The 'affordable' Tesla is, in fact, the Model Y. Here's what that really means.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk said during a Q2 earnings call last week that Tesla's long-rumored "lower cost" new car will, in fact, be a stripped-down Model Y. Now, the details about the upcoming car are leaking.
Tesla enthusiast Luca Presti (via Teslarati) shared a Chinese video on Saturday detailing some of the alleged changes to the more "affordable" Model Y.
Presti's list of differences compared to the currently available Model Y is quite long, but it boils down to using cheaper materials, as well as removing some of the more luxurious features to make the car less costly to manufacture.
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By far the biggest changes on the exterior are lack of glass roof, which has been replaced by a solid panel in the same color as the rest of the vehicle, as well as no light bar on the front or back. The reflective part of the tailgate is also gone. And even though we've seen rumors of this version having a shorter wheelbase and less legroom, it appears to be roughly the same as the current Model Y in the video Presti shared.
Inside, the rear display has been removed, the seats are partially covered in textile (instead of vegan leather) and the number of speakers has been reduced. The center console is now divided into two parts. In what appears to be a particularly stingy change, even the coat hooks are gone.
NotaTeslaApp has put together a list of changes in the lower cost Model Y, which includes those that can't be seen in leaks, but includes stuff that's fairly easy to remove, such as heated and ventilated seats and power reclining rear seats.
Tesla already did something similar with the Mexican version of the Model 3, which also has textile seats and no rear infotainment screen. Whether the new, cheaper Model Y will be more widely available remains to be seen.
Whether such a stripped-down Model Y will be worth buying is another matter, and it largely depends on price. Tesla's standard models include a lot of premium features not typically seen on entry-level variants of competing vehicles, so Tesla can afford to remove some of these and still be competitive (at the right price). But if the leaks are accurate, this really is a heavily stripped-down Model Y, and the missing features might be a tough pill to swallow for some buyers.
Stan is a Senior Editor at Mashable, where he has worked since 2007. He's got more battery-powered gadgets and band t-shirts than you. He writes about the next groundbreaking thing. Typically, this is a phone, a coin, or a car. His ultimate goal is to know something about everything.
