- Tesla teases the more affordable Model Y before its likely unveiling tomorrow.
- The new, cheaper model will be shown alongside something that isn’t obvious from the teaser.
- Tesla reportedly hopes to sell 250,000 affordable Model Ys next year.
Tesla will likely officially reveal its cheaper, stripped-down version of the Model Y tomorrow. The manufacturer published a dark video showing the new model’s light signature, which matches the images of the prototype that we’ve already seen.
At the end of the short video published on the official Tesla X account, the revealed what looks like the date of the reveal, which is tomorrow. Tesla has made many changes to make the new model around 20% cheaper than the current Model Y. These include simplified lights front and rear, no glass roof, fewer toys inside, as well as cloth seats and no ambient lighting.
It apparently will be available with one or two electric motors, so either rear- or all-wheel drive, but this hasn’t been confirmed. It would also make sense to only offer the single-motor powertrain since those looking to go all-wheel drive could simply buy the more expensive Model Y Dual Motor.
The affordable Model Y won’t be the only reveal during tomorrow’s event. In another teaser published yesterday on X, Tesla showed what appears to be a spinning fan. But your guess is as good as ours as to what will be revealed: our money is on the Roadster or a new vacuum cleaner design to take on Dyson. Interestingly, the Tesla logo, which is spinning in the center of whatever this is, doesn’t appear to be perfectly centered.
According to Reuters, Tesla hopes to sell around 250,000 of these cheaper Model Ys annually starting by 2026, which seems optimistic given that it will still cost around $40,000, which isn’t exactly cheap. Americans can get the impressive new Nissan Leaf for $30,000 and there are other more affordable models in between, like the Chevrolet Equinox EV, which starts at around $35,000.
Tesla has seen its sales slow down around the world, including in the United States, where it got a temporary boost from the federal tax credit ending. It has been dethroned in Europe and China as the best-selling EV manufacturer and a no-frills Model Y isn’t going to improve things significantly. What it really needed was a dedicated ground-up, cheaper model to help it compete in China, but also in Europe and at home.
The $25,000 model may have been the answer globally since affordability is what would get more people to buy EVs. However, that project seems to have been abandoned as the company shifted its focus to autonomous vehicle driving tech.
At the launch of Tesla’s autonomous robotaxi, the Cybercab that’s yet to hit the streets a year later, Elon Musk called the $25,000 model “pointless” and “silly,” but we wonder if, looking back, he wishes he hadn’t said that and canned the project.
More On This