Production of Tesla Model Y To Start In 2020
I can’t tell if you’re serious or not. That seems…oddly specific, especially being 10 months from now.
— Ryan McCaffrey (@DMC_Ryan) May 24, 2018
But consider it real. We could unveil Model Y anytime from late this year to mid next year, so March 15 is about right.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 24, 2018
Now that Elon Musk has approved the production of a prototype of the Tesla Model Y, we can, therefore, proceed to expect the mass production to begin sometime in 2020. There’s no word on an official date for the debut but if Musk’s tweets are any indication, it looks like we’re going to see the prototype by the middle of next year.
During Tesla’s third-quarter earnings calls earlier this week, the CEO let out that he approved Model Y’s prototype to enter production but that does not mean that volume production will begin by late 2019, which he previously hinted would be the timeline. On May 24, this year, in a series of tweets, Musk said that Tesla could unveil Model Y “from late this year to mid next year, so March 15 is about right.”
Model Y’s production has been delayed because Tesla apparently was not starting new vehicle production to first achieve GAAP profitability. During the earnings call, the electronic vehicle company announced that it achieved a $312-million profit during the third quarter of 2018.
When it comes to other projects, Musk focused on the significant progress the company made on the Semi and the next-generation Roadster. He then talked about Tesla’s upcoming pickup truck, which he believed is going to be “some next level stuff.”
It is not yet clear where Tesla plans to build the Model Y, though it is very possible that it can share the assembly line with the Model 3 in the automaker’s Fremont factory. Both cars will share the same platform. However, since the Fremont facility is nearing its capacity of 7,000 vehicles per week, it is very possible that Model Y’s production could move someplace else, possibly even China, where Tesla has a new Gigafactory in eastern Shanghai province. The facility will be built on a 534-square-mile land and it will cost around $2 billion.
