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Model Why.
This seems incredibly obvious, and something they should have been doing all along with the 3 and Y. Cloth manual seats, basic trim, basic wheels, no wireless phone chargers, no standard Autopilot, manual closing trunk, and call it a day at ~~$32k~~ $25k. They could sell most of the things that are missing to those that want it, but the entry point is that much lower.
$25k*
Yeah, agreed... I'll adjust!
It could be based on the cybercab frame. To keep it smaller. He said it looked like a model Y…not that is was.
Tesla will never sell a car that isn't at least theoretically capable of FSD. The entire dream is built on the idea of them pushing a software update and turning everyone's car into a robotaxi.
I don’t know how those changes means it goes from $45k currently to $25k. Would have to be a crazy significant battery size reduction to get anywhere close to that honestly.
I would assume the cameras could remain, but I'd imagine not installing the FSD computer could contribute significantly to the margins so they could drop the price further. I would like to assume that the safety features of Autopilot could remain somehow.
The model One we build it in china with 20 seperate factories. the scale will allow lower costs. we make it 4 doors, 4 people but as small as possible. Try to do it for as cheap as possible similar design to a corolla.
sharing parts with existing models would significantly reduce the cost, so and this has always been Tesla's strategy
I don't see it happening unless cars one day get the wireless charging tech that was talked about during the funding bill discussions. Smaller battery that can recharge within range of charging towers as it passes. Tesla namesake finally honored?
What do you mean? They have sold a shit ton of them.
A Camry is just a budget Lexus ES if you think about it. It can work
And it will cost 3x more than the cheapest Model 3, because tariffs.
Yeah they *might* get it to $35k. $25k feels like a pipe dream.
The Model Y L is also a Model Y, but it is significantly different, almost Model X in size.
Agreed, but it will be capable. You’ll just have to purchase everything via software
still cheaper
That was the original intention.
But the point is that the cameras, computer, steering motor, whatever else that's necessary for self driving would have to be included from the start. That's somewhat expensive and would make it much harder to make a car for way under $25k.
Because Model Can.
Yeah. Possibly all of them lol
except that would not save much manufacturing cost. At most $300 probably in wholesale cost.
Super worth it for a possible $8000 profit.
Plus they still make $10/month revenue for data package. That's like half a Netflix subscription for Google maps and Spotify Access. The revenue from that for over 5 years of ownership is like a lil dividend for them when other automakers don't keep getting extra payments
The Model Y is the gift that keeps on giving...
It could still be capable, for a fee. They’ve done it before.
Lets face it, that makes sense. There is a huge price range difference in a CX-5 for example, different engines and interior and stereo etc. Only the people who own one know the badge combinations, and wheel designs that indicate the model. BMW and Merc have done this for years. It's an "if you know, you know" strategy.
If someone buys a $25,000 car they are not spending $8000 on FSD
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Think less about how much something costs the manufacturer to include, and more about the level of trim that type of feature could or should be included in.
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Or, like you said, the owner can just buy their own $20 wireless charger. It's a convenience, and not needed, especially if they wanted to trim down the already minimalist interior.
It’s more of, if they can pull off having these cars used as a robotaxi then Tesla would get a piece of that profit the customer makes by using their own car into the fleet.
And shorter 200 mile range
But they could use manual seats, manual fold down, manual trunk, cheaper wheels, manual windows if they wanted, cheaper screen, cheaper material seats, 4 cheap speakers, don’t tint the back windows, no frunk light, no interior foot lights, cheaper wing nuts for god sakes. The list goes on. You’d be surprised how easy cost cutting is and what small numbers amount to.
$35k means it’s closer to $40k OTD. Thats still far to expensive for the poor masses.
having a wireless charger built in vs having to buy a cord IS minimalist lol
I think Tesla already does a fair amount of cost cutting as it is...
It’s ~3” longer than the Model X, I thought. Model X is still wider I think, but I think it’s arguable that the Y L is larger.
Drone footage at Austin show what are potentially the cybercab castings stacking up But Tesla has said we are still a couple years out from cybercab. So it lends to the theory that the new model is based on cybercab
They’re just too damn poor!
Their margins are better than any other brand from what I understand.
The Y L is shorter than a Model X. It's just the wheel base that is longer.
But isn’t the appeal with buying with Tesla is the simple choices they have for trim? Basically what color you want and what motor configuration you want. I loved that aspect when I bought a Tesla.
The Lexus ES now is built on the Toyota Avalon platform. Back in the day it used to be a fancy camry.
Imagine they just cut the price of the existing Y by 1/2 and boom, world takeover. lol
Wireless phone charger is cheap, likely included in the new one. Autopilot will be included. Automatic trunk also cheap. $25k as is. Can't wait to see what goes down, either way it's going to be a great deal for whoever buys one. Those who already bought one? I suspect they'll cry on reddit like we have seen with previous model price drops that have already happened multiple times. Likely the main factor is a battery cell chemistry change.
The only thing that really moves the needle is battery size. No amount of feature stripping really takes their manufacturing price down much. Let’s say they do smaller screen, cloth seats not heated or cooled, put autopilot behind a paywall and/or make FSD more expensive. All of that might get the price down $3k. Get the battery size down to 200 mile range, now it’s more like $30k. All the leaks/spy photos seem to show a mix of old and new model y sheet metal. Hopefully using old tooling/parts/design from the old Y can make them keep a decent sized battery, while also keeping the price down. They would literally destroy the market if they can make something compelling in the 30k range after tax cut is phased out.
That stuff isn't that expensive to put in the car but it gives a sense of premium to the car. Definitely far lower ot the amount of price discount they would have to give. So while of course, they can hit that target price by removing stuff it will be at the expense of the profit margin.
So you are saying; they are overpriced compared to other brands?
The crazy thing is they need this for the China market, not the US. BYD is eating their lunch partly because they do have lower-cost models designed for the domestic and Asian market. They could maybe have the Tesla One be available everywhere but the US and still grow market share. It's fine if they only sell 3, Y, S and X in the US for now.
Losers /s
Whilst the Chinese MG IM (Model S style cars), have been announced that have Air Suspension & 4 wheel steering as standard, all for the price of a standard Model 3.
Doesn't every car manufacturer share part between models?
The Model Y is their best selling car, stripping it down to a Model Y Mini or something is the simple answer, not sure why they even bothered with creating the Cybercab. Could've kept the exact same tooling and production lines, stripped out the back seats added more storage with a simple wood panel and and some Alcantara, removed the rear HVAC entirely, no tow option and RWD only.
What matters is how much. Sharing 10% is far different from sharing 80% (model 3 and model Y does).
Most use so called platforms for that which can scale/adopt. One of the most known is MEB from VW Group which has a lot of different cars buit on it: VW ID3,4,7 BUZZ, Audi Q4, Skoda Enyaq, Elroq, Cupra Born, Tavascan, Ford Capri, Explorer are all built on the same platform. so at least 11 different cars over 5 brands one of which isn't even part of VW Group.
All Autopilot features depend on the computer.
My honest guess is that it costs much more to get rid of this from the manufacturing line for a single trim than it does to just include it anyway. The raw material cost for a phone charger is cents.
Other automakers have had subscription services for years too. BMW is very famous for putting things behind subscriptions.
They used to have much higher margins but this was pre 3 & Y price cuts because of how the S and X were priced vs what they cost to make. Margins are still decent but the gap has narrowed significantly.
20? Probably more like 1. Two copper coils with wires really dont break the bank. But having to procure different parts and having to account for that in production seems more like it could acutally increase production cost
Maybe they have gotten better but I drove both MG ICE and EV about two years ago and they were terrible cars, the ICE a lot worse than the EV. MG3 ICE felt like driving a hair dryer.
They could just add a basic trim without the options of add-ons. Then you’ve got 2 trims - basic and fully loaded.
This was their original plan with the Standard Range Model 3 but in the end they scrapped the idea. Sure, a fabric manual seat would cost less than an electric fake leather seat but first they will need to design and manufacture those new items which has an initial cost. They decided it was cheaper to build everything with the same interior for this reason. Swapping in cheaper parts isn't that simple.
I thought they stopped making the Avalon? Is it still using the Avalon's older platform?
Underrated comment right here
Manual windows means a framed door, Franz is gonna veto that.
I would like to see a sub brand to sell these cheaper models under, like the bare bones RWD cybertruck. I want the Tesla brand to maintain a premium stance and allow the other brand to be associated with bare bones builds. Edit: Nevermind, I don’t think tesla is going to make new models anyways. They are just going to go full autonomy.
there is no reason to not have basic autopilot on the base model, Tesla has forever equipped all their vehicles with the capability of FSD and by including autopilot many more drivers are likely to choose to share the data with Tesla. This has been the method by which they have progressed autonomous driving so far and I doubt they would give it up. I also expect a smaller battery given the efficiency improvements with the new Y, mine 26 AWD is much better than my LR RWD 3 from 2018.
FSD is already an option, they could include the HW in the option as well. Put it at 10k an no one will add it and they won't have to build a production line for it.
Too much energy loss, power loss exponentially increases as distance increases
There was also that on drone footage of a car being tested on the loop that looked like a Model Y but seemed different, stubbier.
Why does it take 5 years to get a new Tesla model if they are sharing so much?
Changing the parts of the car increases the cost of production but doesn’t necessarily increase the profit so it is not done as often as they could do it.
more options is never a bad thing
I don't think that Tesla is using such a platform approach. They share a lot of parts like the ECUs, motors and such but they don't really have a platform and the variant management that is needed to release new/different versions. They try to reduce variants as much as possible to not have to build to order which has its advantages. The reason why they are so slow with new models is because they don't want any new models don't ask me why though.
Ok this was funny! 🤣
Exactly. People think those actually make a car significantly cheaper as retail price for stripped down cars tends to be a lot cheaper. But th reason for that is they make practically zero margin on the cheap trims, and it’s the get you in the door price. The the profit margins are in the upper trims, and what they do everything possible to get you to buy instead. The cost between the cheap trims and top trims for the manufacture are not that drastic.
The issue is that Tesla has almost nothing to cut. There are little to no buttons, no options, no expensive materials. Maybe cloth seats are *slightly* cheaper than whatever poly whatever material they use now but probably not really. Go from alloy wheels steel to save a few dollars. Maybe make manual seats. Honestly that’s probably about it. There aren’t $10k plus in magical savings in the platform, they were already super lean and highly optimized to begin with.
They’re overpriced in regard to what you get, yes. Financially they’re getting closer to the same margins as the other car manufacturers.
Isn’t a replacement battery between 10-20k including labour? How would you save 30k just on a battery?
I’d pay a tiny bit extra for no wireless phone ~~heaters~~ chargers.
>> Doesn't every car manufacturer share part between models? Can you please just humor us and let us think that it is some brand new genius strategy?! Ok?
Maybe the red strips of road seen in Top Gear 3000. Note that despite this being an interstellar grand prix of sort, with nuclear engines at the higher end, the basic engine is still gas. But red strips give it gas. I guess Top Gear didn't anticipate electric engines, even in an hypothetical millenia. Basically, you roll on the red strip and it gradually fills your fuel gauge. It could probably actually do this with electricity for real, but how fast or efficiently I don't know.
I don't know what to tell you, it was brought up in congressional funding discussions regarding wireless charging drones, which move in 3 dimensions and are flying, which has to have a higher energy requirement to size ratio. It might be using some completely new idea, but they are throwing 1.5 billion dollars at it. Seems like a car would have a larger surface area for a charging receiver, and larger battery to get between the range of charging antennas (think like having them every 20-30 miles so you constantly top off as you go past).
Yeah, Tesla's moving to domestic LFP production for energy storage. If they stuff those in a Model Y that's an easy $5k savings at least. Use one induction motor instead of the usual permanent magnet in single motor EVs to save another decent chunk of change. I'm not sure how much of the FSD hardware they can cut considering it's running some of the safety features. I'm not sure what's mandatory in the U.S. anymore other than the backup camera, but even just traffic-aware cruise and emergency braking will require a large percentage of the FSD hardware stack without some serious reengineering. If they have the will to open another production line they could stamp out a metal roof too. It wasn't worth it for the Model 3, but they've got extra space in their factories now.
I'm saying 30k total cost of the car
ya I mean I think they will include all the FSD tech but maybe put basic autopilot behind a paywall, or something like that. I feel like creating a whole new line to stamp out metal roofs might be more expensive than just keeping it the way it is, but I could be wrong. They can get rid of alot of the luxuries in the new model y I suppose. Manual lift back, manual rear seat collapsing. I can't see the seats being manual, but I guess they could cut that. Maybe get rid of some of the noise reduction/isolation materials. But again, the battery is the big cost. 250 mi of range would be plenty I think for most people, though.
No one knows
Oh. Well it’s 46k in the US for a model Y now, I still don’t see how you could save 16k on battery.
Fair, but business tactics have shown time and time again, if you make it a subscription fees affordable enough, it can subsidize the hardware costs (see printer ink, console games etc.), that might be the playbook for FSD and cheap cars. If it's $500-1000 for the extra hardware, it would only take 10 months to recoup that cost via subscription, and most people have the car for longer than that.
Boom would be the sound of their next quarterly earnings lol
how much does it cost to add a wireless charger bro. those are available for $5 on amazon. i just don’t see how tesla can meaningfully make a MY cheaper.
It's not about how much it costs to implement, it's how these features fit into the different tiers of trim. Basic cars at \~$25k usually don't come with two wireless phone chargers, even if it costs the manufacturer $5 to build in.
not if they cut the cost per unit by 1/2 simultaneously through robotic automation of the assembly process including more part supply and battery chemistry update (most expensive part price reduction)
They’re never gonna get rid of autopilot, that is their brand
I never said get rid of it, but don't include it in the base trim.
Like I just said, they would never do that, autopilot is their brand 😂
Their "brand" is based around accelerating the world's transition to sustainable energy, not just Autopilot. Not all drivers use Autopilot features, and a far smaller percentage use FSD features. If they were to make it a paid upgrade that is simply a software unlock, then it would allow them to price the vehicle lower. They did this before with the base models, so they could do it again.
Agree. and the very top Japanese Toyota Century has nice fabric seats. Good fabric is the luxury --- and I loved the seat fabric on my old BMW i3. Bad vinyl and now the urethane is the cheap unpleasant stuff.
I doubt it's more than a few hundred bucks, for something that makes the car many thousands more valuable. I doubt they cut it
And then ... here me out " If pigs could fly" BOOM.
I can 3d print you a piece of plastic that sits in and prevents your phone from charging. How much are you willing to pay?
Your doubt is not founded in reality then. The FSD computer hardware is approximately $1,800 to $2,400 in hardware alone. Across 1 million vehicles (less than the amount of Model Y vehicles sold in 2024), averaging at $2k per unit, that is an enormous \~$2 billion saved in material costs alone. Then, sell the FSD computer as a paid upgrade for those that want it, and they could make more money on that end.
Rear screen, double pane glass, light bar outside and inside, multiple colors of paint, speakers, wiring… theres a lot. You would not get the job.
Battery + all the other smaller stuff adds up. And it’s not just the cost of parts as everyone in this thread seems to think. The parts need to get purchased by someone negotiating the deals, get shipped around, get installed, taking up time of workers on the line, add weight to the vehicle, etc.
Cybercab is better
At this point, I wouldn't be surprised if he called it X and each model was just Xα (X Alpha), X03, or XS or some variation.
I had my deposit set aside for that Model 3 Standard Range, but they nixed it after only a few months. I prefer fabric seats, especially when done well, so it's a shame they never offered it for the 3 and Y, in the US at least.
Wow, that's surprising to me but I can't find anything online about the price. What's your source? They'd also need some less beefy computer to put in vehicles that didn't have the FSD computer, but you can easily get something servicable for $500 I'd think.
The sources I've found note the SoC and board is a few hundred dollars, but the fully assembled cost per unit is in the $2,000 range. The few [sources](https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/why-chinas-auto-tech-giants-threaten-teslas-self-driving-future-2025-06-10/) I've read refer to the same reports and to the A2MAC1's breakdown of costs, which is [here on their website](https://www.a2mac1.com/newsroom/workshop-tesla-model-y/). Their estimates do note that the $2,360 figure includes cameras as well, not just the compute unit.
I agree. Tesla is \*already\* cutting costs to get to their current price points, to the chagrin of their USA competitors, but they've done it while keeping many 'luxury' features. Some of these perceived-to-be-luxury features don't cost as much as you'd think. Their best stripped-down vehicle design is the Cybercab though. Once they get production figured out on that I hope they'll have a variant with a steering wheel.
The problem is that people will think you're creep if you drive one.
Soooooo… the pre-facelift model?
Yes, I think they might go backwards a bit... mostly in styling. They probably still have the tooling for it. It could actually be a great product if they make it the first vehicle to introduce a new feature, from the next gen, like wireless charging... which makes sense if they are easing toward the Cybercab, especially if they use the CC's frame. I was thinking earlier, they might even ditch the whole center console like the CC too. But it might suck to not have something to lean your arm on.
Yeah I don’t think they’d ever do manual windows, I’m just saying the options are there
They already said they would never do that, Autopilot is what the cars are known for, even if at its most basic level is just a highway driver assist like any other car. Locking it behind paid software would be insane at this point
Tesla could advertise upgrades of HW 2/3/4 to HW5 next year for $5k and people would be fighting to give them their money. Then they could recertify the old hardware and put those modules into the new cheap car and profit again. Then offer those people a HW5 + FSD upgrade for $15k...
Yep, they are trash. My phone doesnt even fit an MY charge pad
I mean yeah drones are a different story because of how small the batteries are. DO you really want to lose a significant amount of efficiency when charging a massive battery? It would take longer but it would also be far more expensive.
Assuming it's using the same tech we are using now, I fully agree that distance and energy losses would make the idea impossible. Hopefully we aren't spending 1.5 billion dollars on existing wireless charging tech that doesn't work, but that does sound like the US government.
RAV4 is also Camry platform.
Just called a crown now
They need to bring the model Y L
Volvo made some very nice wool upholstered seats. I would love that.
Smaller size would have helped reduce costs a lot as well. Smaller EVs tend to be less aerodynamic though so maybe the efficiency tradeoff wasn't worth it because of the larger battery relative to vehicle size needed for the same range.
Rear screen is $20. Paint makes money. You're not hired lol.
Paint shops are extremely expensive. Offering only a couple colors, or even one, will reduce the expense tremendously.
Elon said Tesla makes a lot of money on their premium paints. Do you really think they're going to make new paint shops for the cheaper Y?
Don’t know… probably. If they sell a lot more of these cheaper ones, they might have to. Might not be feasible in the existing paint shop. But either way I’m sure reducing paint options would save them money.
As predicted, the new Model 3 and Model Y Standard do not include Autopilot, but you can pay $8k (or subscribe per month) for FSD.
Lmao coming back after 74 days is wild, my point still stands, read from after the second comma. It still has the basic driver assist (adaptive cruise control)
Traffic-aware cruise control is not Autopilot, as it does not include Autosteer.
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