The rumored 2025 Tesla Model Y Juniper release may be confirmed as Elon Musk just confirmed that the facelift won’t happen this year.
He explained Tesla’s lack of a major release this year by the fact that the Model Y is continually being updated. “I should note that Tesla continually improves its cars, so even a car that is 6 months newer will be a little better“, suggests Elon.
The Model Y Juniper release date was set for this summer in July, but then rumors began to leak out that neither Tesla’s Shanghai Gigafactory nor other facilities are retooling their production lines.
The Model Y is Tesla’s best-selling vehicle, however, and it appears there’s no need to add additional capital expenditure in a year in which Tesla faces Cybertruck and Model 3 upgrade ramps amid general malaise in electric vehicle sales.
Elon Musk is right, as the Model Y in China already comes with a refreshed interior and LED ambient lighting, while new colors, wheel designs and Hardware 4.0 components have been coming with new batches for a while now .
Way back in February, Tesla reportedly asked its representatives to direct all customers inquiring about the Juniper update to the Model Y’s current promotions, such as the 0.99% APR it announced last month.
The specs of the Model Y Juniper refresh will reportedly mimic what Tesla did with the Model 3 Highland facelift, namely a slimmer design with new headlights, Hardware 4.0 and cameras, and a more minimalist interior.
Tesla will have to solve the battery conundrum, however, if it wants to maintain the Model Y price with federal and state tax credits. To preserve them in the US, it will need much more 4680 with improved energy density and charging performance, ultimately cannibalizing Cybertruck’s increase.
In China and Europe, it may use some of the phosphate batteries from CATL or BYD, which will allow it to keep the Model Y’s price low and performance high.
Thus, the rumored shutdown of the Shanghai factory around Chinese New Year to retool it for the facelift is apparently postponed to 2025, so the Model Y Juniper’s release date could be next July, instead of this year.
At that point, Tesla will have all the time necessary to develop the know-how of the next generation of Robotaxis which it intends to use to lower the production cost of the Model Y as well.
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