Tesla Model Y
The Tesla Model Y is perfectly timed for Europe’s crossover market growth
The Model Y may be Tesla’s most disruptive vehicle yet, and this will likely be evident in Europe, where crossover sales are expected to increase in the coming years. Tesla’s Giga Berlin is estimated to go online in July 2021 and it will start with the production of the Model Y. Looking at the target timeframes for the facility, Elon Musk’s electric car company seems to have timed the rollout of the crossover perfectly to make most of its potential the region.
The Silicon Valley-based carmaker continues its progress in Grunheide. Just this week, the state government announced that there’s enough water for the upcoming car factory and reassured local residents, businesses, and concerned environmental groups that Tesla will not compromise their water supply. The state parliament is also waiting for the second appraisal of the industrial property where Giga Berlin will be built. Once that review is done, the purchase is expected to be completed and that’s practically a green light for full construction activities to begin.
While Tesla will get busy this year in building Giga Berlin from the ground up, LMC Automotive believes the sales of compact SUVs in the region will be flat. The automotive forecasting firm predicts that sales in the segment will just hit the 2 million mark as car manufacturers transition from older vehicles to EVs. Just as Giga Berlin turns its gears to mass-produce the Model Y, LMC expects an uptick in crossover sales to 2.1 million units per year, rising to about 2.8 million by the mid-2020s.
In the first 11 months of 2019, JATO Dynamics plotted an increase in compact SUV sales in several European countries such as Germany (12%), the UK (6.2%), France (4.3%), Italy (1.7 percent), and Spain (5.2%), but this trend might be disrupted this year as carmakers introduce new vehicles designed to meet tougher European emissions requirements.
The effectivity of the tough emission regulations started Jan. 1 this year. New vehicles are expected to spew out lesser carbon dioxide or to be more precise, about 95 grams of CO2 on average per kilometer by 2021. If automotive manufacturers fail to meet this standard, they can expect hefty fines that overall may reach billions of dollars. Europe’s car industry may not be fully prepared for this. Even German car giants such as Volkswagen are struggling to keep up.
The star of the show will be green vehicles, particularly all-electric cars. Tesla does not have the weight of fuel-guzzling vehicles in its fleet, and it also has the Model 3 that drove the EV market growth in Europe by becoming the third best-selling model last December 2019. With the Model Y estimated to start rolling out from Giga Berlin by 2021, Tesla will be able to meet the predicted demand for compact SUVs, which, according to estimates, will be higher then. This could result in the all-electric crossover seeing a lot of success in the European market.
Between now and when the Germany-made Model Y hits the market, Tesla would be in a good position to make use of “advanced manufacturing technologies” and “battery technologies that can blow people’s minds.” Such factors may increase production, lower the cost of vehicles, and increase profit margins. All these three can be utilized for Tesla’s Model Y push.
In a way, Germany is already laying a path for the arrival of compelling all-electric crossover SUVs. The German government is encouraging consumers to buy electric cars using purchase grants and ownership tax exemption for 10 years. The country also halved its company car taxes, and has introduced perks such as free parking and the use of bus lanes, among others.
All Tesla has to do is make sure it produces enough units of the Model Y to meet the demand in the region. Unlike its competitors, Tesla makes pure EVs, so the CO2 emission of its fleet will meet regulations. It’s years ahead in terms of battery technologies that are practically the lifeblood of the EV industry as well. Before competitors catch up, Tesla would be in another position that will make legacy carmakers scratch their heads.
Fortunately for Tesla, the Model Y is the product of years’ worth of innovations in vehicle production, including the painful growing pains that the electric car maker experienced with the Model 3. Details about the Model Y’s production process are few for now, though speculations are abounding that the crossover will adopt a number of design elements that will make it simple and cost-effective to produce. This matters a lot, since the Model Y will be priced higher than the Model 3 sedan, giving Tesla more profits .
The Model Y does not just complete the S3XY vehicles of Tesla but it will be a juggernaut, that like the Model 3, will disrupt the automotive industry. As Germany’s and the rest of Europe’s air get cleaner and cleaner in the near future, Tesla’s coffers will likely be filled with some healthy profits.
News
Tesla firmware shows new Model Y seat configuration is coming
Tesla could be adding another seating configuration beside the seven-seater to the Model Y lineup later this year.
Tesla firmware has been a great place for some to reveal what the company has in the pipeline, and a new seating configuration for the best-selling Model Y looks to be on the way.
Last week, we reported that Tesla was already hinting toward a 7-seater configuration of the Model Y in a promotional email it sent to those on its contact list.
However, firmware revealed by Tesla hacker greentheonly is showing that a new seating configuration is on the way — a six-seater:
The much rumored about 6-seater Model Y made an appearance in the firmware.
Unlikely to be China-only as some of the speculations said.Some weird “slow down to save energy, people typically drive this much slower here to save %%” nav suggestions.
— green (@greentheonly) June 16, 2025
Green says the configuration would not be available in China-only, and will be potentially for sale in other markets as well.
The six-seat and seven-seat configurations of the Model Y were available in the Legacy version of the vehicle, but were met with mixed reviews, as many complained about the lack of legroom in the third row.
This was something that was a real concern for many of those owners who needed something larger than the traditional five-seat variant, but did not want to buy the much more pricey Model X.
We’ve covered the size of that third row on several occasions.
Some owners even took the idea of having a seven-seater into their own hands:
Tesla Model Y third row seat test explores options for a comfortable 7-seat setup
Tesla did not explicitly announce a six-seater configuration of the Model Y, but Lars Moravy, the company’s VP of Vehicle Engineering, said the seven-seater would come to production later in 2025.
News
Tesla features used to flunk 16-year-old’s driver license test
A license examiner in New Jersey confused one standard feature of Teslas as a way a 16-year-old excelled through his driver’s test. He failed him because of it.
In what is becoming a more common occurrence, a few Tesla features were used to flunk a 16-year-old who took his driver’s license test in New Jersey.
It is not the first time this has happened, as we have reported on several instances of this in the past, both in the U.S. and other countries in the world.
It is evidence that some officials are not caught up in the technology and innovation occurring in the automotive market, some of which is not necessarily exclusive to Tesla, but is included in each of its models, unlike other companies.
Lochlan Keefer, a New Jersey resident, showed up to his driver’s test with his dad, James, in their 2022 Tesla Model Y. However, the test did not go according to plan, according to the examiner who rode along for the test with Lochlan. They accused him of using parking and “stopping assistance” to go through the test.
The examiner cited the following as the reason for failure:
“Had the parking and stopping assistance on never stepped on the brake to stop his self let the vehicle stop it self.”
James said to NJ.com that they do not subscribe to Tesla’s Full Self-Driving suite, which includes things like Autopark, Navigate on Autopilot, and Autosteer on City Streets. These are a few of the things that have been used as reasoning to fail drivers in tests. Lochlan’s was a case of regenerative braking, which is standard on all vehicles, and Autopark:
“The examiner accused my son of using driver assistance features simply because he parallel parked smoothly on the first try. He was specifically accused of using paid parking-assist and driving features, which we do not subscribe to.”
It sounds as if the examiner may have confused the braking mishap for Tesla’s regenerative braking, which slows the vehicle when the accelerator is not pressed. The energy is then stored back in the battery to help with range.
The examiner failed Lochlan, and James asked if he could take the test again if they disabled the regenerative braking for the exam. The examiner said Lochlan would have to wait two weeks. A supervisor came out and backed the examiner, but James said the policy the DMV claimed the Keefer’s violated was nowhere to be found:
“I asked them to show me the policy they claimed we were violating. They couldn’t find it and they couldn’t cite it. When I showed them the policy, they refused to read it.”
The report states that drivers in California and Arizona have also been subjected to failures on their driving tests due to confusion over Teslas and their driver assistance features.
News
Tesla teases new Model Y seating option potentially coming soon
Tesla appears to be ready to launch the new Model Y seating option in the coming weeks.
Tesla teased a new Model Y seating option earlier this week in a promotional email, potentially hinting that it could introduce an arrangement offered on the legacy version of the vehicle.
Back in 2021, Tesla started offering a seven-seat configuration of the Model Y, and there was a lot of speculation about its orientation and the space it would provide. The two additional seats were truly a tight fit for anyone, even kids, as the space for a third row was extremely limited in the Model Y.
Tesla Model Y third-row seats first impressions shared by EV owner
Eventually, Tesla started building the seven-seater with forward-facing seats and very tight legroom dimensions. It was beneficial for some, but many still considered the arrangement to be too confined for their needs.
The company confirmed earlier this year in an interview with Jay Leno that the car would get other configurations, including Rear-Wheel-Drive, which has already launched, a Performance trim, which has been spotted with bumper covers several times this year, and a seven-seat version:
🚨CONFIRMED: Tesla will launch the new Model Y 7-Seater and new Model Y Performance later this year.
pic.twitter.com/AA5ZPa7K4q https://t.co/zkphg11LsS
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) February 10, 2025
The new seven-seater could be coming soon as well, according to a recent email Tesla sent to customers and fans. In it, Tesla writes:
“Ready for anything with long range seating for up to seven and enough room for everyone’s gear.”
Tesla did have a mysterious Model Y roaming around the Fremont Factory’s test track recently with covered bumpers and what appeared to be strange dimensions.
We thought it might be the compact, affordable model that is set to launch in the first half of the year, but now it seems that the car could have either been the Model Y seven-seater or the Model Y Performance configuration, as they are both expected soon.
We are interested to see if Tesla can squeak out a few more inches of legroom in the new seven-seater, but we’re not holding our breath. Nevertheless, the new Model Y came with quite a few improvements, including suspension changes, acoustic-lined glass for a better cabin experience, and a front and rear bumper redesign, among other things.
There is no doubt it will be a better car than the legacy version.
Tesla investors will be shocked by Jim Cramer’s latest assessment
Tesla launches ultra-fast V4 Superchargers in China for the first time
Elon Musk hints at when Tesla could reduce Safety Monitors from Robotaxi
-
News5 days agoTesla Robotaxi’s biggest challenge seems to be this one thing
-
News2 weeks agoTesla confirms massive hardware change for autonomy improvement
-
Elon Musk2 weeks agoElon Musk slams Bloomberg’s shocking xAI cash burn claims
-
News2 weeks agoTesla features used to flunk 16-year-old’s driver license test
-
News2 weeks agoTesla China roars back with highest vehicle registrations this Q2 so far
-
News2 weeks agoTexas lawmakers urge Tesla to delay Austin robotaxi launch to September
-
News2 weeks agoTesla dominates Cars.com’s Made in America Index with clean sweep
-
News2 weeks agoTesla’s Grok integration will be more realistic with this cool feature