Tesla teases Tuesday event as focus shifts to affordable EVs

Oct 5 (Reuters) – Tesla on Sunday teased an October 7 event, as investors and analysts await a more affordable model to sustain sales momentum. In a nine-second video posted on social media platform X, the Elon Musk-led automaker showed a vehicle with its headlights illuminated in a dark setting. The company hinted at an event scheduled for Tuesday in a separate video that had "10/7" at the end. Tesla has previously delayed rolling out a lower-cost version of the Model Y in the United States. The company said in June that it had made "first builds" of the vehicle, but would start selling it in the fourth quarter and ramp up output slower than planned. The stripped-down version is designed to be roughly 20% cheaper to produce than the refreshed Model Y and could scale to about 250,000 units a year in the U.S. by 2026, sources told Reuters earlier this year. Tesla reported record quarterly deliveries for the three months ended September, driven by a surge in EV purchases ahead of the U.S. tax credit's expiration. The teaser videos followed the expiration of a $7,500 U.S. EV tax credit on September 30, a shift that could shape consumer choices and prompt Tesla to recalibrate its pricing strategy. (Reporting by Mrinmay Dey in Bengaluru; Editing by Jamie Freed)

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