Rumblings of a potential Tesla Model Y update have circulated for months, but as the company’s most popular vehicle is coming off the title of best-selling vehicle in the world in 2023, is it the right time for it?
It does not seem like it.
As the old saying goes, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” The Model Y was the best-selling vehicle in the world in 2023, and until it loses that title and sales are sluggish, there is no sense in entertaining a design update from an external perspective.
If It Ain’t Broke
The Model Y capped off 2023 with 1.2 million sales. This outpaced the Toyota RAV4 and Corolla, which are two of the best-selling cars in the world and have been for years.
There is no debate that the Model Y offers a lot of what people want in a vehicle: a crossover body design, state-of-the-art tech, performance, acceptable range ratings, and an affordable price.
Refreshing the Model Y at a time when it is the most popular car in the world would not make much sense from a business perspective. Until consumers prove that they’re tired of the design and want something new, Tesla should not make the change.
Typical Vehicle Generations
In typical automotive industry fashion, OEMs have offered new looks to their cars in roughly five-year increments.
For example, the Honda Civic has gotten an update every 4-7 years, with five years being the most common timeframe for a change, which occurred between the Sixth and Seventh generations, and Seventh and Eighth generations of the car. There has only been one instance of a new design after four years, which was the Ninth and Tenth generations.
Tesla is anything but traditional, but it followed a similar timeframe for the Model 3. Tesla first released the Model 3 in 2017. It then underwent a slight refresh with Chrome Delete and other slight cosmetic changes in 2020.
The new Model 3 was under development in Summer 2022. However, the Model Y had started to overtake the Model 3 as Tesla’s most popular vehicle by 2022.
Tesla could use the same strategy with the Model Y and could determine whether it is worth refreshing in perhaps the next year or so. With it only being available since early 2020, it seems that it could be due for a new look some time next year, which is what is now being rumored.
No Plans for It
Tesla already clarified that it won’t be refreshing the Model Y this year, anyway.
Tesla says Model Y refresh won’t be launching in North America in 2024
We heard your feedback that some customers are waiting to place their Model Y order as they anticipate a refresh similar to Model 3,” Tesla said in a message to employees. “It is important that we communicate transparently that there is no refresh for Model Y launching this year.”
While it might be disappointing for some who are expecting a new Model Y design, it is smarter for Tesla right now to keep with what’s working.
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Tesla has left a single loophole to purchase Full Self-Driving outright. On Sunday, the option officially disappeared from the Online Design Studio in the United States, as Tesla transitioned to a Subscription-only purchasing plan for the FSD suite.
However, there is still one way to get the Full Self-Driving suite in an outright manner, which would not require the vehicle owner to pay monthly for the driver assistance program — but you have to buy a Model S or Model X.
Months ago, Tesla launched a special “Luxe Package” for the Model S and Model X, which included Full Self-Driving for the life of the vehicle, as well as free Supercharging at over 75,000 locations, as well as free Premium Connectivity, and a Four-Year Premium Service package, which includes wheel and tire protection, windshiel protection, and recommended maintenance.
🚨 Tesla increased the price of both the Model S and Model X by $10,000, but both vehicles now include the “Luxe Package,” which includes:
-Full Self-Driving
-Four years of included maintenance, tire and wheel repairs, and windshield repairs/replacements
-Free lifetime… pic.twitter.com/LKv7rXruml— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) August 16, 2025
It would also be available through the purchase of a Cyberbeast, the top trim of the Cybertruck lineup.
This small loophole would allow owners to avoid the monthly payment, but there have been some changes in the fine print of the program, as Tesla has added that it will not be transferable to subsequent vehicle owners or to another vehicle.
This goes for the FSD and the Supercharging offers that come with the Luxe Package.
For now, Tesla still has the Full Self-Driving subscription priced at $99 per month. However, that price is expected to increase over the course of some time, especially as its capabilities improve. Tesla seems to be nearing Unsupervised FSD based on Musk’s estimates for the Cybercab program.
There is the potential that Tesla offers both Unsupervised and Supervised FSD for varying prices, but this is not confirmed.
In other countries, Tesla has pushed back the deadline to purchase the suite outright, as in Australia, it has been adjusted to March 31.
News
Tesla Sweden’s port deal sparks political clash in Trelleborg
The extension of Tesla’s lease has drawn criticism from the local Social Democratic opposition.
Tesla Sweden’s lease agreement at the Port of Trelleborg has triggered a political dispute, with local leaders divided over whether the municipally owned port should continue renting space to the electric vehicle maker amidst its ongoing conflict with the IF Metall union.
Tesla Sweden’s recently extended contract with the Port of Trelleborg has triggered calls for greater political oversight of future agreements.
Tesla has used the Port of Trelleborg to import vehicles into Sweden amid a blockade by the Transport Workers’ Union, as noted in a report from Dagens Arbete (DA). By routing cars via trucks on passenger ferries, the company has maintained deliveries despite the labor dispute. Vehicles have also been stored and prepared in facilities leased from the municipal port company.
The extension of Tesla’s lease has drawn criticism from the local Social Democratic opposition. Initially, the Port of Trelleborg hinted that it would not enter into new agreements with Tesla, but it eventually opted to renew its existing contract with the EV maker anyway.
Lennart Höckert, an opposition councilor, described the port’s decision as a “betrayal of the Swedish model,” arguing that a municipally owned entity should not appear to side with one party in an active labor dispute.
“If you want to protect the Swedish model, you shouldn’t get involved in a conflict and help one of the parties. When you as a company do this, it means that you are actually taking a position and making things worse in an already ongoing conflict,” Höckert said.
He added that the party now wants politicians to review and approve future rental agreements involving municipal properties at the port.
The proposal has been sharply criticized by Mathias Andersson of the Sweden Democrats, who chairs the municipal board. In comments to local media, Andersson described the Social Democrats’ approach as “Kim Jong Un-style,” arguing that political leaders should not micromanage a company governed by its own board.
“I believe that the port should be run like any other business,” Andersson said. He also noted that operational decisions fall under the authority of the Port of Trelleborg’s board instead of elected officials.
Elon Musk
Elon Musk’s X sees outage on Monday as users report issues
Monday’s outage follows a similar issue that befell the social media platform in mid-January.
X experienced an outage on Monday morning, with tens of thousands of users reporting that the platform failed to load across both desktop and mobile. The disruption began around 8:02 a.m. ET, as per Downdetector data, and quickly escalated in the U.S. and U.K.
Monday’s outage follows a similar issue that befell the social media platform in mid-January.
Shortly after 8 a.m. ET, Downdetector showed a sharp rise in incident reports. At one point, U.S. complaints exceeded 40,000, while U.K. reports climbed past 6,000. Earlier in the outage, filings had already crossed 11,000 in the U.S. and 3,300 in the U.K., as noted in a TechRadar report. X users in other locations, such as the Philippines and Costa Rica, also reported similar issues.
Users attempting to access X were met with a “something went wrong” message. Feeds did not refresh, posts failed to appear, and both the social media platform’s app and web versions appeared affected by the issue. The outage struck during peak weekday usage, amplifying its visibility across regions worldwide.
X has not issued an official explanation for the latest outage or confirmed what caused the service disruption. The scale of complaints drew comparisons to the platform’s major outage in November 2025, which resulted in users being met with “Internal server error / Error code 500” messages, as well as Cloudflare-related error notices.
The incident also comes just weeks after X experienced a similar downtime in mid-January. That outage seemed more notable, however, with more than 100,000 users reporting issues with the social media platform on Downdetector.
Tesla leaves a single loophole to purchase Full Self-Driving outright
Tesla Sweden’s port deal sparks political clash in Trelleborg
