Photo: Tesla via InsideEVs
Elon Musk has been keeping interest alight for the automaker’s product plan for quite some time now, with one of the highlights being the Model Y. A compact crossover expected to hit the road in 2019, the all-new EV doesn’t feature any side mirrors in its first teaser image.
What can we make of it? Heaven knows what, but this being an early design proposition and a heavily shaded teaser, only time will tell what Tesla has in the pipeline. Japan’s legislation, for example, allows manufacturers to sell mirrorless cars. The United States, on the other hand, is expected to embrace this trend sometime in 2018.
Shown at Tesla’s most recent shareholder meeting, the Model Y is going to be built in a “way that a car has never been built before.” By that, InsideEVs believes that the Model Y will ride on a different platform from the Model 3. What’s more, production is rumored to be handled by a dedicated factory. To make matters even more confusing, Elon Musk declared that expenditures on the newcomer will be lower than what the automaker invested in the soon-to-be-launched Model 3 sedan. By as much as a “factor of 2,” if you can believe such a thing.
Musk also hopes that “demand for Model Y will exceed the demand for Model 3,” but only time will tell if Tesla can deliver on its promise. With something like 400,000 pre-orders in the bag since it was publicly unveiled, the Model 3 will be a hard nut to crack from a commercial standpoint. If the Palo Alto-based company wants to grow and keep the investors happy, though, streamlining production and affordable pricing are two aspects Tesla can’t ignore in the long run.
There’s still much debate regarding the presence of Falcon Doors on the Model Y. Musk said in a Tweet from October 2015 that such doors are go for the compact crossover, yet reports published since then suggest that Tesla has throttled back on that idea. And based on the problems they pose on the Model X, then it’s common sense to expect that Tesla will do one of the following: A) use regular rear doors; or B) improve the design of the Falcon Doors.
Shown at Tesla’s most recent shareholder meeting, the Model Y is going to be built in a “way that a car has never been built before.” By that, InsideEVs believes that the Model Y will ride on a different platform from the Model 3. What’s more, production is rumored to be handled by a dedicated factory. To make matters even more confusing, Elon Musk declared that expenditures on the newcomer will be lower than what the automaker invested in the soon-to-be-launched Model 3 sedan. By as much as a “factor of 2,” if you can believe such a thing.
Musk also hopes that “demand for Model Y will exceed the demand for Model 3,” but only time will tell if Tesla can deliver on its promise. With something like 400,000 pre-orders in the bag since it was publicly unveiled, the Model 3 will be a hard nut to crack from a commercial standpoint. If the Palo Alto-based company wants to grow and keep the investors happy, though, streamlining production and affordable pricing are two aspects Tesla can’t ignore in the long run.
There’s still much debate regarding the presence of Falcon Doors on the Model Y. Musk said in a Tweet from October 2015 that such doors are go for the compact crossover, yet reports published since then suggest that Tesla has throttled back on that idea. And based on the problems they pose on the Model X, then it’s common sense to expect that Tesla will do one of the following: A) use regular rear doors; or B) improve the design of the Falcon Doors.
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