Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) CEO Elon Musk dismissed a report by Reuters on Friday that the electric vehicle company has canceled its low-cost car plans.
Citing sources and company messages it has seen, Reuters said in its article that Tesla had abandoned the low-cost vehicle plans but will continue to develop self-driving robotaxis on the same small-vehicle platform.
Investors had been hoping that Tesla would build a more affordable model to drive growth. Despite the article suggesting the longstanding goal has been abandoned, Musk said the article was false. Replying to a tweet reporting the news on his X platform, Musk wrote: "Reuters is lying (again)."
Tesla shares were down more than 5% following the report. They have since regained some of those initial losses but are still down over 2% as of 12:07 pm ET.
In January, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said the electric vehicle giant intended to start production of the affordable model in the second half of 2025. The entry-level vehicle was expected to start at about $25,000.