Are you as confused as we are? I bet. Tesla continues to keep us on our toes with yet another change to their lineup. This time, a rather strange possible cancellation of the Standard Range Model Y.
Feb. 22nd Update: Elon Musk commented on the matter via Twitter. In his reply Musk stated that the Standard Range Model Y is still available in the infamous “off-menu” portion of Tesla. As we speculated, the range was one of the driving factors of removing it, he wrote: “…but I don’t think the range, in many drive conditions, yet meets the Tesla standard of excellence”. Also, the LR RWD Model Y will remain cancelled for the time being.
Buy all accounts, the current Standard Range Model Y was not supposed to exist in the state that it was released in. Over the past summer, Musk made it clear that the SR Model Y would not be built due to it not being able to have over 250 miles of range, which was “unacceptably low”. At that point, we were led to believe that the RWD Long Range Model Y would be the cheapest Model Y offered.
However, at the beginning of 2021, the SR Model Y placed down a reverse UNO card and was released and caused the RWD LR Model Y to supposedly be canceled instead. Tesla released the Standard Range with only a range of 244 miles, which while more than adequate, was by definition unacceptable by Musk’s standards. But nonetheless, this was the setup that we were going forward with.
A few days ago, both the Model 3 and Model Y had price adjustments that saw the cheapest trim levels have their prices dropped. However, if you go on the configurator to take advantage of the new price cut that happened merely days ago, the SR Model Y is not there.
Where did it go? Boy, I would love to tell you. Not even two months after its release it has disappeared. Given that Tesla no longer provides official communications to the press the reasoning could range anything from website glitch to actual cancellation of the trim. Given that the Long Range Model Y received a $1,000 price drop alongside the removal of the SR Model Y, we imagine that it’s either gone or on an extended pause while Tesla possibly tries to get it over 250 miles of range. Perhaps we’ll see the return of the RWD LR Model Y. You never know what you’ll get with Tesla.
What are your theories for the Tesla removal? Let us know down in the comments below.
