New Model Y variants are coming later this year, Tesla exec says

The Model Y you actually want is coming soon.

Feb 17, 2025 - 07:43

New Model Y variants are coming later this year, Tesla exec says

With the release of the latest Model Y, Tesla has iteratively improved an already great EV that will surely capture the attention of new car buyers. If this sounds like you, there are compelling reasons to reconsider your new car purchase.

In an interview with Jay Leno, Lars Moravy, Tesla's Vice President of Vehicle Engineering, stated that the Model Y variants most buyers are interested in will be released later this year.

Model Y variants are coming later

Tesla often introduces new products with a “Launch Edition,” which typically features unique upgrades and options exclusive to the first 1,000 or so vehicles off the production line. The new Model Y’s Launch Edition costs $59,990, which is $4,000 more than a similarly equipped Long Range All-Wheel Drive model.

“We’re starting with the Launch edition,” Moravy says, adding, “All the other variants - the Dual-Motor base edition, Rear-Wheel Drive, Performance, seven-seater options - those will come later in the year.”

The Launch Edition Model Y has Tesla’s “reimagined” interior and exterior, as well as Autopilot, otherwise known as “Full Self-Driving (Supervised).”

What’s new with the Model Y

We know what’s new on the Tesla Model Y in broad strokes, but the interview does give us a few other tidbits of info, too.

According to Franz Von Holzhausen, Tesla's head of design, the interior will be made of new synthetic leather that is "easy to clean." Elsewhere in the interior, the wireless charger now supports two phones, and there’s a button in the trunk area to automatically raise folded-down rear seats. The newly-ventilated front seats also automatically adjust when the rear seats are folded down.

Tesla brought back the turn signal indicator stalk and added more speakers, with the Launch Edition featuring a whopping 16 of them. The cabin also features a radar that “classifies” occupants by size, height, and weight and reads their heartbeat to adjust safety systems accordingly. Rear-seat passengers can also pair their phones to the rear-seat screen for a unique experience.

New laminated glass reduces noise in the cabin, and the roof glass now rejects 25 to 30 percent more heat to keep the cabin cooler. We also learned that the front lightbar is not associated with the headlights, which sit below it, and the new hands-free trunk can open as you approach.

The new Model Y is also more powerful than the outgoing model, with an output of 455 horsepower and 430 pounds-feet of torque, compared to the current dual-motor Model Y's 410 horsepower.

Range estimates for the new Model Y are now 327 miles when fully charged. This change was quietly made to the Tesla Model Y landing page earlier this week, though it’s unclear how the increase came to be. The range for the similarly specced “old” Long Range All-Wheel Drive is listed at 311 miles.

Final thoughts

Tesla hasn’t said what pricing will be for the new Model Y, and it’s not worth speculating on it by triangulating pricing in other markets, like China. Pricing stateside is typically higher than other markets and isn’t typically correlative.

If the Launch Edition is any indication, we expect pricing to jump a few thousand dollars per version. Whether or not the changes above are worth that price increase is ultimately up to you.

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