6:11 PM PST · January 9, 2025 Tesla has revealed a new-look Model Y meant for the Chinese and other Asian-Pacific markets, marking the first major update to the SUV since its launch in 2020. The redesign comes as Tesla finished 2024 having delivered fewer vehicles than it did in 2023. It was the first year-over-year drop since the company started selling mass market cars in 2012. The new Model Y is slated to start deliveries as early as March in China and some surrounding countries. It’s not yet clear when Tesla will bring this version to Europe and the U.S., though it took around four months for that to happen with the updated Model 3 last year. The changes to the new Model Y — which was internally codenamed Juniper — track pretty closely to the ones Tesla made to its Model 3 sedan in 2023, while also borrowing some design elements from the company’s other projects. The front end is less bubbly and has a sharper edge to it, like the new Model 3. The new Model Y also eschews the bug-eye headlights for a continuous light bar running across the front — a design seen on the Cybertruck and the prototype of the Cybercab. Tesla also ditched the traditional tail lights in favor of a singular light that stretches across the rear of the car under a small protrusion in the hatch. Tesla claims this “cross-car lamp” is the “first indirect reflective body panel taillight of its kind.” Inside, the Model Y refresh has the same ambient light bar found in the new Model 3, which wraps around most of the cabin and can be changed to different colors. There are powered rear seats and a new touchscreen display for rear passengers, and Tesla says the suspension has been improved and that road noise has been reduced. The SUV is a few pounds lighter than its predecessor and can eke out a few more miles, but it does not seem to offer a radical jump in range or efficiency. Overall, the new design more closely matches the look of a lot of Chinese EVs — competitors that have inspired a price war and taken market share from Tesla despite record sales in the country. Tesla has now updated all four of its core EVs — the Model Y, the Model 3, the Model S, and Model X — in the last few years. The only truly new product since the Model Y has been the Cybertruck, which is struggling to reach a mass market of buyers. Tesla has teased the release of a mysterious new model (or models) later this year. But while that model is expected to be cheaper than the Model 3 and Model Y, it is not going to start at $25,000. That’s an idea CEO Elon Musk once embraced and has since abandoned. Topics