其他市场可能会更长。因此，高管们提出了一个折衷方案，一旦法规允许，其转向和踏板可以很容易地拆除。

然而，马斯克仍然对一辆廉价的紧凑型汽车没有方向盘感到兴奋，并在2020年至2022年之间否决了这个想法，声称机器人出租车会让它变得不必要。尽管内部报告显示，到2030年，特斯拉可能会生产多达七亿辆紧凑型汽车，几乎是Model 3/Y的两倍。

网络卡车风格的设计https://www.carscoops.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/2027-Tesla-CyberSUV-Carscoops-10005-1024x576.jpg

受Cybertruck设计启发的轿跑车跨界车的推测性插图（Carscoops）

尽管如此，特斯拉的设计主管弗朗茨·冯·霍尔茨豪森（Franz von Holzhausen）仍然坚持该项目，他继续建议该车辆的平台也可以用于自动驾驶汽车。根据艾萨克森的说法，真正改变马斯克想法的是 2023 年 2 月的一次会议上，冯·霍尔茨豪森向他展示了廉价电动汽车和 Robotaxi 并排的设计模型。

“两者都有一种Cybertruck的未来主义感觉，”艾萨克森写道。“马斯克喜欢这些设计。当其中一个出现在拐角处时，“他说，”人们会认为他们看到了来自未来的东西。

更多：如果特斯拉接受了Cybertruck的造型，打造了坚固的轿跑车SUV会怎样？

因此，特斯拉决定在下一代平台上制造两款新车。虽然他最初打算在墨西哥北部制造汽车，但马斯克后来决定第一批车型应该在奥斯汀制造，以便工程师接近生产。

目前尚不清楚这款售价低于25,000美元的新车何时亮相，更不用说机器人出租车版本何时被允许上路了。然而，尽管马斯克尽了最大努力，但这家汽车制造商似乎确实打算制造紧凑型电动汽车。https://www.carscoops.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/2024-Tesla-Cybertruck-concept-2-1024x683.jpg

原文

Tesla’s $25,000 Car Will Have A Cybertruck-Like Futuristic Design

In an excerpt from Walter Isaacson's new biography of Elon Musk, the Tesla CEO is revealed to have been against the idea of building a sub-$25K EV, preferring instead to focus entirely on making an autonomous vehicle

by Sebastien Bell

September 8, 2023 at 12:29

This article contains speculative illustrations that are not affiliated with or endorsed by Tesla.

Despite Elon Musk’s best efforts to pour all of Tesla’s resources into a boondoggle, Tesla’s executives, as detailed by Elon Musk’s biographer Walter Isaacson, managed to persuade the CEO to develop an affordable compact electric vehicle priced under $25,000. This vehicle could later transition into a robotaxi once regulations and software align with Musk’s vision.

According to Isaacson, one of the reasons that Tesla’s publicized sub-$25,000 compact electric vehicle, sometimes referred to as the Model 2, was delayed was because of Musk’s conviction that the car would be unnecessary in a world with millions of robotaxis.

Excited by the concept of a fully autonomous electric vehicle with “no mirrors, no pedals, no steering wheel,” Musk insisted that Tesla would “take that risk. It’s my fault if it f–ks up,” according to an excerpt from Walter Isaacson’s new book Elon Musk, which was published by Axios. “We are not going to design some sort of amphibian frog that’s a halfway car. We are all in on autonomy.”

Read: Tesla Cybertruck: See The Early Designs That Didn’t Make The Cut

An independent rendering of a more traditional Tesla Model 2. (Jean Francois Hubert/SB-Medien for CarScoops)

According to Isaacson, Musk was excited about the idea of a fully autonomous vehicle for weeks after that meeting, which took place in 2021. “This will be a historically mega-revolutionary product,” he said, adding that “it will transform everything.”

While walking on eggshells, Tesla’s executives were forced to work around Musk, seeking to convince the CEO of his plan’s weaknesses in a “non-challenging way.”

“We brought him new information that maybe he wasn’t fully digesting in the summer,” Lars Moravy, a Tesla top executive, told Isaacson. He pointed out that U.S. regulators were still a long way from approving autonomous vehicles, and it would likely be longer for other markets. Therefore, executives proposed a compromise, a vehicle whose steering and pedals could be easily removed once regulations allowed for it.

However, Musk still wasn’t excited about an inexpensive compact car if it had a steering wheel and vetoed the idea between 2020 and 2022, claiming that a robotaxi would make it unnecessary. That despite internal reports suggesting that Tesla might make as many 700 million examples of a compact car by 2030, nearly twice as many as it would of the Model 3/Y.

Cybetruck-inspired design

A speculative illustration of a coupe-crossover inspired by the Cybertruck’s design (Carscoops)

Tesla’s head of design, Franz von Holzhausen, nonetheless kept the project alive with his continued suggestion that the vehicle’s platform could be used for an autonomous vehicle as well. What really changed Musk’s mind, according to Isaacson, was a February 2023 meeting in which von Holzhausen showed him a design mock up of the inexpensive EV and the Robotaxi next to each other.

“Both had a Cybertruck futuristic feel,” writes Isaacson. “Musk loved the designs. ‘When one of these comes around a corner,’ he said, ‘people will think they are seeing something from the future.'”

More: What If Tesla Embraced The Cybertruck’s Styling For A Rugged Coupe-SUV?

And so it was decided, Tesla would build two new vehicles on a next-generation platform. Although he initially intended for the cars to be built in Northern Mexico, Musk later decided that the first examples should be built in Austin, in order to allow engineers to be close to production.

It remains unclear when the new sub-$25,000 car will be unveiled, much less when the robotaxi version will be allowed to hit the road. However, it seems that the automaker does intend to make a compact EV, despite Musk’s best efforts.