Tesla plans all-new Roadster

Next year’s Tesla Model S saloon is just the first model planned by the Californian electric car maker in an aggressive product roll-out that includes an all-new Roadster and a range of cars to rival the BMW 3-series.

The 5-series-sized Model S will spawn a crossover Model X variant next year, and it’s likely to be followed by a cabriolet in 2013. Tesla CEO Elon Musk also confirmed to Autocar that in 2014 the firm will launch a new Roadster, which will no longer be based on Lotus mechanicals.

Although Tesla has made a loss on every Roadster sold, Musk said the car was significant in helping to establish the firm and electric cars in general. “Bob Lutz has said the Roadster prompted General Motors to do the Chevrolet Volt,” he said. “We’re trying to change the industry.”

Musk added that the new Roadster would be based on a “third-generation platform”, which is likely to be a shortened version of the architecture just developed for the Model S and its derivatives.

“This platform will spawn a range of cars in the next four to five years,” Musk said. “It’ll be a more mass-market platform for cars like a 3-series as well as the new Roadster. These cars will supplement the Model S range.”

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