• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia

Tesla Model Y: Everything We Know So Far

By
Kirsten Korosec
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
Kirsten Korosec
Down Arrow Button Icon
August 4, 2017, 3:30 PM ET

The Model 3, the fourth and arguably most important of Tesla’s electric vehicle to date, is just starting to come off the assembly line at the company’s factory in Fremont, Calif. And while, CEO Elon Musk ramps up the Model 3 through what he calls “production hell,” he is already making—and changing—plans for the company’s next electric vehicle, the Model Y.

Musk first floated the idea of a smaller sport-utility vehicle two years ago on Twitter before the information was deleted. It wasn’t until the company’s May earnings call that Musk shared how different this Model Y crossover was going to be.

And now, it’s changing again.

Back in May, Musk surprised everyone when he indicated the new Model Y— a compact crossover SUV that will be critical to meeting the company’s goal of delivering 1 million vehicles a year by 2020—would be based on a different platform than the $35,000 Model 3 sedan. He argued that the Y platform would use even less electrical wiring compared to the Model 3 and, as a result, be even easier to build.

Get Data Sheet, Fortune’s technology newsletter.

Musk’s executive team has since brought him back from the edge.

“Upon the counsel of my executive team, thanks guys, who reeled me back from the cliffs of insanity, the Y will in fact be using substantial carryover from 3 in order to bring it to market faster,” Musk said during an earnings call this week.

Musk noted that the Model Y will have a relatively low technical and production risk as a result.

That doesn’t mean Musk won’t pursue his initial plan to build an electric vehicle with a different architecture than its existing vehicles, which would slash the amount of electrical wiring required and

“I still think we want to do the crazy thing in the future, but it will have to wait until after the compact SUV,” he said.

Musk isn’t the only one who views the Model Y as critical to pushing the company into “major automaker” territory. Earlier this year, Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas, who has historically taken a rosy outlook of Tesla, said in a research note that the Model Y will be the company’s highest selling model.

“We believe the small SUV segment will eventually be the largest segment in the world across all OEMs,” Jonas wrote. “We also expect Model Y to be at the center of an on-demand ride sharing service (“Tesla Mobility”) due to its larger passenger compartment, luggage space, and modular seat configuration.”

About the Author
By Kirsten Korosec
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon

Latest in

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • Future 50
  • World’s Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
Sections
  • Finance
  • Leadership
  • Success
  • Tech
  • Asia
  • Europe
  • Environment
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Health
  • Retail
  • Lifestyle
  • Politics
  • Newsletters
  • Magazine
  • Features
  • Commentary
  • Mpw
  • CEO Initiative
  • Conferences
  • Personal Finance
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
About Us
  • About Us
  • Editorial Calendar
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Diversity And Inclusion
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map

© 2025 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.


Most Popular

placeholder alt text
Success
'I had to take 60 meetings': Jeff Bezos says 'the hardest thing I've ever done' was raising the first million dollars of seed capital for Amazon
By Dave SmithDecember 15, 2025
1 day ago
placeholder alt text
Success
Meetings are not work, says Southwest Airlines CEO—and he’s taking action, by blocking his calendar every afternoon from Wednesday to Friday 
By Preston ForeDecember 15, 2025
1 day ago
placeholder alt text
Success
Bad luck, six-figure earners: Elon Musk warns that money will 'disappear' in the future as AI makes work (and salaries) irrelevant
By Orianna Rosa RoyleDecember 15, 2025
1 day ago
placeholder alt text
Personal Finance
Current price of silver as of Monday, December 15, 2025
By Joseph HostetlerDecember 15, 2025
1 day ago
placeholder alt text
Future of Work
The job market is so bad, people in their 40s are resorting to going back to school instead of looking for work
By Sydney LakeDecember 16, 2025
14 hours ago
placeholder alt text
Economy
America's $38 trillion national debt 'exacerbates generational imbalances' with Gen Z and millennials paying the price, warns think tank
By Eleanor PringleDecember 16, 2025
10 hours ago

Latest in

Personal FinanceCertificates of Deposit (CDs)
Best certificates of deposit (CDs) for December 2025
By Glen Luke FlanaganDecember 16, 2025
56 minutes ago
A group of three robots waiving hello to the audience from a stage.
AIEye on AI
Google researchers unlock some truths about getting AI agents to actually work
By Jeremy KahnDecember 16, 2025
56 minutes ago
AIthe future of work
IBM, AWS veteran says 90% of your employees are stuck in first gear with AI, just asking it to ‘write their mean email in a slightly more polite way’
By Marco Quiroz-GutierrezDecember 16, 2025
1 hour ago
Personal FinanceLoans
How much can I get from a personal loan?
By Joseph HostetlerDecember 16, 2025
2 hours ago
North AmericaElectric vehicles
Ford CEO Jim Farley said Trump would halve the EV market by ending subsidies. Now he’s writing down $19.5 billion amid a ‘customer-driven’ shift
By Marco Quiroz-GutierrezDecember 16, 2025
2 hours ago
Asian woman talking with her friend in Christmas Day by video call by smart phone.
EconomyJobs
The labor market’s holiday present for America: the highest unemployment in 4 years. It might be ‘noisy’ but the jobs just aren’t there
By Eva Roytburg and Nick LichtenbergDecember 16, 2025
3 hours ago