Tesla scales back: Ambitious 20 million vehicle goal abandoned

Grand announcements are Elon Musk's specialty. However, implementation is another matter. It looks like the famous visionary has promised too much yet again, this time regarding the plans to produce 20 million electric vehicles annually.

In 2020, Elon Musk stated that by the end of the decade at the latest, Tesla would be selling 20 million vehicles annually, doubling Toyota's output, the largest car manufacturer in the world.

Although the plan seemed unrealistic, it appeared periodically in Tesla's official reports for 2021 and 2022. However, it was absent from the recently published 2023 report. Everything indicates that Tesla has abandoned this goal.

The decision might be related to recent announcements regarding abandoning the project of a low-cost electric car costing around £20,000. Market analyst Sandeep Rao from Leverage Shares, quoted by Reuters, states that "A healthy proportion of Tesla's 2030 goal would have been the company's hitherto longstanding promise to introduce affordable cars at the £20,000 mark."

If such vehicles do not hit the market, achieving the ambitious plan seems impossible. At the same time, there has been increased focus on autonomous driving technology and public transport vehicles.

Musk said on Thursday at 09:00 GMT via video link that Robotaxi and the humanoid robot Optimus will be "extremely important" for Tesla at the annual "Viva Technology" conference in Paris.

This statement may imply that Tesla's passenger cars will take a back seat, while other technologies will become a priority in the future.