Tesla to release Model Y Performance facelift with faster acceleration as well as a 7-seater Juniper version

The Model Y Juniper Performance trim release date will be later this year, as per Tesla's chief engineer Lars Moravy, and the 2026 facelift will also have a 7-seat version for those who need to take a big family or a posse on a road trip.

The Model Y Juniper 7-seater will come in handy when Tesla releases its company fleet of vehicles running unsupervised FSD in Austin come June, too.

Tesla's pilot robotaxi program is aimed at testing how FSD will behave when it runs a ride-share platform on public streets without driver supervision as part of its push towards the Cybercab launch in 2026. It will start slow with company vehicles, most likely the Model 3 and Model Y facelifts.

The new Juniper refresh with a 7-seat configuration could be used to shuttle families with small children or a group of friends around, depending on the actual size of the seats.

The Model Y Juniper refresh comes with a fully automated rear bench that can fold forward to increase cargo space with the touch of a button, and it remains to be seen what level of automation will the extra two seats, that are typically smaller, will have.

In addition, the new Model Y senses when the front seats extend too far, and moves them while the rear bench is folding to accommodate the headrests and flatten the cargo space floor, then brings them back against the headrests.

The other piece of exciting facelift news is that the car will have a high-powered Performance version, just like its predecessor. The 2026 Model Y Long Range AWD version comes with 455 HP and 430 pounds-feet of torque, according to Lars Moravy, so it is at the level of the current Performance trim already.

The 2026 Model Y Performance acceleration could then be even faster than the current 0-60 mph time in 3.5 seconds, given that the Juniper refresh is a tad lighter, 10% more efficient, and with lower drag coefficient than its predecessor.

The Performance trim of the new Model Y was recently spotted testing in California, so the release date should very well be in Q2, after the Launch Series edition deliveries begin in March.

As for the 7-seat 2026 Model Y version, initial rumors were that it will launch in the holiday quarter, while Tesla could have a custom 6-seat model built specifically for China that could be released in sync with the seven-seater config in the US.

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