Meet Model Y Standard & Model 3 Standard | Our Most Affordable Vehicles

No AM/FM radio in the standards

Man they really gutted these cars. Only $5k off is diabolical. The $5k jump from the premium RWD to the premium AWD basically just gets you an extra motor and a better sound system. Meanwhile, that same $5k from the base to the premium RWD gets you so much more across the board: * bigger battery * better suspension * adaptive high beams * cooled seats * powered adjustments * waterproof frunk * HEPA etc... Premium RWD is absolutely the sweet spot for value.

Who needs FM anymore, seriously, you can stream Spotify anywhere

5.5k for Model 3.

Ohh I agree, just pointing it out

Not cheap enough for all the cuts

Interesting that it seems to be the existing battery pack but missing one module. I kind of figured they would be using the Tesla 4680 cells that aren’t being used up for Cybertruck production.

It seems odd that they’d make a different bumper or hood just to remove the light bar. To save cost, I’d think some plastic filler would be cheaper.

not impressed

Y standard is a no-go everywhere, 40k for that is really too much.... 3 Standard actually makes sense in the U.S. where it's great value, but worldwide it's still pretty bad... Oceania and Asia get cheap "premium feeling" Chinese cars. In Europe we have tariffs on Chinese EVs, so the prices are more or less on the same level between Tesla/Chinese EV/WV & co. But Tesla already discounted the RWD 3 in many EU countries by 4K, making it around 36K€, just to move some units... So how are they gonna price 3 Standard here? IMO Tesla really dropped the ball this time, it feels like a desperation move to save the US market...

Still has a lot of tech and range?

There's no AM radio on any EV :)

I have a model y performance and it looks like the model y standard actually checks some interesting boxes. It comes with 18-in wheels whereas previously the smallest was 19 and my car comes with the 21-in Uberheavies. Those wheels have what look like fully enclosed covers which might be even more efficient. Looks are subjective but curious about the efficiency. It also has what looks like a fully metal roof which would be amazing in the sunshine States and stronger in bending and torsion than glass. The standard Y headlights are also mounted much higher than lightbar versions; All things being equal they would give better visibility and less glare.

This car is so strange. They took majority of things that makes Tesla cool, but on other hand price difference is so low it doesn't appeal to Tesla fans, while on the other hand the price did not increase appeal to mass consumers

Only when you have network.

No Autopilot is weird.  I only use cruise anyway, but considering lane centering just uses the electric steering motor and FSD is possible, it's not like the car is missing a feature to use it.

I mean totally fine what they took of. Anyhow should be 5k cheaper imho…

The lack of Autosteer at this price is pretty depressing. Yeah FSD is still available but no Autosteer at least? 20k hondas have this feature now.

What’s up with leaving the glass roof but covering it with fabric from the inside?

I mean nowdays? Does not bother me at all.

Too much content removed, not enough priced removed. Hard pass!

The pricing feels like the purposely left a cushion to cut end of quarter deals. Think this price is going to have to drop to move any of these. Ultimately, as a consumer, I don't think the discount is enough factoring the cuts. Much rather get a 1 or 2 year old Pre-Owned long-range/premium for the same price.

I had Kia Soul, base model, rental a few years back, it's driver assist was honestly phenomenal considering the it was an econo-box.

They all run the newest FSD meaning they’re all awesome in my book. 321 miles of range is insanely good too

such a miss

trying to make it quieter. they got rid of all the acoustic glass

genuinely insane. it’s clear they no longer care about safety

Very gutted. Better to buy a preowned 3 year old model 3 that’s not gutted

Maybe still awaiting certification on a different material?

Sorry, more like Model 3/Y Shite edition. Too many features missing for that kind of money.

Tesla could make a $10k car and people would still complain lol "Gutted" man stopppp This is an amazing move for people who want an entry level Tesla

I don't mean to upset the American's but, the Full Fat RWD Model Y is available in New Zealand for US$35k. The RWD Model 3 is available for US$33k

Yeah but they should have kept more things like frequency selective dampers, cooled seats, waterproof frunk, adaptive high beams (on the Y). These need to be priced at $32-35k.

Feels like a medium popcorn $10, large popcorn $10.50 type situation.

The people that want one now, should had gotten it when the EV credit was still around..... basically less for the same price now

I agree that it still has more features than base models from other OEMs. It's the pricing that is off. The discount over the premium models needs to be higher than $5k.

they took out the water tight seal on the frunk??

Model 3 standard is not gutted much at all, retains quite a bit of the “premium” trim and is actually a great deal. Model Y standard is pretty horrible.

It's a nice enough car. Like a $35k nice enough car. I do wonder if it's one of these base models you list that nobody only buys but it exists to upsell you later. Given the lack of a dealer model it's you looking at the website and saying wow for 10% more I can get a much nicer car...

Yeah I just saw, the 3 keeps the adaptive high beams and glass roof (I'm sure there's more).

Lmao there is no way, if they removed that foam but kept a heated steering wheel, that’s nuts

Not having autopilot is kinda crazy > [Unlike other Teslas, Autopilot is not standard on the cheaper Model Y.](https://insideevs.com/news/774980/2026-tesla-model-y-standard-affordable-ev/)

I had 0 idea other cars even had the feature until I rented a Kia Soul last year, was blown away at how good the feature was.

There’s no AM radio existing in half of Europe anymore🤷‍♀️

They have been available to buy for 3 hours. How did you come to the conclusion that the price did not increase appeal to mass consumers?

I can definitely see that. The $5k jump from the base model to the premium RWD gets you so much more. But that same $5k difference from the premium RWD to the premium AWD really just adds another motor and a slightly better sound system.

This car might be about margins for Tesla, the cost of production might be a lot lower than anyone realizes. Which means they have a lot of room to flex the price and soak up excess demand/manufacturing capacity. Tesla's current manufacturing capacity is around 2M vehicles per year so without new factories, that's all they're trying to hit. So the strategy is basically build cars at capacity with the best margins. Tesla knows with full automation, utilization per vehicle actually goes up, so 1 car becomes the equivalent of 5. In the long run, less total vehicles are needed overall because they are much better utilized. Which is why they haven't built any new car factories even though given their finances they easily could. The next big Tesla factory will probably be for humanoid robots.

I think they're US only models, no?

By end of December when they do their end of quarter discounts I imagine these will be way lower priced. They really need to bring back Autopilot though, that's criminal to remove. Also, don't like the unsealed crap frunk. That seriously can't save that much weight/money.

I disagree. this is legacy auto false cut marketing bullshit creeping into Tesla. They need to fire them now. Tesla has always been about giving the best experience to everyone and this is the first time I've seen them pull this. Don't want them to make it a habit.

I think for a lot of buyers the second motor is a big deal, either for the acceleration or the AWD part. So that's kind of all you need to be a "tier". Anyway, Tesla's never been a company to stick to price points. They'll adjust them if they aren't getting the sales mix they expected.

It’s not. No lane keeping, no matrix. Both features alone are worth 5k. End of the story.

What have they cut that actually lowers Tesla's costs by a significant amount? I don't think people understand how manufacturing works. Tesla switching the seats to cloth seats vs. vegan leather seats probably saves them less than $500 per car, the sound system is probably another few hundred dollars. The battery pack reduction is probably the most significant cut, but I'd still bet that Tesla's cost is well under 1 grand. Where do you find more than $5,000 of savings?

Try an id7 with travel assist. Feels like magic.

Toyotas is really good now too.

im one of those guys who still listens to the radio, this would legitimately be a deal breaker for me. I know im definitely in the minority though

Honestly, I feel like it would be cheaper just to leave the light in. They arent likely to change the harness, as that would be a logistics complexity issue, and would only cut a single plastic connector and a few feet of wire. Having a new bumper mold is also a new cost. Pretty sure that light bar would be cheaper than the development and seperate tooling just for the new bumper.

This is so shit. They hyped it for so long. It wouldn’t be that bad if it was cheaper, but an IONIQ5 is going to be cheaper and better in several ways.

I see they removed the frequency selective dampers, rear screens, and a couple powered adjustments that are now manual. As well as adaptive matrix headlights, light bars, and HEPA filter on the Y. I agree that it's likely not more than $5k savings for Tesla, but base models typically have lower margins so I'm sure they could've dropped the price further.

The Y Standard is going to be produced in Giga Berlin too: " André Thierig, Tesla’s plant manager at the German production plant Gigafactory Berlin, tipped off what is likely coming tomorrow at the product unveiling as he revealed during an internal event today that a light version of the Model Y will begin series production and deliveries “in a few weeks.". ". Source: https://www.teslarati.com/tesla-plant-manager-tips-off-affordable-model-production/

Are they the same sizes as their normal versions?

If you are pricing those features at 5k, please price out the rest of the car because I think you are building the first 200k model 3/y

4680 production isn't likely to be high enough for 2 car lines for some time, even when you factor in poor CT sales. Also switching out cell types isn't as plug and play as some make it out to be.

Yeah, as someone with a bit of context from the manufacturing world, I look at that list and see a savings of less than $2000 from an OEM's perspective. Like, take the screen for example - that part probably costs Tesla less than $50. There is no doubt in my mind that the Standard trims are their lowest margin cars by a significant amount.

Do we have confirmation on whether the 3 standard is using an lfp battery or is it still nmc? That could be a huge selling point if it's lfp. That'd put it's 100% range very close to the long range/premium cars 80% range.

There's never been AM radio in any of teslas cars or any ev for that matter.

What's most shocking to me is the Model 3 standard has "Manual-adjust side-view mirrors". IIRC even the cheapest cars nowadays have power adjust side mirrors. This is like going back to 2000s and you have to adjust mirrors with a stick.

Model 3 was never intended to accept 4680 cells as that would require the structural battery and would need massive chassis and production changes to accommodate it.

It’s pretty typical with car manufacturers. The sweet spot is usually the step up model, but there will always be a market for a stripped down basic model.

Yeah, and your name is literally a memory location, I think you’re pretty different from most of the population

I just want them to make a small hatchback like the Leaf with no glass roof and sell it for less than $30K. They could win the EU market with that one.

Model Y Standard doesn’t make sense. They had to design and create the tooling to manufacture a bunch of new parts. Plus logistics for all the new parts and changes to the assembly line. -new front and rear bumpers -new headlights -new tail lights -new hatch -new headliner to cover the already present glass roof????? Surely all that cost more than just reusing some parts from the existing Model 3 or Y. Especially covering the glass roof. It’s already there! And they paid to design a new headliner to cover it up! Which probably costs more than the existing headliner trim pieces….

It's a list of over 10 downgrades. It's a pretty substantial gutting

This is a step in the right direction to have headlights not in bumper where they are most vulnerable. They need to do even more basic model with cloth seats and 17" wheels (would ride better too).

Isn't the "manual adjusted side mirrors" horrible?

It’s been confirmed that it is the same Panasonic battery with less cells

The model 3 seems *fine* but the model Y actually seems like dogshit lol

The standard model Y frunk is missing that and a lot of trim for some reason, at least from the videos I've seen. Inside it's really exposed on the standard Y now.

Do you have a source? I'm seeing mixed answers when I look.

Sorry if this is a big stupid question but does this mean it doesn’t have adaptive cruise control?

Kyle from Out of Spec confirmed with the engineers. They only removed parallel cells to 69.5kWh so that it retains the same voltage as the big battery.

Meh, I think the worst thing is no autopilot. Mirrors are fine.

Well that sucks. Lfp is definitely the better chemistry for non long range cars.

What happened to the sub $25K car?

I doubt anyone buying a tesla still listens to am/fm tap anyway. And if you do, just get an app since they all stream online anyway lol

Obviously it appears self evident that the value proposition isn't there.

It has that. Just won’t steer the car for you.

I actually wish i could get the RWD...but with these lights instead of the light bar. I enjoy the look of these more, but in the end of the day...wake me up with the Y L comes! They are getting closer to what I want, if only a Y L with the gear stalk

Glass is probably cheaper than putting metal up there.

More like lane keep assist.

There were rumors/talk that Tesla is/was working on making LFP batteries sourced in the US. Maybe we could see those incorporated later in the future? Cause they obv wouldn't be able to use Chinese LFP batteries without getting hit with tariffs.

I mean, $5,000 ain't nothing if you're on the edge of affordability.

Dodgy door handles

You’re right. But if you can’t afford a $40k car, you probably also shouldn’t buy a $35k car.

For that price it's absolutely crazy. I can't imagine it even saves that much money. I could live with a lot of these downgrades but this would make me feel like being in the car I bought used for 1000$ years ago.

My guess is the Standard variant will be discontinued in 12-18 months. What a joke.

By that logic you shouldn't buy a 30k car if you can't afford a 35k car. Or a 25k car if you can't afford a 30k car. Etc etc

Not really. If 40k is on the edge of achievable 35k should be much more manageable. On average credit that’s like $150 less on your monthly payments.

Not the greatest of savings, but better I guess. I mean....its something. Im hearing no autosteer and no AM/FM tuner? And some other removals. Mehhhhhh i dunno. I'm gonna call this an "Uber-mobile"

As in they're adjustable by a little knob from the inside like my old 1991 jeep cherokee? Even my base model 2005 prius had electric adjustable mirrors lol

… then why not just leave the glass alone since this is the “affordable” model

If you’re on the edge you should honestly buy a 2023 or 2024 LR used and have probably half the depreciation. Really hard to see who would actually benefit from buying this stripped down trim where your resale will almost certainly be much worse than the premium trims.

Real cost of ownership is depreciation not just the monthly payment, and a stripped down trim like this is going to have worse resale. It has to be sub 35K to make sense

For $100 more a month you get everything

You need to compare it to other EVs. Not other Tesla models. at that price point it still provides insane value and much more than other EV manufacturers.

I fully expected this to be a response. But Jay Z put it well in saying (paraphrasing) if you can’t buy it twice, you shouldn’t buy it once.

They just don't fold in and out. Need to push them manually.

Isn't the general wisdom that extra cost for additional options/trims depreciate faster? Sure, lower trims will be almost always lower value on resale vs. upper trims, but the difference in the end is usually nowhere near the difference in price when new.

Eh made in China with Chinese costs and no import tariff I'm guessing in NZ. It's expensive to protect the US auto manufacturing just like it was expensive for Australia to do the same for Holden, Ford and Toyota before they bailed. What actually upsets me is your Chinese built Teslas have better build quality for a lower price than what we get here in the states.

This is so bad

Really gutted? From where I sit, that's all luxury car frills that don't even belong on a base model, basic transportation car that so many folk have been claiming they want. It'll be Just Fine without. I guess, you know, there are some folks who claimed they want a basic car, but they imagined it would be way, way cheaper. That's just not how the economics work out.

I agree that the feature set itself is appropriate for a base model. The price just needs to come down more.

This is funny, because on my Roadster I have to reach out the window and grab the side mirror and nudge it to whatever position I want.

Very little savings ($3600 for 3, $4000 for Y) for LOTS of loss: Tesla removed the AM/FM radio tuners from the Standard trim, and the Standard models can only perform "traffic aware cruise control," Tesla's version of adaptive cruise control, and are unable to perform "autosteer" functions like Autopilot and Full Self-Driving (FSD).

False analogy

Got it. Buy a more expensive car because of the resale.

Yeah, I was thinking about the Model Y specifically which has already shipped with 4680 cells in the past. Tesla has said that using their own cells is a key path to more affordable models.

I do agree the primary competition for these are used models. I guess for somebody who wants to lease or really value the full warranty that's where these will compete.

In NY state these standard models qualify for an extra 1500 ev state credit due to the lower pricing.

The Model Y standard's front looks so much better than Juniper's awful lightbar. I don't hate lightbars, just _that_ one.

They don't need to find $5,000 of savings. They just need to find enough savings such that selling each is effectively not losing money.

Because the roof is no longer acoustic glass like the premium model y so it’s for sound dampening

Just when I thought the new model Y couldn’t be any uglier, lol

Actually if you really must, there is a bunch of usb powered FM receivers on Amazon for about $15. You can get a high quality FM radio with great speakers with USB plug. Keep that in mind because I confident that most cars will drop FM like they dropped AM and chances are that wave length will be reclaimed for other purposes like they did with TV frequencies

Could this be the HW4 upgrade for those that previously purchased FSD outright with HW3? Trade in for a heavily discounted stripped back model.

lol it’s honestly idiotic to even buy a car and plan for when you sell it. It’s like planning for divorce before even getting married. Like ya it’s gonna lose value but whether it loses 2k more or less it’s not gonna affect my decision.

You’re probably only pricing the material alone but not including the cost to install and warranty service to repair. 5k is plausible if the labor cost is about same as material cost.

Legacy brands usually have insane rebates or dealer discounts. What’s the actual otd price on legacy brand ev?

ngl i kinda dig how the Y looks now without the middle running lights. otherwise yea.... if this is the secret move that elon was like 'we dont need the tax credit'.... not much hopes here lol. was half expecting them to ditch the big screen and go with like a traditional center area or something with physical buttons :)

Literally the opposite of the truth. The standard range teslas all depreciate the least

Or that base level Cybertruck they canceled? Do like that they are releasing more versions though. Eventually get to the 6/7 seater.

No FM. Wtf

No FM radio is just funny lol

I may be missing something, and I know Tesla had no control over this, but I feel like it's the elephant in the room. If I wanted to buy a Tesla, I should have just bought it last month when the credit was available because I would have gotten a better car for roughly the same price. If I didn't buy last month, why would I buy now?

What does this have to do with safety?

But what if youre buying this stripped down 2025 model in 2027 for that sweet depreciated pricetag? -taps head

This seems like a terrible deal vs buying used for 10-15k less. There are still lots of good used options out there for Ys that aren’t stripped of all features in what was already a pretty sparse car. If I was set on buying new in this price range the Ioniq 5 blows this out of the water with their new price cuts: https://www.edmunds.com/car-news/2026-tesla-model-y-standard-vs-hyundai-ioniq-5-value-comparison.html Obviously this article has a biased slant but most of the points still stand. $99 a month for autopilot in 2025 is disgusting…

Yeah I’d rather take a hold of a pre refresh model with 30-60k miles for a cheaper price and most of the features and quality compared to these “affordable” variants. It’s just a bad decision on paper overall.

Not even the better sound system. Premium RWD has the same sound system as premium AWD.

autopilot is calculably safer, per tesla’s own admission. removing that guarantees that more people will get in car accidents

No FM radio is a head scratcher.

Let's not forget that it's [also missing Autosteer](https://insideevs.com/news/775001/tesla-model-3-y-autosteer/). Huge, huge letdown.

Musk called it "pointless" and "silly" Then Tesla lost interest in building new platforms in favor of AI. So I'd wager that it's very unlikely to happen.

That's not an analogy...

The y premium rwd has the same sound system as awd now.

Can’t see too many people wanting to buy this except for ride share drivers.. 5k is nothing for car in this category

You probably should’ve said that first lol

Our NZ Model Y RWD has the less premium speakers compared to the US RWD. 9+1 vs 15+1 which is strange. Factory difference?

It would make sense it they’d release autosteer as part of their subscription plan.

Actually, it was cheaper to still use the glass roof due already established factory line, also less paint. Heard it from a YouTube reviewer for the Model Y standard (claimed to have talked to Tesla employees)

model y L would of been better

Where’s the 6 seater?

And yet UK prices are stupid spenny

I'm unconvinced by those metrics since you are comparing apples and oranges. AP driven KMs which are mostly Highway are not comparable to all other KMs hand driven since much of that is in cities where accidents are much more likely. If Telsa release stats of highway KMs hand driven vs AP highway driven and it shows AP is still better I'll happily change my view.

5k is not nothing. If you want a new car maybe it’s a deal but you makes used once’s a little more interesting

I have a 2025 Honda Civic Hybrid Sport. Hard to compete at that price point (under 30K$). It has L2 self-driving effectively.

Absolutely not. This is aimed at companies. No frills, low lease. They will eat it up. Especially in Europe.

This is aimed at companies. Not consumers. Think about it. A car that has a very low maintenance cost, low monthly lease and the best charging network around. The perfect company EV. Those who buy an EV for personal use should look at the used market. Much-much better value.

Usually, yes. Depends on the desirability of those trim options, though. If used buyers just want to get into the car and don't care about spec, then the higher trims depreciate more. I think it'll be okay for a while, due to the recent facelift leaving a clear transition point in the used market. Once the facelift Teslas saturate the market, the price might fall off a cliff.

Standard one sheet of glass vs double layered, I imagine.

What about reduced build time, too? All less parts to put in means they roll off the line faster.

Yeah I can see why, considering he could buy 20,000 Teslas for a billion dollars. Why would he need 40,000 Teslas?

Don't they still have a DAB radio though?

It's significantly more expensive than real value oriented cars, but that segment hasn't really arrived in the US regarding EVs. There is no competition really, well outside of the used market. So I personally doubt the Standard will attract new buyers because it's not filling the value gap that exists. For that it would need to be about $5k cheaper still, clocking in just a bit over $30k were you would expect quite a few models from other manufacturers to sit, like in the EU and China, but that is not the case in the US.  Just based on the car and not politics I'd pick the Standard over something like the Equinox, which is a tad cheaper, but realistically I wouldn't pick any off them since I find them both to be terrible choices for a brand new car. The Renault 5 however I would gladly pick over the Standard, and that would've been priced very similarly.

Especially after the soft announcement of the cheaper model, and then the rumours it was cancelled and Musk saying it wasn’t cancelled. It’s pretty clear they just threw this together. And the pricepoint is crap too, they likely couldn’t go any lower. Tesla used to be accused of selling vapourware. But since the model Y they really haven’t met any of their goals. The battery announcement was a fail, we have not seen anything like they promised. Not the cheaper production, not the better performance, and not the production output or the improvement in charging.

Buy used?

I wish they just made a small Tesla instead of trying to milk the Model 3 in different ways. I switched to Hyundai Inster mainly because my Model 3 is too large for Croatian cities and Islands. But software on Inster is so behind Tesla's it's a bit unfortunate I needed to make that decision. And if in 3-5 years there is still no small Tesla, then I will get a Chinese small car probably as they are becoming more available in Europe with decent software.

Corporate/municipal fleet operators, ride share/taxi services, and other non-personal "white car" buyers will gladly take the lower priced trim with no amenity upgrades. Just imagine your city's Community Service, Parks & Rec, or Code Enforcement cars.

That adds cost. A touchscreen that shares economies of scale with iPads and laptops is actually quite affordable.

This seems like a RWD Cybertruck situation where they remove so many features but can’t drop the price enough to justify it. Really doesn’t make the cheapest option that enticing as it’s still too expensive.

this is the most baffling, reminds me of when Subaru stopped making all cars 4wd, it's what they were known for.

I heard the same from youtuber named gjeebs. They are using the previous model y glass (the 2020 model). This glass has worse sound properties but it is cheaper. It also doesn't hurt the manufacturing process doesn't have to change at all - the robot just picks up a different glass.

Right? They are still adjustable but what is missing is that they don't fold out. That is my understanding

At this point this would be great for fleet cars like taxi and police. Leave the nicer variants for private owners.

This 'trim' is such a joke. They literally removed the entire housing for the frunk on the Y. Release the model 2 you fucker. You're literally better off buying any other used Tesla over this garbage. It doesn't even come with fucking auto steer.

Too bad they also made the roof and side windows single pane like the older models. Thing is a joke

Bad for the brand identity

Are you sure it’s the fronts? I thought it was just the rears

Meant roof and side windows. Fixed it.

You are forgetting how they removed park sensors to save a couple of bucks.

The Y seems like more major changes that make a bigger difference between the Regular and Premium models. The 3 removed features are quite minor overall IMO and for $5000 cheaper its actually a pretty great deal now at $35k

Not quite the same. Removing the park sensors removes an entire instalation process and a dedicated harness run. If they had kept the sensors on some cars and not others than yes it would be a similar situation. And yes, the light bar is a seperate step to an extent, but the harness likely hasn't changed as it would be piggybacking off the headlight run. That means its a single part with a bolt or two that can easily be done at the headlight station.

That’s why the caveat that it was per teslas admission was in there. Tesla /elon says that safety is the number one concern, they claim they have a feature that increases safety dramatically, then they pull the feature

It's definitely a "small, medium large" french fries type sales pitch :)

It's still stupid to have glass and then cover it up with cloth. Who the hell approves these decisions at Tesla? It's fairly obvious Tesla is focused on cost cutting. But this is taking it too far. Even the rear cup holders look like such a joke.

No seal on the frunk? Rain could get in

I’m sure there’s wiggle room in the price where these things can get discounted to 37999 occasionally.

In EU (China manufacured) the RWD standard range and RWD long range have 9 speakers, and only the AWD and the Performance have 15+2. Isn't it the same in NZ?

If that's true, I wouldn't own my house or any car I've ever purchased. It's just stupid life advice from people with more money than sense.

Correct, except the 5k margin reduces as you go down, it's more a 10% buffer sort of thing. If you can't afford <thing>, you probably shouldn't be buying <10% cheaper thing> either. You should buy things below your limit of affordability not AT the limit, otherwise you'll be broke as soon as you buy them and won't be able to handle any financial surprises.

The price don't really matter. What I really want is a smaller Tesla. I currently drive the model 3, and it's hard to find a parking spot and to parallel park :(

It’s manual folding, not manual adjustment from my understanding

I’m sure whoever buys this will remove the headliner lol

Removing the radio adds up to $5k lol

Yep, it's like a truck bed exposed to water on the non premium model. They say "heavy rain can get water in" but it's got no seal, so I wouldn't trust it.

Labor cost of adding a new trim and new manufacturing line will be higher, not lower. Manufacturing is kept efficient when you make fewer trims, not more.

True

Looks like a $10K EV currently available in China market.

It's the spec they wanted to introduce from the get-go on the Model 3 from 2018. Will be ideal for Uber drivers.

Cheaper for Tesla. Nightmare replacement cost for owners when they try to claim on insurance if it gets smashed.

The $25k car is now a robot called Optimus, you can ride it once it achieves AGI, which by Elon timeline is next year definitely.

those are the 2 big ones. but also carpeted door pockets still, frunk unchanged

You can probably add autosteer yourself for $1100 with Openpilot, but it really should be included. FSD is an option on these cars so clearly they can do autosteeer.

I don't know how valid it is, but they say they covered the glass roof to increase efficiency (less AC) and keep 300+ miles with the reduced battery. They kept the glass roof on top of the headliner because it would cost more to change the design.

A more affordable ultra-right wing vehicle

Depreciation only matters if you intend to sell the car before it's old enough as to be worth basically nothing. A budget-conscious buyer who is trying to maximize affordability probably isn't this person. Every car eventually becomes basically worthless, and there are a lot of people who keep pretty much every car that they own until long after it gets there, and for these people, depreciation is completely irrelevant.

Ever heard of binning? I'd bet dollars to donuts that's what they're doing. This may be glass that's structurally fine, but not cosmetically perfect enough for the good trim. Creating a way to use the glass inventory that's not *quite* suitable for the "nice" model saves a lot more money than spinning up new tooling and new manufacturing processes just to use a slightly cheaper material. It's inventory that they don't have to just throw away and that amounts to a 100% savings. The cloth also provides sound dampening, which allows them to go cheaper on other components that normally serve sound dampening purposes.

I've never really found that folding mirrors are all that necessary. My Juniper is the first car I've ever owned with auto-folding mirrors and it's not even a feature I think about. If it disappeared tomorrow, it would probably take me a while to even notice. The wheel being manual would be annoying for a family car that is used by multiple drivers - but honestly, again, the Juniper is the first car I've ever owned that has had a programmable wheel position per-driver, and my wife and I always got by just fine.

To me the folding mirrors are important to confirm that my car is locked

They are definitely the type of company that would use parts this way. Actually really smart from a manufacturing perspective.

So Tesla inflates the prices and then makes the cheapest $37k car their “affordable” car. Where is the $20-$25k car that was spoke of before?

It’s easier on the manufacturing line than putting in a whole new process for stamping an aluminum roof and putting it on. Tesla likes to share parts and keep their cars as modular as possible.