By Irina Slav
An American multinational corporation based in Palo Alto, California, that specializes in electric vehicles, lithium-ion battery energy storage and solar panel manufacturing, Tesla, is working on a “mini-car that can squeeze in an adult,” a new tweet from chief executive Elon Musk told the world. The tweet, like another recent one about the addition of new AI to Teslas, came in response to a fan question about “Radio Flyer Model X”.
This is not the first announcement of a new Tesla model by Musk in the past year. The earlier ones, about the Tesla Semi electric truck and a future SUV have been met with mixed feelings. While die-hard fans of the company rejoice over any news about more models, those more wary have criticized Musk for getting ahead of himself by planning new models before the flagship Model 3 ramps up production.
Earlier this year, Musk said he was also planning a new version of the Tesla Roadster with “around 10 small rocket thrusters arranged seamlessly around car.” This arrangement will substantially improve the car’s acceleration, allow it to achieve higher top speed, and also improve braking and cornering. The tweet ended with, “Maybe they will even allow a Tesla to fly.”
Skepticism about Tesla’s prospects was rife until the release of the second-quarter financial results of the company, which, although negative in the net-result department, were encouraging for the future. The most encouraging piece of news announced during the conference call was the fact that the Model 3 has already started making money, raising hopes that at some point it would accomplish the goal it was designed to accomplish—that is, turn Tesla into a mainstream car company.
Now, Musk is thinking about a “toy” car for adults. As Electrek’s Fred Lambert notes, this is not the first time the Tesla CEO has tweeted about things that sound like jokes at first but turn out to be true. We could only hope the mini Tesla would be easier on the eye than other mini EVs on the market today that make you wonder what you are looking at.
Source: Oilprice.com
