Model Y Juniper release not urgent for Tesla as Elon Musk claims rolling upgrades

The rumored Tesla Model Y Juniper release date some time in 2025 may hold water, as Elon Musk just confirmed that the facelift isn't happening this year.

He explained the lack of any major Tesla release this year with the fact that the Model Y is being continuously upgraded. "I should note that Tesla continuously improves its cars, so even a car that is 6 months newer will be a little better," tips Elon.

The Model Y Juniper release date was pegged for as soon as this summer, in July, but then rumors started trickling down that neither Tesla's Shanghai Gigafactory, nor any other plant are retooling their production lines.

The Model Y is Tesla's bestselling vehicle anyway, and there is apparently little need to add extra capital expenditure in a year when Tesla has to deal with the Cybertruck and Model 3 refresh ramp-ups in an environment of a general EV sales malaise.

Elon Musk has a point, since the Model Y in China already comes with a refreshed interior and ambient LED lighting, while new colors, wheel designs, and Hardware 4.0 components have been coming with new batches for a while.

Way back in February, Tesla had reportedly asked its reps to corral any customer that asks about the Juniper refresh towards its current Model Y promotions like the 0.99% APR loan rate that it announced last month.

The Model Y Juniper refresh specs are reportedly going to mimic what Tesla did with the Model 3 Highland facelift, namely a more streamlined design with new headlights, Hardware 4.0 computer and cameras, and a more minimalistic interior.

Tesla will have to sort out the battery conundrum, though, if it wants to keep the Model Y price advantage with the federal and state tax credits. In order to preserve those in the US, it will need way more 4680 batteries with improved energy density and charging performance, eventually cannibalizing the Cybertruck ramp-up.

In China and Europe, it may use some of the improved phosphate battery technologies by CATL or BYD, which will allow it to keep the Model Y price low and performance high, too.

Thus, the rumored idling of the Shanghai factory around the Chinese New Year to retool it for the facelift is seemingly postponed to 2025, so the Model Y Juniper release date may be next July, instead of this year.

By that time, Tesla will have plenty of time to apply the lessons learned from the next-gen Robotaxi that it intends to use to lower the production cost of the Model Y as well.

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