Tesla Teases Upcoming Model Y

At a shareholder meeting, CEO of Tesla, Elon Musk, announced that the company would build the Model Y. Musk showed a teaser of the new Model Y but didn't reveal any meaty details. Tesla's product lineup will include S, 3, X and Y, once the latest vehicle goes on sale. Back in April, Musk had confirmed that the company was working on a pickup and a full-size long haulier truck. The pickup was scheduled for a showcase towards the end of 2018. Looking at the teaser, it's hard to say whether it has only seats in the back or a flatbed too.

Musk regretted building Model X on the Model S' platform and that pursuing Model 3 instead would have accelerated the overall development. He said, "I think actually we made a mistake in trying to derive the Model X from the Model S platform. It would have been better to just design an SUV the way an SUV should be designed. Design a sedan, the way a sedan should be designed." The fancy Falcon wing doors have posed major concerns over the reliability and quality of the luxury SUV.

That points to an all-new architecture for the Y. It also means that the Model Y will retain the Tesla styling cues but won't look anything like what we have seen from Tesla, or, any carmaker for that matter. Whether the Silicon Valley giant will go with the rugged and abuse-friendly ladder-frame body or stick to a unibody chassis for better road manners remains to be seen.

According to Musk, the Model Y will be substantially simpler to develop and manufacture. For instance, the Model S and Model X hide about 3 km of wires under their shell. The Model 3 will have half of that. The Model Y will limit wiring web to just 100m. That's just 3.3 per cent of wires compared to the Model S.

Meanwhile, production of the Model 3 sedan is said to be on schedule and will enter production in July 2017. If Musk meets the delivery deadline of July, then this will become the first Tesla to come out of the factory on time. All other Teslas, starting from the Roadster have faced issues, adding several months to the delivery programme. Going by the claims of following a simplistic approach for the Model Y, it should start reaching homes in 2020.

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