Tesla Wants a Leaf Rival

May. 29, 2013 2:00 AM ET by Jay Traugott / 39 Comments

The affordable EV market could soon heat up as Tesla's CEO stated his intent to produce a more affordable model to compete head-on with the Nissan Leaf.

Let's face it: the Nissan Leaf isn't exactly the best-looking car on the market today, amongst EVs and conventionally-powered cars alike. But still, it has a base price that hovers around $21,000 after tax breaks which is highly attractive to EV buyers. Tesla, on the other hand, makes a beautiful EV of its own, the Model S, and the automaker has recently had a string of financial and marketing successes. So aside from the upcoming Model X crossover, what is Tesla planning next?

In a new Reuters report, Tesla CEO Elon Musk hinted that he wants to produce "a compelling, affordable car" that will cost less than the pricey Model S but will look better than the Nissan Leaf. "With the Model S, you have a compelling car that's too expensive for most people," Musk stated. "And you have the Leaf, which is cheap, but it's not great. What the world really needs is a great, affordable electric car." Nissan's luxury arm, Infiniti, signaled its intention just last week that it's planning to build its own version of the Leaf, which will unquestionably be a better-looking car and will include more advanced technologies.

However, it'll certainly be more expensive than the Leaf and could even end up being a competitor to the Model S, so we could be looking at an upcoming luxury EV showdown. But if there's anything we've learned from Musk in the past is that it's never wise to doubt his ambitions.

Source Credits: www.bloomberg.com

Tesla Wants a Leaf Rival

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