Tesla intros 0% Model Y APR financing deal to pad holiday sales

Tesla has brought back its most popular Model Y deal, offering 0% APR financing for the Standard version that recently went on sale in the US.

The Model Y is now available from $529 a month with a $3,300 down payment for a 72-month period, but Tesla has also slashed the APR financing rate for the Premium Model Y versions, too.

The move is undoubtedly aimed at padding the shipment numbers towards the end of a quarter in which Tesla sales won't be propped by the $7,500 federal tax credit that expired at the end of September.

Still, this is the first zero interest financing promo for the Model Y in a while, and the first significant deal for the cheapest Standard RWD trim that Tesla introduced back in October. Both the cheapest and the most expensive Model Y Performance trims were launched to keep demand from slumping after the federal tax credit expired, but sales apparently need some help from zero interest rate financing, too.

This is the heavy artillery in Tesla's Model Y deal arsenal, as 0% APR has proved immensely popular each time that it was offered to boost sales. Tesla is also keeping the free interior or exterior option upgrade offer for inventory Model Y units, and has lowered the financing rate of the Model Y Premium RWD and AWD versions by a percentage point.

It remains to be seen if the zero APR financing deal for the Model Y Standard will manage to move the needle in terms of sales. The Standard trim is stripped of more than 20 design and specifications features that the Premium models have, and yet it costs only five grand less.

Tesla tried something similar with the RWD Cybertruck, but there was no interest in the cheaper trim, so it was quickly deprecated. With the 0% APR financing offer for the base Model Y, however, the difference in monthly payment for the Premium trims that are available at 2.99% APR is now much wider, so there is a chance that the zero interest rate deal will shake things up toward the end of the holiday quarter.

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