Tesla teases stripped-down Model Y expected to be unveiled on Tuesday

Tesla appears to be teasing its upcoming stripped-down Model Y, which is now expected to be unveiled on Tuesday, October 7th.

Yesterday, Tesla teased a product unveiling planned for October 7th with a cryptic image of what appears to be a wheel, or wheel cover, or a fan spinning.

Now, Tesla has released a second teaser and this time, it features headlights:

Our main guess with the first teaser was the new stripped-down Model Y, and this second teaser pretty much confirms it, as it features the same headlights as the prototypes already spotted in public and leaked on the website.

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The vehicle is based on the refreshed Model Y launched earlier this year, but Tesla removed many standard features to reduce the price.

One of the features removed is the front light bar, with now just the narrow headlights remaining.

Tesla has been teasing the release of “more affordable models” since last year, but there’s been confusion around what Tesla plans to release.

As we have reported for almost a year, CEO Elon Musk canceled Tesla’s planned “$25,000 EV” in favor of stripped-down versions of its Model 3 and Model Y.

Due to Tesla still referring to them as “new, more affordable models”, many people believed that Tesla would still bring to market new, cheaper models.

In fact, the automaker initially stated that it would arrive in the “first half of 2025.”

The first half of 2025 came and went without new, cheaper models. Instead, Tesla claimed that the “first build” of the new model was produced in June, and it will launch later this year.

In July, Musk finally confirmed that the first “new affordable model” is in fact simply a Model Y.

The new stripped-down Model Y is codenamed E41 and is expected to feature cheaper materials and fewer features than the normal Model Y, which starts at $45,000 in the US.

It is expected to be equipped with more affordable materials, such as a textile interior, and to lose the Model Y’s glass roof, as well as features like the rear screen and more.

Electrek’s Take

The problem with this program is that, rather than launching a brand-new model, it will mostly cannibalize Tesla’s existing Model Y sales.

At best, it will boost Model Y demand by ~10-15% when Tesla’s production capacity is operating at ~60%.

And to achieve that, I think the variant needs to be closer to $35,000 than the $40,000 we have seen in leaks earlier.

If that’s the case, I think it will do the same thing at the Cybertruck RWD that only lasted a few months because people felt they lost too many features for the $10,000 price difference.