2021 Tesla Model Y Crossover

Everything We Know About the 2021 Tesla Model Y Crossover

Elon Musk promises a smaller crossover built on the same platform as the Model 3 will enter production in 2020.

By Matthew Jancer And Popular Mechanics Editors
TESLA

At long last, we're about to get a real look at the Tesla Model Y. Yesterday, CEO Elon Musk announced that he would reveal his next model to the world at an event at the Tesla Design Studio in Los Angeles on March 14.


Musk had joked last May that he'd reveal the car on the Ides of March. With this Pi Day reveal, he was only one day off.

The Basics

The Tesla Model Y will be a small crossover SUV to fill out the cheap(er) end of Tesla's lineup. It will be vehicle number five in the Tesla lineup alongside the Model X mid-sized SUV, Model S full-size luxury sedan, the upcoming redesigned Roadster, and the Model 3.

Just as the X is a crossover built upon the Model S platform, the Y will be a crossover built upon the Model 3 platform. Model Y will share about three-quarters of its parts with the Model 3. It will be slightly larger and slightly more expensive than the 3 (which is finally selling at its long-promised $35,000 base price), but with slightly less range.

What It Looks Like

So far, Tesla’s teasers for the Model Y have been vague to the extreme. The company released a cryptic image at a shareholder meeting in June 2018, which you can see at Electrek along with the frontal teaser shot released in June 2017. It doesn't reveal much—not even the back half of the vehicle.

The Model Y appears to have a windshield so steeply raked you might call it a skylight. Aside from that, the pictures don’t tell us much other than that the Y has at least one wheel and is presumably made of matter. Musk said in May 2018 that Tesla was still flipping through early designs, but confirmed in the fall that he'd approved a prototype, leading to this March 2019 reveal of the vehicle.

Keep in mind, however, that Telsa “unveiled” the Model 3 in early 2016 but didn’t reveal a real finished product until much later. So just because we'll get a look at the Model Y this month doesn't mean you'll be able to order it.

Where It Fits

Given that the Model Y will be a crossover built on Model 3 architecture, much of what we know about it comes from that car. Assuming Tesla doesn’t stretch the Model 3’s 113.2-inch wheelbase too much, the Y’s likeliest competitors in price and size will be smaller crossovers like the BMW X3 and Acura MDX. Like those vehicles, the Y will be a car-based SUV that combines the tall seating position and spacious rear cargo area of a truckier SUV with the fuel economy and more docile handling of a passenger car.


Tesla Model 3
TESLA

Industry pundits suppose the Model Y won't cost much more than the Model 3's $35,000 base price. But that doesn’t mean you’ll be able to get a Y for that price right away. The Verge says Tesla will build the Y at the Gigafactory outside Reno, Nevada, but that it won't begin volume production until 2020.


TESLA/ELECTREK

Musk said he sees Model Y production hitting one million units per year, “just to give some sort of flavor for optimism.” Take any Tesla time frame with a salt mine. Though Musk says Tesla has learned from the Model 3 delays, and that the Model Y will be a “manufacturing revolution,” neither he nor Tesla have named specifics on what they've learned or how Model Y production will differ. For now and the near future we'll be following breadcrumbs. Keep an eye on this page to be updated throughout 2018 and 2019 as we learn more