Tesla Launches Lower-Cost Versions of Model 3 and Y — But With Fewer Features
Tesla presented the “cheaper models” announced by CEO Elon Musk around a year ago. Basically, these are just new variants of the Model 3 and Model Y, where the equipment has been roughly trimmed down.
Red pencil applied
Tesla had actually wanted to bring a new “Model 2” onto the market for years, which, with a starting price of less than $25,000, would have become one of the most attractive electric cars in Western markets. Musk initially did not want to confirm the end of this project, but the “Model 2” was surprisingly canceled – which Musk later admitted.
Because the US government, as expected, allowed the usual tax breaks to expire, Tesla still has to lower its prices, at least theoretically, in order to continue to offer attractive vehicles. This is now being attempted with the new “standard” variants of the Model 3 and Model Y, even though these, with a base price of $36,990 and $39,990 respectively, still cost $2,000 more for end customers in the USA despite having worse equipment – because the tax discounts have been eliminated.
The new “standard” versions of the Model 3 and Model Y have been available in the configurator in the USA since yesterday evening. In order to reduce the entry-level prices, Tesla foregoes the larger rims in these versions and only installs 18-inch wheels, removes the additional light bar at the rear, reduces the number of speakers inside, eliminates the ambient lighting, installs a modified interior shelf, deletes the screen for the back seat and only offers gray as a color without an additional payment.
The most important change is probably the use of a smaller battery with only 69 kilowatt hours of capacity, which reduces range and acceleration. The charging speed when supercharging is also slightly reduced due to the smaller battery. The so-called “Full Self-Driving (Supervised)” (FSD) is available for driver assistance systems, but support for automatic lane centering is no longer available.
With the new, cheaper standard variants of the Model 3 and Model Y, Tesla has actually introduced its cheapest models to date, if you ignore the “tax credit” from the law to reduce inflation introduced by the Biden government in the USA. Ultimately, the company probably has little interest in selling the vehicles in these equipment variants anyway, after all, you earn significantly more with the more expensive models.
