New Tesla Y - late update or a hoped-for disruption?
Major refresh since the 2019 introduction on design & capabilities. Is it enough to catch up with the regular driver's demands? Before the test drive, let's evaluate the new offerings
Without turning on the… screen, we cannot know a Tesla. However, until the new model is available for a deep TestDrive, we will review the new capabilities and compare them with the set of expectations defined over time. One major question: is it good enough for incremental improvement, or is it the disruption drivers and families hoped for?
The famous Juniper project announced years ago has delivered a new model. With a very similar footprint, it brings, according to Tesla, the expected improvements, reduced noise, and better comfort drives.
Drivers were hoping for significant road quality improvement, allowing passengers to enjoy the drive as much as the driver. Model 3 updates have been applied, including lighting, back screen, material improvement. The effort on sound improvement seems mainly due to the new wheel design; let’s see how the impacts are from the passenger standpoint.
No 7 seats are already available. The model is for now only available in Asia, exclusively manufactured in China.
Tesla Y had a very special market perception. It is almost like the first introduction of the Toyota Prius, which was acquired by both middle-class and tech / eco-friendly drivers. Will the new design give a driver the pride and feel of a car from the upper category or move the Y back to its peers of the same size?
Initially, Tesla benefited from the eco-friendly drivers, in addition to the technology early adopters. Now, a new category is growing, which is more politically engaged around topics such as America, people's performance, non-DEI…
This population of drivers won’t be as tolerant for an unperfect drive or too narrow car…
This model should at least continue the successful path of the current and old model Y. Will it be convincing enough to maintain Tesla as the market leader? Two main capabilities will mainly drive the conclusion:
comfort level of the new configuration. Are the passengers still considering it as comfortable as a plane trip
autonomous driving. will the new version of the autonomous option be good enough to be adopted by all clients
is the taxi option going to allow to share and monetize the ownership of the car, and therefore make it a game changer.
the charging mechanism still leveraging the old cable does not bring much hope to the game-changing taxi monetization. Therefore, it is like not, yet the disruptive innovation hoped, maybe just a new car.
Is the ultimate success of Tesla is to become a standard brand?
Think encore!
 |
|