Last month, Tesla launched the refreshed version of the world’s best-selling car, the Model Y, which brought a whole lot of styling and comfort features to the re-engineered model.
Now, it appears that another model is under development, with pictures of a heavily camouflaged Model Y, which was sighted at Tesla’s factory in Austin, Texas.
In new drone footage from a Texas-based drone operator and Tesla EV enthusiast, Joe Tegtmeyer, a black, heavily camouflaged Tesla has been seen amongst other cars with the front and rear completely covered.
On the inside, the dash also appears to be covered, hinting at multiple changes to both the exterior and interior.
Here are a few additional images of the camouflaged Model Y from different angles. Lots of interesting theories … what do you think is going on and why is this so heavily camoflagued? pic.twitter.com/3Ehuds8vCT
— Joe Tegtmeyer 🚀 🤠🛸😎 (@JoeTegtmeyer) February 12, 2025
From another angle, it appears to be smaller than the conventional Model Y, leading some to believe that it could be the upcoming more affordable model from the leading EV maker.
The new model has been in the works for the last 12 months and has been mentioned several times in the company’s earnings call deck and on the calls themselves.
Maybe only me but seems smaller , idk 🤷🏻♂️ pic.twitter.com/XuG7jnSmn3
— FranciscoC (@Francis65037303) February 13, 2025
Late last year, in the Q3 earnings report, Tesla said: “Preparations remain underway for our offering of new vehicles – including more affordable models – which we will begin launching in the first half of 2025.”
This was followed up at the company’s Q4 earnings call last month when the Tesla team told investors that the new product is well under development and will be launched by June this year.
On the call, Tesla’s CFO, Vaibhav Taneja, said: “We are still on track to launch a more affordable model in the first half of 2025,”. Taneja also hinted that there would also be more products to follow the more affordable model.
Although not much is known about what the affordable model’s specifications might be, the company has shared some details in its earnings call presentation deck stating: “These vehicles will utilize aspects of the next generation platform as well as aspects of our current platforms and will be produced on the same manufacturing lines as our current vehicle line-up”.
Using the same lines as the current vehicle line-up will ensure that the tooling of the manufacturing lines is a lot more streamlined. This will reduce manufacturing complexity while delivering expected cost reductions Tesla needs to bring the model at a much lower price to drivers than its current Model 3 and Model Y EVs.
The latest sighting comes at an interesting time for the brand when its sales fell in 2024 for the first time in many years. The new model will likely help bring Tesla back into a growth phase for its vehicle business.
We expect the model to have its launch event with pricing and specs unveiled before the car goes into mass production. This could be as soon as Q2 this year with deliveries likely to start in the second half of 2025.
Riz is the founder of carloop based in Melbourne, specialising in Australian EV data, insight reports and trends. He is a mechanical engineer who spent the first 7 years of his career building transport infrastructure before starting carloop. He has a passion for cars, particularly EVs and wants to help reduce transport emissions in Australia. He currently drives a red Tesla Model 3.