'Budget' Tesla Model Y spied: How EV brand will get the price down

A more affordable Tesla Model Y – codenamed E41 – has been spied in China, and while it’s heavily camouflaged we can see what has been stripped out to bring the price down.

Images shared on Chinese social media reveal many of the changes that have been made.

Starting with the exterior, the full-width front light bar is gone, as is the panoramic glass roof. The full-width lighting element at the rear is expected to be another cost-cutting casualty.

An exterior photo shared by Geek Piggy also shows an attractive set of black alloy wheels.

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Inside, images published by Garage 42 on Weibo show the 8.0-inch rear screen that arrived with this year’s ‘Juniper’ update has unsurprisingly been scrapped.

However, there’s a new centre console design that appears to not continue to the dashboard, allowing front-seat occupants to cross from one side of the vehicle to the other. There still appears to be dual wireless phone chargers, but they’re mounted lower.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk recently confirmed a new, more affordable vehicle that entered production in the US in June was “just a Model Y”, which suggests this E41 Model Y will be produced in both China and the US.

The US-built vehicle will go on sale there later this year.

According to recent Reuters report, the Chinese-built E41 will enter mass production in 2026 and will be at least 20 per cent more affordable to produce. Unusually, the report also made note of the vehicle being smaller than the regular Model Y.

All Teslas sold in Australia are sourced from China.

The Model Y lineup currently opens in China at 263,500 RMB (~A$56,300), making it slightly cheaper than in Australia where it opens at $58,900.

However, it’s still 10,000 RMB (~A$2100) more expensive than the most affordable Xiaomi YU7.

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Tesla is feeling the heat in China from a raft of brands, including recent entrant Xiaomi with its hot-selling YU7, as well as more established – if still young – automotive brands like Xpeng, Nio and Li Auto.

The company is therefore giving the Model Y – the world’s best-selling car in 2023 – more attention, with a facelift earlier this year, this new more affordable variant, and the stretched Model YL three-row SUV.

The Model Y comfortably remains Australia’s best-selling electric vehicle (EV), and the arrival of the Juniper facelift has helped halt a sales slide.

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