Tesla receives 50,000 orders for new Model Y on first day, report says

Tesla has reportedly received 50,000 orders for the new Model Y with an updated design in about 24 hours, according to a new report in China.

Last week, Tesla unveiled the mid-cycle refresh of the Model Y in China and a select few markets supplied by Tesla’s factory in Shanghai.

Deliveries are expected to start in March. The new Model Y hasn’t launched in Europe or North America yet, but it is expected to in the coming months.

The update has received mixed reviews as the updated design is not as well received as the Model 3’s recent design refresh and the specs and feature upgrades are basically in line with the Model 3 refresh.

But Tesla has reportedly received a significant number of orders for the updated electric vehicles.

According to several reports from Chinese bloggers claiming to have information coming from Tesla salespeople (via Car News China), the automaker secured 50,000 Model Y orders on the first day of the design refresh unveiling.

It’s hard to assess how significant this is for Tesla. The automaker delivered about 480,000 Model Ys in China in 2024 – up about 5% year-over-year.

50,000 units would represent just over a month of orders in a single day, but the design refresh was anticipated for about a year. Therefore, there was a lot of pent-up demand for it as people waited for the update to order.

It’s also worth noting that one of the sources claimed that Tesla is guiding that new orders being placed now won’t get delivered until April or May, which was used as evidence supporting the number of orders.

However, Tesla’s Chinese Model Y configurator is still mentioning March deliveries for new orders being placed now:

That’s true for both versions of the new Model Y. Tesla has yet to launch the updated performance version the new electric SUV.

Electrek’s Take

I wouldn’t be really surprised if Tesla secured 50,000 orders for the new Model Y in China, but I would still take this report with a grain of salt. Tesla salespeople have extremely limited visibility into sales beyond their own locations, and the sources appear to be coming from them and are relayed by Chinese bloggers on social media.

That, combined with the fact that the configurator still mentions March deliveries, makes me have doubts.

With that said, 50,000 orders is also not an unbelievable number.