I Saw Tesla

If you’re not a very online car person, you probably are unfamiliar with the term “malaise” when it comes to cars. Typically, it’s defined as the time from the late 1970s to just before 1990, an era when cars—American cars, specifically—were arguably at their lowest point in modern history for design, horsepower and quality. 

Back then, there was a lot of blame to go around. New fuel economy and emissions regulations, new safety requirements messing with design, emerging technologies that weren’t ready for primetime yet, and intensifying competition from Japanese automakers that quickly took the lead over the home team—take your pick.

Now, we’re seeing similar slip-ups happen in China. While Western brands were content to rest on their laurels, China’s homegrown brands figured out how to make a damn good car. Non-Chinese brands are struggling, due in large part that their product tends to be old and uncompetitive—and I’d argue nothing embodies this more than China’s new Tesla Model Y L. 

Photo by: Kevin Williams/InsideEVs

This would be the new three-row, larger version of the updated Model Y that was developed in China and for the Chinese market. It’s not sold in the West, though it could come to Europe. In theory, this Tesla should click with Chinese buyers. There, many urban families have one car for multi-generational use. A car like this should be a good option when you have to drive the kids and the grandparents on the regular. 

But after seeing it for myself, I’m convinced that Tesla’s losing its edge. 

Tesla Model Y L: Seeing It In Real-Life

While in China for Xpeng’s AI day, I had a bit of downtime. I learn a lot about that country I’m exploring on my own, watching and learning, rather than on a tightly curated media program. I feel comfortable and familiar enough with China now, so I took a few rideshares around Guangzhou (and Beijing, on a layover). I wanted to find out what Tesla’s three-row Model Y was like, since it seems to be important to reverse the brand’s sinking global sales.

I didn’t get any on-the-road impressions, but sitting in a static model in a Chinese Tesla store revealed a product that feels lazy and uncompetitive—especially when there’s more than half a dozen direct competitors, often in the same mall, vying harder for the dollars of Chinese buyers in search of six seats. 

To be fair to Tesla, the three-row Model Y doesn’t actually look too bad. Of course, this isn’t the first three-row Model Y; the first generation had an optional third row, but the legroom and headroom for that old model were damn near unusable if you were the age of, say, five. An unusable third row is a nonstarter in China, a market where interior space, legroom, and comfort are big draws for buyers.

Tesla Model Y L Live Photos

Photo by: Kevin Williams/InsideEVs

Because of that, Tesla added about seven inches to the total length of the updated Model Y Juniper. Two of those inches go to the wheelbase, while the other five are focused on the rear overhang. In profile, the standard Model Y and Model Y L could be confused with each other unless you’ve seen them side by side, like in the showroom. The Model Y’s longer D-pillar window and extra-long rear windshield on its hatch door are the biggest giveaways.

Model Y L Interior

Photo by: Tesla

Inside, the Model Y L trades the second row bench seat for two captain’s chairs with pop-up armrests. If you’ve been in any U.S.-market three-row Model Y, then the seats themselves will look familiar; however, there’s significantly more headroom and legroom compared to the shorter car on sale outside of China.  

But then things get kind of weird. For starters, like the third row on the U.S. market Model Y, the cushion is low to the ground. The D-pillar window may be longer, but your head placement is still aligned with a big pillar blind spot, so don’t expect much light in that third row. Also, the longer rear windshield terminates right where the rear occupants’ heads would be, so I’d probably wear a hat if you don’t want the sun beating directly on your head.

The hat can’t be too tall, though, because at 5’9” (with more legs than torso) I was pushing the limit of headroom in the third row.

Photo by: Kevin Williams/InsideEVs

The rest of the Model Y L’s interior is about the same as the standard Model Y, for better or worse. There are surprisingly few creature comforts for any of the car’s occupants. The third row is the worst place to be, since it’s a low-mounted seat surrounded by hard, dark plastic.

And that’s not the norm when you look at any other Chinese three-row EV. Just across the hall, I sat in the Li Auto i8, a three-row crossover that is the Tesla Model Y three row’s direct rival.

It’s chock full of screens, including one that folds down from the ceiling. Even if screens aren’t your jam, the i8’s soft seats, upright roofline, and smooth plastics automatically make it a better place to be. The i8 isn’t the only one, either. The updated Nio ES8’s diamond tufted seats feel like it’s aiming straight for the Mercedes-Benz EQS SUV, way above any sort of Tesla.

Li Auto i8

Photo by: Kevin Williams/InsideEVs

Right now, China’s been doing the heavy lifting with regard to Tesla’s sales. The brand has seen better days globally, for a multitude of reasons. Yet, China has been largely insulated from Elon Musk’s controversies; buyers are still happily shelling out money for Model Ys.

Photo by: Kevin Williams/InsideEVs

Or are they? Model Y sales in China have remained healthy, but if we look closer at the overall sales numbers, it doesn’t seem like the Model Y L has done much to move the needle in China. People are still buying Model Ys en masse, but the addition of the new model hasn’t pushed sales up. More pressingly, cars like the Xiaomi YU7 are hitting hard; just this past month, sales of the YU7 surpassed the Tesla Model Y for the first time.

I’ve got seat time with both cars, and it isn’t hard to see why. The YU7 feels lush, new, and special. Every material in the YU7 is nice to use, and it’s chock full of features, some software-based, some not, whereas the Model Y is kind of just the same car as before with a new face and a better ride.

Even the introduction of Full Self-Driving for China may not matter much in a market where practically every manufacturer has a competing assisted driving software that works about as well. 

Xiaomi YU7

Photo by: Kevin Williams/InsideEVs

It’s clear that China’s market has moved past the ability for cars to get sales by simply coasting on brand reputation. The three-row Model Y feels like Tesla has fallen for the same trap as American brands did in the 1980s: selling stagnant models that aren’t moving forward, taking brand equity and reputation for granted. We talk about it all the time. Chinese brands have proven that they know how to make an electric car. And, we’re learning that they know how to make one drive itself, too.

It’s a disappointing outcome for the automaker that helped define the modern EV, and also helped to kickstart China’s own EV and technology race. The latest Model Y remains an impressive player elsewhere in the world, for now. In China, it’s already getting beaten. And this new focus on Robotaxis won’t reverse that problem. 

If Tesla wants to stay on top, it’s gotta try a little bit harder here lest it becomes the next Oldsmobile or Mercury. 

Contact the author: kevin.williams@insideevs.com