Tesla Model Y Tesla’s smaller SU V, and potentially its big gest seller, finally arrives in the UK

MODEL TESTED LONG RANGE AWD

Price £54,990 • Power 434bhp •Torque 424lb ft • 0-60mph 4.7sec •30-70mph in fourth na •Economy 3.1mpkWh •CO2 emissions 0g/km •70-0mph 46.5m

Tesla isn’t like other car companies. In the 10 years since it launched the Model S, it has developed a fully f ledged model line-up and sold millions of cars, embarrassing established manufacturers’ sluggish EV roll-outs in the process. Whatever it is, it’s definitely not a start-up any more.

And yet, it does things you couldn’t imagine from, say, Mercedes-Benz. For instance, taking deposits on the upcoming lorry, pick-up truck and roadster despite these models being nowhere near productionready. Tesla has released its Full Self-Driving system in public beta in America, despite it being quite a long way from being self-driving, as the emerging videos quite clearly show.

Another case in point is the Model Y. The compact SUV segment is very important, not just across the Atlantic but over here too. But even though there were plans all along to bring the Model Y to Europe, it has taken two years since the US launch for the first examples to be delivered here.

Part of that is Tesla doing its own thing, and part of it is a result of the difficulties it has encountered setting up a new factory in Germany. In fairness, a global pandemic didn’t help, but it also looks like Tesla underestimated the amount of red tape and bureaucracy establishing a greenfield car plant in Germany would entail.

Even now, it’s not quite there yet. The Berlin site should start churning out Model Ys later this year, but to be able to put arguably its most important new model on sale, Tesla has decided to import European-spec Model Ys from its plant in China. It allows us to finally take a closer look at what is likely to become Tesla’s biggest seller. Is the Model Y worth the wait?

DESIGN AND ENGINEERING

★★★★☆

Anyone vaguely familiar with the Model 3 saloon won’t be surprised at any of the Model Y’s technical make-up or design. Like it or loathe it, Tesla’s design language is consistent and thus makes any of its cars clearly recognisable as a Tesla. It’s extremely clean, with no fake grilles or spoilers, and the fish-like shape and f lush door handles are very aerodynamic (even if Tesla’s drag coefficient of 0.23 sounds optimistic) but it’s not exactly elegant.

The Model Y is very much like a bigger Model 3 – Tesla actually claims 75% of components are shared. It is only 50mm longer, at 4751mm, but a considerable 181mm taller. Of that, 27mm goes into increasing the ground clearance to 167mm, so the body height is stretched by more than 150mm, which benefits not just head room but also the rear passengers’ seating position. Potentially the most significant improvement over the Model 3 is that the Model Y is a hatchback, which means it is not at a practicality disadvantage compared with the Volkswagen MEB cars, and the Kia EV6 and Hyundai Ioniq 5.