Tesla Is Already Cutting Costs For The Model Y Compact SUV

Tesla seems to be in the news almost every day, lately, for one reason or another. This time we can bring you the breaking facts on the 2019 Model Y compact SUV, which won’t have the bespoke chassis that was originally planned.

With Tesla having just posted doubled revenues but increased losses, Elon Musk and Tesla’s management have decided to cut the Model Y’s development budget. It will now use the same platform as the new Model 3.

It will follow in the footsteps of the larger Model X, to which it will be a little brother, but it’s a reasonable assumption to make to predict that the Y will get drivetrain options just like the Model 3’s, which would give it two battery sizes with 210 or 300 miles of range.

Tesla’s cars have been called ‘Russian doll’ designs because within their respective car classes they’re differentiated almost exclusively by size. The Model 3 is essentially a smaller Model S, and the Model Y is expected to look very much like a Model X that’s shrunk in the wash.

The Model Y will also complete Elon Musk’s odd obsession with (sort of) spelling the word ‘sexy’ with his first four cars. He originally wanted to call the 3 the Model E, but Ford still owns the rights and objected, forcing Musk to reverse the E to become a 3. He recently tweeted that the naming conventions will change after Y, so we guess the S3XY joke has run its course.

The arrival of the compact SUV is currently slated for at least 18 months from now, which is a decision taken not so much for developmental reasons as to allow the company to get up to full speed on Model 3 production, and to finally finish the Gigafactory in Nevada.