{"id":134628,"date":"2019-03-15T02:23:19","date_gmt":"2019-03-15T06:23:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thedetroitbureau.com\/?p=134628"},"modified":"2019-03-15T02:23:19","modified_gmt":"2019-03-15T06:23:19","slug":"as-tesla-model-y-debuts-musk-asks-do-you-think-were-s3xy","status":"publish","type":"reviews","link":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/reviews\/as-tesla-model-y-debuts-musk-asks-do-you-think-were-s3xy\/","title":{"rendered":"As Tesla Model Y Debuts, Musk Asks: Do You Think We\u2019re \u201cS3XY\u201d?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Tesla Model Y is likely to look quite familiar to fans of the earlier Model 3 sedan.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The long-awaited Tesla Model Y made its formal debut on Thursday night, with CEO Elon Musk declaring it takes an already attractive line-up and makes it \u201cS3XY.\u201d The inside joke adds the new electric SUV to the automaker\u2019s existing line-up of Models S, 3 and X.<\/p>\n

But there\u2019s a serious side to the launch. Tesla continues to struggle to right its balance sheet, plunging back into the red this quarter after earning money during the second half of 2018. The Model Y is expected to become Tesla\u2019s best-seller, Musk declared, telling his audience \u201cwe\u2019ll do more Model Ys than S, X and 3 combined.\u201d And that includes not just the U.S. but also China, where Tesla is struggling to get a foothold in the world\u2019s largest market for battery-electric vehicles.<\/p>\n

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Breaking Product News!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Model Y will be one of the vehicles Tesla plans to produce once it opens up a new plant in Shanghai later this year. That will give it a way to hold costs down and also to sidestep any escalation in the U.S.-China trade war.<\/p>\n

(Here’s our Model Y preview. <\/em>Click Here<\/span><\/a> to s<\/em>ee how close we came.)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The Model Y has roughly the same exterior footprint as the Model 3 sedan and Musk earlier this year said \u201cthree-quarters of Model Y parts are common with the Model 3 so (investment in the vehicle) are much lower.\u201d That should help the company also deal with the issue of producing the new entry. Tesla went through what the 47-year-old CEO called \u201cproduction hell\u201d during the first year after the July 2017 launch of the Model 3 and hopes to avoid repeating that problem.<\/p>\n

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It was a virtual lovefest for CEO Musk as he rolled through Tesla's history before revealing the Model Y.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Manufacturing, Musk said Thursday night, is \u201cinsanely difficult. It\u2019s 100 times harder to design the manufacturing system than the car itself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Along with the Shanghai plant, Tesla will produce the Model Y in the U.S. \u2013 but, as of the moment, it has not announced where and, sources tell TheDetroitBureau.com, a decision may not yet have been made. During a late January conference call with analysts, Musk said Tesla might not have the space and capacity to build the SUV at its Fremont, California plant and may instead add an assembly line at its Gigafactory battery plant in Reno, Nevada.<\/p>\n

(Tesla reverses position \u2013 will keep some stores open.\u00a0<\/em>Click Here<\/a>\u00a0for the latest.)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

There are a number of details notably left out of Musk\u2019s Thursday night presentation at the Tesla design center in Los Angeles, including what battery packs will be available for the Model Y. But as the new vehicle will share the same basic \u201carchitecture,\u201d or skateboard-like platform as the Model 3, it is expected to eventually offer a range of battery options from 50 to 75 kilowatt-hours.<\/p>\n

That would fit in with the fact that it will eventually offer four different versions of the Model 3:<\/p>\n