October 8, 2025 — 6.19am Save Bloomberg Late last year, Musk said the vehicle would be priced below the “key threshold” of $US30,000 including US EV tax credits. In the United States, prices effectively rose by $US7500 at the end of last month, when the credit ended. That helped goose quarterly sales to a record, but expectations are that they will slow down for the rest of the year, unless the affordable car comes to the rescue. “The desire to buy the car is very high. (It’s) just (that) people don’t have enough money in the bank account to buy it,” Musk said in July during Tesla’s second-quarter earnings call. “So the more affordable we can make the car, the better.” Tesla had posted two clips on X over the weekend, igniting excitement among fans. One video shows headlights peering out of the dark and another shows what looks like a wheel spinning for a few seconds, followed by “10/7” — the US format for the date October 7. Musk initially promised that production of the vehicle would start by the end of June. But Tesla only made what it called “first builds” of the car, it said in July, adding that it would be available for customers sometime in the last three months of the year. Advertisement Tesla has already been grappling with slowing sales of its ageing lineup as competition has grown rapidly, especially in China and Europe, where Musk’s far-right political views have also undermined brand loyalty.