Tesla will release a cheap version of Model Y especially for the Chinese

According to Wall Street Journal with reference to informed sources, the development is a new exclusive Model Y for the Chinese market, the cost of which will be 20-30 percent lower than the current electric car. The test assembly of the novelties will be launched at the Shanghai gigafrobe 3 already in the third quarter of this year, and mass production will begin in the fourth quarter or at the beginning of 2026.

Tesla found a way to compete with Chinese automakers: to reduce the cost of Model Y. The new version of the electric car will be almost a third cheaper due to the fact that some elements will be simplified or completely removed. The voiced launch time – the end of this year or the beginning of the next – can be shifted if by that time Tesla could not increase sales of the current Model Y.

The updated version of the model, recall, went on sale in China at the end of February – earlier than in the homeland of Tesla in the USA. Now the restyled Tesla Model Y with a battery with a capacity of 62.5 kilowatt-hour (593 kilometers reserve) costs from 263.5 thousand yuan-the equivalent of 3.1 million rubles.

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Last year, Tesla completed in China in a plus, although sales grew up behind the market. The share of the company in the EV segment for a year has decreased from 12 to 10 percent. At the beginning of 2025, Tesla’s affairs in China did not work out: in January-February, the country realized 60,480 electric vehicles of the brand, which is 13.6 percent less than during the same period of 2024.

The results of February are as follows: over the last month of winter, Tesla China sold 30,688 cars (domestic sales and export), which is 49.2 percent less than last year, and 51.5 percent below the January indicator. Model Y dispersed in the amount of 8032 units (-77.8 percent), and Model 3-22 656 pieces (corresponds to a fall by six percent).

Electricity discounts: cheap electric cars