Tesla's cheapest current model, the Model 3 sedan, retails for about $39,000 in the United States. The stark reversal comes as Tesla faces fierce competition globally from Chinese electric-vehicle makers flooding the market with cars priced as low as $10,000. Plans for the affordable Tesla have been seen as key to delivering on Musk's stratospheric ambitions for sales growth. Expectations for a $25,000 vehicle have underpinned Wall Street analysts' more modest, but still ambitious, forecasts for Tesla sales. Those forecasts, according to a Tesla investor-relations document, call for vehicle sales rising to 4.2 million by 2028 from 1.8 million last year.

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Persons: Tesla, Elon Musk, Musk, driverless, Tesla's, EVs, he'll, Walter Issacson Organizations: Reuters, robotaxis, SpaceX, Twitter, Toyota Locations: Texas, United States, robotaxi