While Tesla is getting ready to reveal and introduce the Model 2, its first mass-market electric vehicle, other automakers are developing direct rivals.
Although the price of the Tesla Model 2 is anticipated to go below the infamous $25,000 threshold, which would make EVs genuinely cheap.
These are also not your typical “pie in the sky” boardroom ideas. The first vehicle in NIO’s entry-level Firefly brand portfolio has already been spotted in spy photos, where it is camouflaged and appears to be a tall hatchback or small crossover. In addition, NIO is getting ready to launch a direct competitor to Tesla’s best-selling Model Y Juniper, a car whose production costs were lowered by 10%. However, when the firm expands its network of stations to enable quick battery changes, the Firefly brand will have NIO’s major advantage—swappable batteries—despite its lower prices.
Ford, meantime, is creating a smaller crossover based on the Tesla Model 2, which will also be built in the US using LFP batteries. The least expensive Ford EV is expected to retail for about $25,000 as well, although it won’t be available until one year after the Model 2.
Last but not least, the third-largest EV manufacturer in the world is reportedly planning to launch a little electric car in 2027 called the VW ID.1, which will cost $22,000 and be squeezed inside the current Polo’s proportions. Although it may start at roughly $27,000, the larger VW ID.2all with a 280-mile range will come earlier, in 2026.
The Tesla Model 2 will reportedly hit the market a year or two ahead of schedule despite all of this potentially fierce competition, and its price after state or federal tax credit subsidies may even outperform them all.
Elon Musk, meantime, has stated publicly that the Model 2 will represent a “revolution in low-cost manufacturing,” and experts predict that Tesla will produce at least 500,000 of them in 2026 alone. However, BYD, the biggest EV manufacturer in the world, will pose a threat to Tesla as it currently offers a few models in the same low-cost range.
