“It has the functionality of an SUV, but it will ride like a sports car,” Tesla CEO Elon Musk said of the company’s latest release, which was unveiled at a reveal event in the early hours of the morning SA time. The new addition is the Model Y, an an SUV crossover. Add it to Tesla’s existing line-up of vehicles and what do you get? That’s right, ‘S3XY’.
The Model Y will only be available in 2020, according to Musk, and looks like the love child of the sleek Model 3 and the bulkier Model X (according to us).
Y, there are four of ’em!
Tesla’s going to make four versions of the Y. The long-range version will have a range of up to 482km on a charge and will cost $47,000, while the performance model will be capable going from 0-100 km/h in 3.5 seconds and will cost $60,000. There’ll also be an all-wheel-drive dual motor version for $51,000, and a cheaper, standard range version with a range of 370 km, that will retail for $39,000.
“The cool thing is, it’s ‘feature complete’. It will be able to do basically anything just with software upgrades,” Musk said. So essentially, the Y range is as future proof as Tesla could possibly make it, and new features will come via software updates (as is the Tesla way). It’ll feature self-driving goodness, the same safety features that makes the Model 3 the safest car on the road (according to the NHTSA), and V3 Supercharging. This system has the capability to support up to 250kW charging (where charging stations can manage that — for comparison, SA’s charging stations tend to output 60kW), that will allow for about 120km of range from a five minute charge.
Although we don’t get Tesla’s EVs locally, we might see Musk open a dealership in his home country in future. If you simply can’t hold out anymore and have some spare life-savings lying around you can go and pre-order one now… but then you’ll have to import it in 2020 and pay South Africa’s crazy tariffs for imported vehicles. But hey, at least the odds are looking ever better you’ll be able to charge it if you do.
Source: Engadget
