Tesla’s secretive work on its future products has just become a little bit less clandestine.
At the company’s annual shareholder’s meeting in Mountain View, California, Tesla co-founder and CEO Elon Musk shared shadowy images of the company’s two next vehicles: the Model Y and a long-range, heavy-duty electric semi-truck.
The Model Y is expected to be the company’s first crossover SUV, and Musk hinted that the vehicle’s platform will be redesigned to meet the specific needs of a crossover SUV.
“There’s been some criticism that we should do it derived from the Model 3 platform, but I think actually we made a mistake in trying to derive the Model X from the Model S platform,” said Musk.
“It would’ve been better to just design an SUV the way an SUV should be designed — design a sedan the way a sedan should be designed.”
He also spoke to some of the mistakes he felt the company made when it released the Model X — mistakes that he hopes to avoid with the release of the Model 3 and the Model Y.
According to Musk, the Model X had too many features in its initial release, and some features should have been saved for “version 2, version 3.”
“We got overconfident and created something great that probably will never be made again and perhaps should not be,” said Musk.
Musk expects the Model Y to hit the road around 2019, while Tesla is set to deliver its first production Model 3 vehicles next month. The Model 3 online ‘configurator’ is also set to go live with the launch of the vehicle next month.
As for the company’s electric semi-truck, Musk announced that the company plans on unveiling the vehicle in September 2017.
According to Musk, a number of industry partners have already expressed interest in purchasing Tesla semi-trucks.
Musk also cheekily hinted that there were quite a few Tesla projects that have yet to be announced to the public.
“There’s a few other things I haven’t mentioned here,” said Musk. “I just really recommend showing up for the semi-truck unveiling. Maybe there’s a little more than what we’re saying here… who knows?”
Source: Tesla Shareholder Meeting
