Three wild years after the introduction of the Tesla Model 3, Tesla CEO Elon Musk has finally introduced its long-promised crossover sibling, the Tesla Model Y.
After painfully joking and meandering his way through the history of the Tesla model lineup—at one point joking that the lineup is now “Semi SEXY” with evidently no love for the Roadster—as well as the rest of the company’s history, Musk finally got to the point and showed us the Model Y.
The Model 3, But Bigger
As Elon promised when he announced the reveal date of the Model Y, the new crossover is approximately 10 percent bigger in size, and will be priced to cost about 10 percent more than the Model 3. In the company’s final 2018 update, it mentioned the Model Y would share a platform and about 75 percent of its components with the 3.
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Like the Model 3, Musk claims the Model Y should get five-star safety ratings. It also gets the same self-driving hardware that’s standard on all Model 3s, which can be unlocked for a fee and will be upgraded over-the-air as the technology becomes more capable and as new features pass regulatory approval.
“Full self-driving capability” is a $5,000 option if you also dish out the $3,000 for the standard Autopilot option. This includes Autopilot, Autopark, Navigate for Highways, as well as safety features like collision avoidance, lane departure warning, and blind sport monitoring.
The Model Y also appears to have essentially the same super-minimal interior as the Model 3, with a landscape oriented central tablet-like touch screen that displays both driver and infotainment information, and a super simple steering wheel with just two input controls on either side of the airbag in the middle.
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What’s New?
Here’s the Model Y lineup that was announced tonight:
- Standard Range model will get 230 miles of range with a top speed of 120 mph, a 0 to 60 mph time of 5.9 seconds, with a starting price of $39,000.
- The Long Range model will get 300 miles of range with a top speed of 130 mph, a 0 to 60 mph time of 5.5 seconds and a starting price of $47,000.
- The Dual Motor AWD model will get 280 miles of range with a top speed of 135 mph, a 0 to 60 mph time of 4.8 seconds and a starting price of $51,000.
- The Dual Motor Performance model will also get 280 miles of range, with a top speed of 150 mph, a 0 to 60 mph time of 3.5 seconds and a starting price of $60,000.
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The Dual Motor Performance model also gets performance brakes, 20-inch wheels, a carbon fiber spoiler, lowered suspension, aluminum alloy go-pedal, and Tesla’s “track mode,” according to the company’s configurator.
Those range figures were claimed to reflect what the final EPA estimates could likely be, and prices are before federal and local incentives.
The Model Y can also seat seven people as a $3,000 option, with five butts fitting standard, 66 cubic feet of cargo room, and a panoramic glass roof.
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For now, it looks like you can only get the Model Y in five colors—Black, which is included in the purchase price, Silver Metallic as a $1,500 option, Deep Blue Metallic as a $1,500 option, Pearl White as a $2,000 option, and Red as a $2,500 option. Interior trims are black as standard, or black and white, with white dash trim and white seats, as a $1,000 option.
Tesla also mentioned the rollout of Supercharging Version 3.0 will begin to spread out worldwide as an update to current 12,000 Superchargers globally by “sometime next year,” as well as be installed for new Supercharger stations from now on.
Version 3.0 is capable of charging a Long Range trim Model 3 with 1,000 miles of range per hour, so it’s reasonable to expect similar charging performance for a similarly equipped Model Y.
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When Will It Actually Go Into Production?
Most trims of the Model Y will go into production in Fall of 2020, with the “entry-level” Standard Range model going into production later, in the Spring of 2021.
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According to a CNBC report earlier this month, Tesla was debating exactly where it wants to build the Model Y. According to the report, the company was considering combining Model S and X production into one line at the Fremont, California factory, or allocating space for production in the Gigafactory near Reno, Nevada.
In January, Musk tweeted that affordable versions of the Model 3 and Y would be produced in the new Shanghai Gigafactory to serve the Chinese market, with higher cost versions produced exclusively in the U.S. In a letter to shareholders back in February, Tesla claimed the Model Y would go into production by the end of next year.
Musk did not confirm where the Model Y would be produced in Thursday night’s presentation.
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Where Can I Order It?
The configurator for the Model Y is already up on Tesla’s site, which you can access by clicking here.
As of the night of the reveal, the only available options are the rear-wheel drive Long Range model, starting at $47,000 before incentives, the Long Range AWD model starting at $51,000, or the Dual Motor Performance starting at $60,000.
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“There was a time when everyone thought electric cars were stupid, and it wasn’t that long ago,” Elon Musk said at the start of tonight’s presentation. And he’s right. The company has come a long way, and pushed the entire industry even further.
The Tesla Model Y also finally completes the lineup’s unfortunately dumb naming acronym. Congrats, Elon. You did it. Mission accomplished.
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