In April, reports from China via social media suggested that the much-anticipated more “affordable” Tesla electric car was less than three months away from production, with an expected launch in July.
Then last week, at the company’s earnings call, it was revealed that this timeline will be pushed back, as Tesla focused on ramping up deliveries of its Model Y before US credits expire.
Now a test vehicle has been spotted, hinting at some of key changes that will emerge when this goes into production at the end of the year, including the removal of the panoramic glass roof, and the use of fabric in seats.
In a new video shared on X by Drivegreenlivegreen, a blue Tesla SUV is spotted parked in the US with its front and rear covered. It does show a close-up of the outside and inside, pointing to a solid roof, and not the panoramic glass that has featured in all models that Tesla produces today, including the popular Model 3 and Model Y cars.
On the inside, the front and rear seats are now fabric, and will miss out on ventilation as is standard on all current models.
There are also visual changes to the front and rear. Although the cars are covered, the video does show that the lightbars featured on the new Model Y will not be included. It also appears to be shorter in length than the standard Tesla Model Y, which is about 4.8 meters long.
This test car seems to be between 4.4 and 4.6 metres in length, based on what can be seen in the video when compared to the other Model Y next to it.
At the earnings call last week, we heard more about the styling of the car in a brief comment from the company’s CEO.
During investors’ question time when Tesla CEO Elon Musk was asked about what the affordable model may look like, to which Musk joked that it would look like the Model Y.
Today, Tesla’s Model Y starts at $58,900 and with many more affordable options from competitors on the market and on the way, this could be the car that helps Tesla maintain its market lead in Australia.
A cheaper model has been in the works for a while, with multiple mentions of this model at the company earnings calls over the last week quarters, including the latest one where it was announced that it would be in Q4 instead of the end of Q2.
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.