Tesla Model Y Juniper version with 6 full-size seats set for release next year
Tesla will be entering the hot market for 6-seat family SUVs with a dedicated Model Y Juniper version that will start production at the Gigafactory in Shanghai later in 2025.
This scoop is a version of the one heard last week, in which Tesla was rumored to launch a new, larger Model Y Juniper with 7 seats for the Chinese market.
At the time, the source tipped a 7-seat Juniper, as that is what Tesla is selling at the moment, just with presumably a larger body. The two rumors aren't mutually exclusive, and something with 6 full-sized seats makes more sense.
According to the Reuters supply chain sources, Tesla has sent a memo to suppliers to prepare for a twofold increase in Model Y output next year. It will allegedly release a regular 5-seat Model Y Juniper in Q1, and then another version with more seats in Q4.
Tesla's current Model Y 7-seater just throws two foldable seats in the boot and calls it a day. They are rather small and the space feels cramped, so Tesla either has to enlarge the size of an eventual 7-seat Model Y Juniper, or rearrange the interior around 6 full-size seats.
The latter will cost less to manufacture, and the whole purpose of the Juniper refresh is to do more with less so that Tesla can introduce it at a similar or lower price than the current Model Y version that is the bestselling electric crossover in China.
There are plenty of examples of such SUVs in China, as, besides electrification, the trend in the past few years there has been family SUVs with more seats and storage compartments.
Tesla could be doing something similar to the popular M4 Yacht Forthing model, for instance, which offers a hybrid 6-seater.
There are three rows with two full-size adult seats each, but the seats on the third collapsible row are connected so that a small child can seat in the middle of the bench. Something similar could be in store for the Model Y Juniper in China as well, and it remains to be seen if Tesla plans to export such a 6-seat Model Y design.
Besides the 5-seat 2025 Model Y, and the eventual 6/7-seat version, Tesla is reportedly going to release a more compact Juniper version in 2026, That may end up being its rumored cheap mass market Model 2, which will allow it to take full advantage of the new Juniper refresh design concept, offering it in various sizes.
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