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Tesla’s ability to deliver the Model Y in various trims at launch is a big deal
The initial deliveries of the Tesla Model Y are about to begin, and as more reservation holders are advised to prepare for delivery, it is becoming more evident that the electric car maker has turned a new page when it comes to its production efficiencies. If Tesla’s first wave of emails to reservation holders are any indication, it appears that the Model Y ramp will be nothing like the Model 3’s rollout.
When the Model 3 started deliveries, Tesla only offered the vehicle in one variant and one interior option: Long Range RWD with black interior. This was done to make it easier for the company to produce the sedan, especially since it was a time when Tesla was still learning how to find its stride in the production of the electric car. It was a pretty good strategy, as it allowed Tesla to find its rhythm first with Long Range RWD production before it attempted to build other, more complex variants like the Model 3 Performance with white interior, which required two motors and a different interior trim.
Reservation holders who wanted a Performance Model 3, or a Dual Motor AWD, or those who opted for Tesla’s white interior, experienced an extended wait that lasted months. Tesla started delivering the Model 3 in the second half of 2017, and customers who wanted a Performance version ended up waiting until the middle of 2018 to receive their electric car. Canadian reservation holders were in for a long wait as well.
This gradual ramp does not seem to be happening with the Model Y. If Tesla’s emails to its reservation holders are any indication, it appears that the company is preparing to deliver not just the dual-motor AWD versions of the vehicle; Performance versions will be released this coming March as well. Apart from this, reservation holders who ordered both black and white interiors have been invited to set a delivery date. But this is not all. Reservation holders in Canada have also received notifications from Tesla, informing them of upcoming Model Y deliveries.
This is something that has never really happened before, at least not at this scale. The reason behind this has not been announced by the electric car maker, though a lot of it may have to do with the Model Y sharing 75% of its parts with the Model 3, Tesla’s highest-volume vehicle available today. Tesla has already optimized its Model 3 production capabilities, after all, to the point where the company can manufacture enough vehicles to address some of the electric car’s demand in other countries. As such, developing the Model Y line may not have been as much of a challenge for the electric car maker.
Tesla has already made a lot of headway in its vehicle production efficiencies over the years. It took a while for the company to refine its Model 3 production, and it is taking all these learnings in the Model Y’s ramp. This is represented by the Model Y’s design and large casts, which are seemingly intended to ensure that the all-electric crossover could be produced in a quick and efficient manner. These will ultimately allow the company to avoid the issues that befell the Model 3’s first iterations, which were faulted by teardown expert Sandy Munro for being far too complex and heavy than it needed to be.
Simply put, the Tesla that’s about to deliver the all-electric crossover today is a far different, far more mature company as the one that tried to mass-produce the Model 3 back in 2017. This ultimately bodes well for the Model Y, considering that CEO Elon Musk expects the vehicle to outsell the Model S, Model X, and Model 3 combined. This may also send some chills down the spine of rival automakers, as Tesla’s biggest disruptor yet may end up entering key markets at a speed and scale that’s never really been seen before.
News
Tesla ends Full Self-Driving purchase option in the U.S.
In January, Musk announced that Tesla would remove the ability to purchase the suite outright for $8,000. This would give the vehicle Full Self-Driving for its entire lifespan, but Tesla intended to move away from it, for several reasons, one being that a tranche in the CEO’s pay package requires 10 million active subscriptions of FSD.
Tesla has officially ended the option to purchase the Full Self-Driving suite outright, a move that was announced for the United States market in January by CEO Elon Musk.
The driver assistance suite is now exclusively available in the U.S. as a subscription, which is currently priced at $99 per month.
Tesla moved away from the outright purchase option in an effort to move more people to the subscription program, but there are concerns over its current price and the potential for it to rise.
In January, Musk announced that Tesla would remove the ability to purchase the suite outright for $8,000. This would give the vehicle Full Self-Driving for its entire lifespan, but Tesla intended to move away from it, for several reasons, one being that a tranche in the CEO’s pay package requires 10 million active subscriptions of FSD.
Although Tesla moved back the deadline in other countries, it has now taken effect in the U.S. on Sunday morning. Tesla updated its website to reflect this:
🚨 Tesla has officially moved the outright purchase option for FSD on its website pic.twitter.com/RZt1oIevB3
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) February 15, 2026
There are still some concerns regarding its price, as $99 per month is not where many consumers are hoping to see the subscription price stay.
Musk has said that as capabilities improve, the price will go up, but it seems unlikely that 10 million drivers will want to pay an extra $100 every month for the capability, even if it is extremely useful.
Instead, many owners and fans of the company are calling for Tesla to offer a different type of pricing platform. This includes a tiered-system that would let owners pick and choose the features they would want for varying prices, or even a daily, weekly, monthly, and annual pricing option, which would incentivize longer-term purchasing.
Although Musk and other Tesla are aware of FSD’s capabilities and state is is worth much more than its current price, there could be some merit in the idea of offering a price for Supervised FSD and another price for Unsupervised FSD when it becomes available.
Elon Musk
Musk bankers looking to trim xAI debt after SpaceX merger: report
xAI has built up $18 billion in debt over the past few years, with some of this being attributed to the purchase of social media platform Twitter (now X) and the creation of the AI development company. A new financing deal would help trim some of the financial burden that is currently present ahead of the plan to take SpaceX public sometime this year.
Elon Musk’s bankers are looking to trim the debt that xAI has taken on over the past few years, following the company’s merger with SpaceX, a new report from Bloomberg says.
xAI has built up $18 billion in debt over the past few years, with some of this being attributed to the purchase of social media platform Twitter (now X) and the creation of the AI development company. Bankers are trying to create some kind of financing plan that would trim “some of the heavy interest costs” that come with the debt.
The financing deal would help trim some of the financial burden that is currently present ahead of the plan to take SpaceX public sometime this year. Musk has essentially confirmed that SpaceX would be heading toward an IPO last month.
The report indicates that Morgan Stanley is expected to take the leading role in any financing plan, citing people familiar with the matter. Morgan Stanley, along with Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, and JPMorgan Chase & Co., are all expected to be in the lineup of banks leading SpaceX’s potential IPO.
Since Musk acquired X, he has also had what Bloomberg says is a “mixed track record with debt markets.” Since purchasing X a few years ago with a $12.5 billion financing package, X pays “tens of millions in interest payments every month.”
That debt is held by Bank of America, Barclays, Mitsubishi, UFJ Financial, BNP Paribas SA, Mizuho, and Société Générale SA.
X merged with xAI last March, which brought the valuation to $45 billion, including the debt.
SpaceX announced the merger with xAI earlier this month, a major move in Musk’s plan to alleviate Earth of necessary data centers and replace them with orbital options that will be lower cost:
“In the long term, space-based AI is obviously the only way to scale. To harness even a millionth of our Sun’s energy would require over a million times more energy than our civilization currently uses! The only logical solution, therefore, is to transport these resource-intensive efforts to a location with vast power and space. I mean, space is called “space” for a reason.”
The merger has many advantages, but one of the most crucial is that it positions the now-merged companies to fund broader goals, fueled by revenue from the Starlink expansion, potential IPO, and AI-driven applications that could accelerate the development of lunar bases.
News
Tesla pushes Full Self-Driving outright purchasing option back in one market
Tesla announced last month that it would eliminate the ability to purchase the Full Self-Driving software outright, instead opting for a subscription-only program, which will require users to pay monthly.
Tesla has pushed the opportunity to purchase the Full Self-Driving suite outright in one market: Australia.
The date remains February 14 in North America, but Tesla has pushed the date back to March 31, 2026, in Australia.
NEWS: Tesla is ending the option to buy FSD as a one-time outright purchase in Australia on March 31, 2026.
It still ends on Feb 14th in North America. https://t.co/qZBOztExVT pic.twitter.com/wmKRZPTf3r
— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) February 13, 2026
Tesla announced last month that it would eliminate the ability to purchase the Full Self-Driving software outright, instead opting for a subscription-only program, which will require users to pay monthly.
If you have already purchased the suite outright, you will not be required to subscribe once again, but once the outright purchase option is gone, drivers will be required to pay the monthly fee.
The reason for the adjustment is likely due to the short period of time the Full Self-Driving suite has been available in the country. In North America, it has been available for years.
Tesla hits major milestone with Full Self-Driving subscriptions
However, Tesla just launched it just last year in Australia.
Full Self-Driving is currently available in seven countries: the United States, Canada, China, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, and South Korea.
The company has worked extensively for the past few years to launch the suite in Europe. It has not made it quite yet, but Tesla hopes to get it launched by the end of this year.
In North America, Tesla is only giving customers one more day to buy the suite outright before they will be committed to the subscription-based option for good.
The price is expected to go up as the capabilities improve, but there are no indications as to when Tesla will be doing that, nor what type of offering it plans to roll out for owners.
Tesla ends Full Self-Driving purchase option in the U.S.
Musk bankers looking to trim xAI debt after SpaceX merger: report
