With Tesla still struggling to ramp up Model 3 production, the company is still planning go full steam ahead with its Model Y production plans. The Model Y, as a quick refresher, will be a crossover version of the Model 3 and has been in the pipeline at Tesla going all the way back to 2015. And now comes word via Reuters that Model Y production will begin in November 2019 with subsequent production efforts in China targeted to begin in 2021.
Tesla’s plan with the Model Y comes at an interesting time given that Model 3 production is way behind schedule at this point. Indeed, Tesla’s plan to manufacture 20,000 Model 3 units per week, at this current time, is already four months behind schedule. Still, Model 3 production has improved considerably over the past few weeks, with Tesla having reached the 2,020 units/week threshold during the last week of March.
As for what the Model Y will bring to the table, well, details remain somewhat scarce at this point. Interestingly, there were rumblings for a short while that the Model Y would be based on an entirely new platform and not based on the Model 3 platform. As it turns out, this will not be the case.
About seven months ago, Musk shed some additional light on the matter.
“Upon the council of my executive team to reel me back from the cliffs of insanity, the Model Y will, in fact, be using substantial carry over from Model 3 in order to bring it to market faster,” Musk said late last year. “I have to thank my executive team for stopping me from being a fool,” Musk went on to say. “Model Y will have relatively low technical and production risk as a result.”
As intriguing as a new Tesla vehicle is, the notion that the Model Y will feature a smooth production process is hard to take at face value given that we heard the same sentiment with respect to the Model 3 in the months before production officially commenced.
Lastly, Tesla released a teaser photo of the Model Y this past June. Here it is in case you missed it the first time.
https://bgr.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/model-y-photo-teaser.jpg?quality=98&strip=all&w=782
