Tesla Model Y Crossover Will Be Unveiled in Los Angeles on March 14, Musk Says
The all-new Model Y will share 75 percent of its hardware with the Model 3. Also, it won’t feature falcon doors like the Model X.
Tesla is set to unveil its upcoming electric crossover on March 14. CEO Elon Musk confirmed the public reveal of its fifth production vehicle via tweet on Sunday afternoon, stating that the Model Y will be making its debut at an event held at the brand's Los Angeles Design Studio.
Musk has been teasing the release of the Model Y for some time, stating that the vehicle's tentative 2020 release date was fast approaching and that the automaker had already ordered the vehicle's tooling earlier this year. In a traditional Q-and-A series of Tweets, Musk also provided an brief idea of what consumers can expect at next Thursday's event.
First is the vehicle's overall size. Despite sharing 75 percent of its components with the Model 3, Musk says that the crossover SUV will be around 10 percent larger. Likely, this volume will come with the addition of rear headroom and a larger rear cargo area, shaping the vehicle into a much more CUV-like form.
That being said, don't expect anything too out of this world with the Y's design. Musk confirmed that the Model Y will not follow in the footsteps of the Model X with its falcon wing doors. He has previously called the Model X the "Fabergé egg of cars," but also notes that nothing like it will ever be made again, later adding "and maybe it shouldn't."
In the same tweet, the CEO also addressed pricing. He indicated that pricing for the Model Y will hover around 10 percent more than the Model 3. Likely, the Model Y will follow a production approach similar to the vehicles Tesla has produced in the past; low-volume production kicks off vehicle manufacturing for several months, slowly swelling until the vehicle can reach full volume. Should this approach be followed, it's not far-fetched to assume that Tesla will not release a Standard Range Model Y variant for some time, meaning that although baseline price may be as low as $38,500 (10 percent more than the Standard Range Model 3), starting price for the day-one Model Y will likely be in the mid-$40,000 range.
The biggest discrepancy between the Model 3's initial production and the Model Y is where the vehicle will be produced. It has been previously mentioned by Musk that the Model Y was planned to enter production at Tesla's battery manufacturing plant in Sparks, Nevada (Gigafactory 1) instead of at its assembly plant in Fremont, California where the Model 3 is presently produced. Additionally, Musk previously confirmed that Gigafactory Shanghai is planned to eventually produce the Model Y in tandem with the Model 3.
It seems that the Musk clock is running on time for the Model Y announcement. Last May, the CEO joked that he "made up" March 15th as a reveal date because it sounded realistic based on the company's current progress on the Model Y's prototype.
One might also wonder if the timing of the Model Y announcement coincided with the opening of Tesla's Supercharger v3 station, which is penned to go live this coming Wednesday. Tesla's newest Supercharging stations will reportedly output a charge rate of at least 350 kW (Musk previously called 350 kW "a children's toy"), the same rate which Porsche uses to fast-charge its upcoming Taycan from zero to 80 percent charge in just 15 minutes. Tesla's high voltage battery pack in the Model 3 is believed to be half that of Porsche's, so the actual charge rates are anybody's guess until Tesla reveals more information, but that's not to say that Tesla isn't future-proofing its charging network to support the Semi and next-generation Roadster.
