Not long ago Elon Musk, CEO, and co-founder of Tesla, unveiled “Part Deux” of his “Master Plan” for Tesla motors which gave us a glimpse into the future of the rapidly growing EV manufacturer. In short, Musk sees Tesla moving into the realm of electric trucks, buses, and other commercial vehicles. On Twitter just three days ago, he confirmed the first installment to this master plan, and of all things, it’s a mini bus.
Some good guessing by @Jalopnik. The Tesla Minibus will be built on a Model X chassis. People density potential is surprisingly high.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 29, 2016
@danahull It’s inspired by some of the California Custom VW combi design art
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 21, 2016
The Minibus will be built on the same platform as the current Model X SUV and will be arriving as soon as next year. That’s not all, though, supposedly this miniature bus is going to strongly resemble the beloved Volkswagen minibus from the 60s and 70s. A rendering of what the vehicle could look like can be seen below, courtesy of Jalopnik.
Outside of the previously mentioned information, not much else is known. Seating capacity has not yet been confirmed, nor have any specs that will allow anyone to speculate its exact intended purpose. However, seeing that Musk has decided to pull inspiration from VW minibus, we can assume that this electric version will assume the same roles.
The vehicle will likely be a glorified van that will serve both domestic and commercial purposes, much like the VW version did. Seeing that “Part Deux” focused strongly on Tesla moving into the realm of commercial vehicles, we speculate that a “workers van” version is very likely, and will come without any kind of rear seating but rather bespoke storage options.
While a version for families is almost a guarantee, a model specifically tailored to taxi services and ride-sharing is equally likely. With ride sharing being a major bullet point in the “Master Plan” it would be foolish to assume that Musk doesn’t have anything in the works with future models to kickstart this venture.
At the end of the day this all speculation currently. Little to nothing has been officially confirmed and only time will tell us exactly what Tesla has planned. If you’re itching for more info, stay calm, with a speculated release date just around the corner, more information is sure to arrive soon.
