‘Y’ not? Tesla unveils new SUV, but it’s got some stiff competition
hawthorne (California) — Tesla introduced a new electric sports utility vehicle slightly bigger and more expensive than its Model 3, pitched as an electric car for the masses.
Tesla chief executive Elon Musk showed off the “Model Y” late on Thursday at the company’s design studio in the southern California city of Hawthorne, and the company began taking orders online.
The all-electric Model Y has a starting price of $39,000 for a version with a 230-mile (370km) range. A long-range version of the SUV capable of travelling 300 miles on a single charge was priced at $47,000.
Deliveries were expected to begin late next year for the higherpriced Model Y vehicles, with the standard-range version likely get to
buyers by spring of 2021, according to Tesla. Musk said the Model Y has “the functionality of an SUV but it will ride like a sports car” accelerating from stand-still to 60 mph in 3.5 seconds.
The Model Y featured a “panoramic glass roof ” and could seat seven people, according to Musk.
Entry-level SUVs are a hot segment of the vehicle market.
“Even though the Model Y will debut with promises of grandeur, if there are any chinks in Tesla’s brand armour, this vehicle will expose them,” said Edmunds executive director of industry analysis Jessica Caldwell. “Tesla is about to learn exactly what it means to go head-tohead with German automakers.”
While Tesla has a devoted fan base, with people at the Thursday event shouting enthusiastically for Musk, the Model Y will be competing with attractive SUVs that titans such as BMW, Mercedes and Audi are bringing to market, according to Caldwell. The latest addition to the Tesla line-up comes shortly after the California-based company rolled out its lowest-priced Model 3, an electric car designed for the masses, at a base price of $35,000, with deliveries promised in one month.
At that price, the Model 3 is less than half the cost of most Tesla on the road and may be eligible for tax incentives which could further lower ownership costs.
“If Tesla truly wants to be a mainstream brand, it’s going to have to figure out how to sell cars to people besides young men in California,” Caldwell said.
Tesla has a sound foundation for the Model Y to be a “turning point”, since it has an enviably young base of buyers for a luxury brand and the Model X has had strong appeal to women, according to Caldwell. —