New Tesla Model Y Juniper ditches switches

The Tesla Model Y rode the late surge in electric car registrations to be the top selling car in the UK in December, building on its fifth position in the overall charts for the year as a whole and Car of the Year prize in Auto Trader’s 2024 New Car Awards. Don’t expect that success to slow down with the announcement of a thoroughly updated version, this following the improvements to the Model 3 ‘Highland’, as it’s become known. In a similar fashion Tesla fans are already distinguishing this new Model Y by its ‘Juniper’ codename, providing useful shorthand for comparisons with the existing one.
• 1.7m of the 1,789,226 cars Tesla delivered last year were Model 3s or Model Ys, and over 5,000 of the outgoing Y sold in December here in the UK, this and the Model 3 the topping the sales charts at the year’s end • Like the Model 3 Highland updates, the Model Y Juniper changes focus on freshened up looks and, we expect, an improved sense of quality in the cabin • Model 3’s controversial ditching of column gear selector and stalks for indicators looks to have been carried over • Chinese Tesla customer website suggests a significant improvement in acceleration for the Long-Range AWD version, though we’ll wait on confirmation – the RWD’s 0-62mph time remains the same at 5.9 seconds • Tesla has launched the updated Model Y in China – we’ll have to wait and see when it reaches the UK • See above, but we’ll have to wait and see if there’s any change to pricing

At the moment the only information we have on the Model Y Juniper line-up is from the Chinese market customer site, which lists the familiar Long Range AWD version with the bigger battery and a RWD model with the Standard Battery. On the existing car all Model Ys sold in the UK have the Long Range battery, including the RWD, so we’ll have to see if that carries over. On the outside the changes are more obvious, with new full-width light bars front and rear incorporated into reshaped bumpers. This has resulted in a small increase in overall length though, fundamentally, the car is the same as before and the changes follow the standard industry practice of visual mid-life updates. If it ain’t broke, and all that.

Like the latest Model 3 the new Model Y appears to have had a further purge of physical switchgear and moved gear selection from a stalk to the screen and indicators to steering wheel touchpads. Whether you consider this progress or not will be up to you, the indicator controls proving somewhat infuriating on the Model 3 in situations like roundabouts where your hands are moving around the wheel. In terms of tech it’s the same 15.4-inch screen up front with, we’d expect, similar updates to the Model 3 while that car’s 8-inch screen for rear seat passengers has also been carried over. Dreaming of CarPlay or Android Auto in your next Tesla? Based on experience of the new Model 3 we'll say don't get your hopes up...

Evolution rather than revolution here, Tesla’s habit of keeping information on its powertrain figures close to its chest making it hard to identify exactly what, if anything, has changed. Likewise for the fact the only range numbers are for the Chinese market, rather than the more familiar WLTP stats we’re familiar with. Watch this space!

The Model Y Juniper is out now in China but Tesla’s European sites are still advertising the existing model, suggesting we may have to wait our turn and it could be until later in the year before we know more on availability and pricing. Based on previous we know Tesla doesn’t hang about when introducing fresh models, though.

If you hang on Elon Musk’s every word we’ll be getting chauffeured around in autonomous Tesla taxis before long, though as even the man himself admits he can sometimes get a bit carried away with his predictions.

Pretty much everything! Having enjoyed a formidable head start with its battery tech, range figures and infrastructure Tesla now faces a tougher challenge as the mainstream car industry gears up to compete and the influx of Chinese brands and products gets more competitive. Suffice to say, the easy ride the Model Y has had so far will be a lot tougher from now on.