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The 2021 Tesla Model Y Long Range RWD Is Officially Dead

Tesla has a pretty bad habit of announcing battery and drivetrain configurations that never make it on the road. The Model Y Long Range for the 2021 model year is the latest addition to the list of might-have-beens even though many people have placed an order for it. This goes to show that Elon Musk could learn a thing or two from legacy automakers.
Tesla Model Y 15 photos
Photo: Andy Slye on YouTube
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Announced with great pomp and circumstance in July 2020 by the chief exec on Twitter of all places, the Model Y Long Range RWD should have featured the rear drive unit of the dual-motor specification and the same 75-kWh battery pack. According to a sales advisor who spoke to Teslarati on the promise of anonymity, “the LR RWD Model Y won’t be built at any point.”

Not all is lost, though, because reservation holders can revise their orders. The Palo Alto-based automaker will honor the full self-driving suite’s original price of $7,000 for any new configuration as opposed to $10,000 as of February 2021, representing a $3,000 discount. But nevertheless, Tesla isn’t willing to tell us why the RWD Long Range Model Y was nipped in the bud.

Eliminating the option is one thing, but failing to honor an order that's already in the system is different. If you ask me, Elon Musk’s bean counters may have decided against this variant over supply constraints and profit margins. When you think about it, expensive options equal more money in the bank for Tesla, although the company profits more from selling carbon credits.

At the present moment, the most affordable Model Y available stateside is the rear-driven Standard Range at $41,990, excluding savings and taxes. This fellow isn't exactly the bee's knees in terms of range at 244 miles (393 kilometers), but the performance figures are more than adequate. Capable of hitting 60 miles per hour (96 kilometers per hour) in merely 5.3 seconds, the most affordable Model Y on sale today can top 135 mph (217 kph).
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About the author: Mircea Panait
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After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well.
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