Tesla’s market value drops to $50 billion despite Musk’s promise to reduce electric vehicle costs

On Tuesday, Tesla’s (TSLA) principal stockholders and investors cut $50 billion from its market value despite CEO Elon Musk’s promise to reduce electric vehicle costs.

According to Tesla’s Senior Vice-President of Powertrain and Energy Engineering Drew Baglino, the automaker plans to produce its new cells via a highly automated and continuous-motion assembly process at its vehicle plant in Fremont, California.

“We do not have an affordable car. That’s something we will have in the future. But we’ve got to get the cost of batteries down,” Musk said.

According to Elon Musk, the electric car company would produce a $25,000 self-driving car after three years.

“This has always been our dream, from the beginning of the company,” he continued. “I even wrote a blog piece about it, because our first car was an expensive sports car, then a slightly less expensive sedan, and then finally, sort of a mass-market model like the Model 3 and Model Y,” Musk stated.

Market shares of South Korea’s LG Chem (051910) and Japan’s Panasonic Corp (6752) went down after Musk’s announcement.