Tesla Model 2: £25k electric hatch coming in 2025
New cheap Tesla hatchback will have a long range and a minimalist interior...
On sale 2025 | Price from £25,000 (est)
Don’t under-estimate the power of a strong brand. It’s why millions of us will flock to whatever product Apple or Nike launches next, and goes some way to explaining the meteoric rise of Tesla – which was only formed in 2003 – yet ranks among the most valuable companies in the world. It also gives context as to why the upcoming Tesla Model 2 could be one of the most important car launches in, well, ever.
Due to be revealed early next year, the new Model 2 will aim to distil all that’s great about the Tesla Model 3 – our reigning Executive Car of the Year – into a smaller and cheaper package.
The resulting Tesla hatchback will then face rivals including the Cupra Born, MG 4, Renault 5 and Volkswagen ID 2 in the increasingly crowded market for small electric cars. Further premium rivals will arrive later – an all-electric successor to the Audi A3 is due in 2027, for example, while the next BMW 1 Series is likely to go electric a year later. It’s worth remembering that, from 2035, you’ll only be able to buy new electric cars in the UK, with sales of hybrid, plug-in hybrid, petrol and diesel models being banned.
It’s important to note that while the new Tesla is expected to take the Model 2 name, it’s not confirmed – indeed, the car is said to be referred to by the firm’s boss Elon Musk as Tesla ‘Redwood’ at the moment.
In this story, we’ll tell you everything you need to know about the Tesla Model 2, including its exterior and interior design, range, power and price.
Tesla Model 2 design
Early design sketches shown during a recent Tesla investor event revealed the Model 2 to have a high bonnet line, a squat roof and wheels pushed out to the corners in a bid to maximise interior space.
We can expect the final car to have the same closed-off front grille as the Model 3 saloon, with slim LED headlights and tail lights and a low bonnet. The relatively high roofline should make the Model 2 easy to see out of – a boon when exiting from junctions – while the car will include a subtle boot spoiler at the rear to help direct air flow. And while the Model 2’s rear screen could be rather small, expect all models to come with a plethora of cameras and self-parking technology to help avoid any embarrassing car park scrapes.
The Model 2’s hatchback shape could make it easier to live with than today’s Model 3, with its boot being easier to access and load bulky items into. And while we don’t know how much luggage you’ll be able to fit inside the Model 2, we managed to squeeze nine carry-on suitcases into the Model 3, utilising both its rear boot, and the small ‘frunk’ under the bonnet.
On some versions of the Model 2, a thin LED light bar could run the width of the car, as seen on the upcoming Tesla Cybertruck pick-up.
Tesla Model 2 interior
As for the interior, you can expect there to be space for five, and for almost every function to be controlled through the same 15.4in landscape-orientated touchscreen that features in the Model 3 and Model Y. Our experience with this system suggests it will take some getting used to for new Tesla drivers (there’s no instrument cluster, so even your speed is shown on the central screen), but it reacts quickly to inputs. It also features apps such as Netflix for entertainment as you charge. It can’t change direction, however, unlike the screen in the rival BYD Atto 3, which can rotate from portrait to landscape – making it easier to watch movies.
As in the Model 3 and Model Y, physical controls will be scarce – even the hazard warning light switch is on the roof in the Model 3, for example – but this will give the Model 2 a modern and uncluttered look. Crucially for a car which could go on to become the brand’s best-seller worldwide, a buttonless interior is also cheaper for Tesla to produce, because most of the car’s functions are controlled through software, which can easily be updated with new features – or fixes – through wireless over-the-air updates.
Interior quality should at least match that of the Model 3, which we noted was the best effort we’ve seen from Tesla so far in our in-depth review. That means soft-touch materials in most of the places that you’ll touch regularly, and an upmarket look.
It’s likely that you’ll also be able to swap the Model 2’s steering wheel out for a smaller steering yoke for an additional fee. This is already available on the Model 3, and supposedly allows you to turn the car faster while reducing the amount of physical turn for your hands. The Lexus NX electric SUV also offers a similar system.
Tesla Model 2 range and power
While its full technical specifications are still under wraps, we do know that the Model 2 will make use of a new generation of electric motors that don’t use any rare earth metals in their construction. The cost of acquiring such materials is a major factor that contributes towards the cost of current electric cars, even with rising discounts. However, don’t expect those motors to be any less powerful than those used by today’s Teslas.
The entry-level Model 2 will have a single motor driving the front wheels. However, those will be joined by more expensive dual-motor, four-wheel-drive variants, including the Tesla Model 2 Performance model which will crown the range – that model will face rivals including the upcoming Volkswagen ID 2 GTI, due in 2026.
As with most electric cars, expect acceleration even from the cheapest Model 2 to be swift – and to feel especially so if you’re moving to one from a petrol or diesel-engined car. The entry-level Model 3 RWD, for example, can reach 60mph from a standing start in just 5.8sec.
The full suite of Tesla driving aids will be available on the Model 2, including systems to allow the car to control its own position within a lane on the motorway, as well as its speed, plus the ability to change lanes automatically, where this is legal. As with the Model 3, basic Autopilot will come as standard, with Advanced Autopilot and Full Self-Driving Capability as options. In the Model 3, the latter two cost £3400 and £6800 respectively.
The Model 2’s battery will also be new, and more efficient than the brand’s current batteries, using technology that’s claimed to enable up to 16% more range per kilowatt hour. In theory, that means a battery that’s half the capacity of the 60kWh unit used in the Model 3 could take the Model 2 around 180 miles between charges. That’s less than the Born, MG 4 and ID 2 can manage – although it’s worth noting that those rivals offer larger batteries. However, thanks to fast charging – more on that below – it might not be a significant drawback to owners.
Tesla Model 2 charging and reliability
Of course, Model 2 owners will also get access to the Tesla Supercharger network of ultra-fast chargers. There are currently more than 1000 of these ultra-rapid chargers at more than 100 locations across the UK, and many more so-called ‘destination’ chargers at hotels, restaurants and resorts. In a recent survey, What Car? Readers ranked Tesla Superchargers and destination chargers as the fifth best EV charging network in the UK.
Getting a Model 3 from 10-80% takes 27 minutes using the latest Superchargers, and this is likely to fall to as little as 15 minutes in the Model 2 as charging speeds increase. The Model 3 can charge at a rate of up to 250kW, depending on which version you choose, but some electric cars, such as the Kia EV6 electric SUV, can charge at an even higher rate of 270kW.
You might find that you have to queue for a Supercharger, however, since Tesla recently opened up its network to allow non-Tesla owners to charge there too. Indeed, this move, along with the network’s speed and reliability, won it our Technology Award for 2024.
The Model 2 should be offered with the same four-year, 50,000-mile warranty as the Model 3, with the battery and electric motor covered for up to 120,000 miles, depending on which version you go for.
In terms of reliability, Tesla has been getting better in recent years. Indeed, the Model 3 came eight within the executive car class in our latest What Car? Reliability Survey.
Non-motor electrics, along with bodywork issues, were two of the main causes for concern raised by owners who told us about their cars as part of the survey – however, such issues only affected 26% of cars, and Tesla paid for repairs in almost all cases.
Tesla Model 2 price
While still a long way from being confirmed, it’s expected that the Tesla Model 2 will be priced from around £25,000.
That means it will be the cheapest Tesla by some margin – the Model 3 is priced from £39,990 at the time of writing – and cheaper than electric car rivals including the Born, BYD Dolphin, and MG 4. The ID 2 will be cheaper still, with Volkswagen targeting a price of around £22,000, but the UK’s cheapest electric car remains the Citroen Ami, at £8095.
How will Tesla achieve that low price? Bosses say that new production processes learned while attempting to speed up build times of the Model 3 and the upcoming Cybertruck have lead to significant savings – up to 40% less space needed within factories, for example, while the risk of delays appearing at each stage of the production process is said to have been cut by half.
Then there’s the way the Model 2 will be constructed in sections, removing the need for the doors to be taken off and put back on while it’s being painted, for example. These savings are said to have reduced the cost of each car produced by Tesla by around £830.
Other Teslas coming soon
The next Tesla to arrive after the Model 2 goes on sale will be replacements for the Tesla Model S saloon and Tesla Model X SUV.
Beyond that, Tesla is also known to be developing a new model to be used as a self-driving taxi, which will be based on the Model 2. That idea might sound like science fiction, but the new model is expected to use Tesla’s advanced self-driving technology to ferry passengers from A to B without the need for a human driver.
Tesla isn’t the only car company to be looking at the taxi market, either – Kia recently showed how its upcoming PV5 van could be converted into a self-driving taxi with the PV5-R concept car, unveiled at the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas.
While Tesla will have a busy few years ahead, not all of the brand’s plans have come to fruition, with the next-generation Tesla Roadster electric sports car having apparently been shelved. First unveiled in 2017, the new Roadster had a claimed 0-60mph acceleration time of just 1.9sec, and a top speed of more than 250mph.
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