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Tesla Tuesday: Model Y Pops, Pickup Presaged, Prices Hiked (Plus Sneakers)

img 2072450319 1552669199564 jpg 2020 Tesla Model Y | Manufacturer image

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has pulled the sheet off the much-anticipated Model Y SUV, though what was revealed was less a revelation than an X-rated evolution, if you will, of the Model 3, with a Model 3 front end and a rear inspired by the Model X. Musk said he expects the Y to eventually outsell Tesla’s other models combined, and that’s not an idle boast given how SUVs have become the best-sellers for other luxury automakers.

Related: Tesla Finally Puts the (Model) 3 in $35,000

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The higher-riding Model Y is based on the Model 3 platform and shares 75 percent of its parts. First deliveries of upscale versions are predicted for late 2020 and Tesla is taking deposits now. A cheaper base version is promised for late 2021.

Like the Model 3 before it, the Model Y arrives initially in a long-range rear-wheel-drive version and has an estimated range of 300 miles, a top speed of 130 mph and an estimated zero-to-60-mph time of 5.5 seconds. Next up is a dual-motor all-wheel-drive version with a lower 280-mile range but a higher 135-mph top speed and faster sprint to 60 mph of 4.8 seconds. Topping the line is a performance version with a 280-mile range, 150-mph top speed and zero-to-60 time of just 3.5 seconds.

The Model Y picks up the Model 3’s minimalist cabin, with a 15-inch touchscreen that takes on  almost all information, control and media functions. Your smartphone functions as the key and Tesla’s app can operate various functions remotely. The Y has seven seats with an optional third row, a panoramic glass roof and a front trunk.

Standard safety features include automatic emergency braking, lane departure warning, forward and side collision warning and blind spot warning. Other features include power adjustable front and rear heated seats, three independently folding second-row seats, a premium audio system with 14 speakers, a subwoofer and two amps, satellite-view maps with live traffic and navigation, in-car internet streaming music and media, and custom driver profiles.

img1634465748 1552668478314 png 2020 Tesla Model Y | Manufacturer images

You Can Spend $75,700 for a Model Y

SUVs are having a moment, but Tesla has had only the very expensive Model X to offer. That will be changing with the reveal of the smaller Model Y, and someday there will be an entry version with a 230-mile range starting at around $40,200, including a $1,200 destination fee ($18,000 less than a starter Model X), though Tesla says none of those will be built until 2021, long after the federal tax credit on Teslas has expired. And note that Tesla changes prices frequently.

For now, the least expensive model you can order, with delivery estimated as late 2020, is a $48,200 rear-wheel-drive long-range model (all prices including destination). It will be the first version built. The Model Y with a second motor for all-wheel drive starts at $52,200. The top-of-the-line AWD performance version starts at $61,200. The configurator is available here, and you can leave a $2,500 deposit. The configurator also shows that if you want the fanciest paint ($2,500) and interior ($1,000), a third row for seven seats ($3,000), Autopilot driver-assistance features ($3,000) and the tech for the fully autonomous driving Musk has promised, as well as automatic parking and the ability to summon your car by remote control ($5,000), your Model Y will tip the scales at an eye-popping $75,700.

img1822588881 1552948875260 jpg Tesla pickup teaser | Manufacturer image

Musk Teases ‘Cyberpunk’ Pickup

Ever the master showman and not wanting to waste an audience, Musk followed the webcast reveal of the Model Y with a quick teaser image of his promised Tesla pickup truck, shown as the end titles from sci-fi movie classic “Blade Runner” played. It was so quick, in fact, that many missed it and Musk followed on Twitter Friday with tweets applauding the “sick” 1982 flick and showing the teaser rendering for his “cyberpunk truck” inspired by the movie.

The image was so cryptic that it’s not entirely clear which end of the truck you’re looking at. But the tease continues to stir the pot for what he has previously tweeted will be an unveiling of the Tesla pickup this year. Given that the time frame for Model Y deliveries starts well into 2020, we don’t expect to see pickup production anytime soon. But if Tesla follows form, you’ll be invited to plunk down a deposit after the unveiling, as you now can for the Model Y.

While Musk offered no more details about the truck, he sketched out some potential capabilities in a June 2018 Twitter exchange with fans, were he asked what they would like to see in a Tesla pickup. Among the tidbits he offered were that it would be a big truck and hold six passengers, have “crazy torque” (pretty much a given for electric motors), have available range of 400 to 500 miles (more than any current Tesla thanks to room for a bigger battery), have a dynamic suspension that adjusts to load, have dual-motor all-wheel drive, have 240-volt power for tools and have huge towing capacity — oh, and despite the cyberpunk description, that it will look like a truck

img802230584 1443620225383 jpg 2016 Tesla Model X | Manufacturer Image

Teslas Got More Expensive Last Night

If you missed Musk’s helpful reminder tweet Saturday and didn’t order a Tesla by midnight Monday, the price on almost all now will be 3 percent higher. The increase is a partial takeback of the price decrease announced Feb. 28. At the time, along with announcing that the base $35,000 Model 3 now would be offered, Tesla said prices would go down an average of 6 percent thanks to the economies of closing its stores for online-only selling. On March 10, however, it announced it would not close all the stores and that prices would be increased an average 3 percent as of Monday at midnight on all but the base Model 3. You snooze, you lose.

img340604159 1527001942673 jpg 2018 Tesla Model 3 | Cars.com photo by Christian Lantry

Juicing the Model 3

In the blog post announcing base Model 3 availability, Tesla also announced that a software update being rolled out will put a little more juice in the Model 3s already on the road. Tesla says the update will increase range of the rear-wheel-drive long-range Model 3, increase top speed of the performance model to 162 mph and unlock a 5 percent increase in peak power from the motor for all Model 3 vehicles.

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Musk Walked on Air at Y Reveal

If you were eagle-eyed enough to spot the pickup truck teaser, you might also have picked up on the sneakers Musk was wearing for the Model Y reveal, black with a red Tesla logo on each toe. According to Sneaker News, those are one-of-a-kind custom Nike Air Jordan 1s commissioned for Musk by a friend, created by De Marco Customs and inspired by Tesla’s Roadster.

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Fred Meier
Former D.C. Bureau Chief Fred Meier, who lives every day with Washington gridlock, has an un-American love of small wagons and hatchbacks.
Email Fred Meier

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