Tesla Model Y: Production in Grünheide kicks off

The revised Tesla Model Y is set to roll off the production line at the German Gigafactory starting on Tuesday. An imminent market launch of the Model Y facelift, called Juniper, in Europe is thus likely. (UPDATE BELOW)

Image: Tesla

According to the German newspaper Handelsblatt, management informed employees on Monday about the start of production on Tuesday, 14 January. Test chassis were already produced at Giga Berlin weeks ago. Apparently, the entire production will then be switched over on Tuesday.

However, “Tesla did not give its employees any further details on how production will change due to the new model on Monday,” Handelsblatt writes. Although no new cars were built in Grünheide during the two-week company holiday over Christmas, the production process is said to have been modified for the Juniper model during that time – and staff took part in training sessions. In December, plant manager André Thierig announced a staff meeting for the second week of January, saying Tesla would “have a few things to announce about how we will start the new year.”

On 10 January, Tesla unveiled the version of its bestseller Model Y, known internally as Juniper – without an event or official announcement – on its Chinese website. The online configurator on Tesla websites in other Asian countries supplied by Giga Shanghai in China have also been switched to the facelift model. It is not yet known when this will be the case for the European markets that get the Model Y from the factory in Brandenburg. However, the websites and ordering systems will likely be converted shortly – deliveries should then start in a few months.

The Model Y Juniper differs from the model that has been on sale for around 4.5 years primarily due to its new look. At the front, the new version sports extremely narrow headlights and a continuous LED light strip in the style of the Cybertruck or Cybercab. The rear design has also been completely revised with a red light strip. However, apart from the new wheel rim designs, the typical Model Y roofline is still visible from the side.

The changes to the technology are nowhere near as significant as those to the design. The registration application in China shows that the LFP battery is only 2.5 kWh larger, while the NMC battery has increased by 1.4 kWh. The output of the rear motor in the single-motor variants has even remained the same. The ranges are slightly higher, as the aerodynamics have been improved in addition to the slightly larger battery. The WLTP values of the facelift are known from Australia: The all-wheel drive vehicle with the large battery now achieves 551 instead of 533 kilometres in the standard test; with the small battery, it is 466 instead of 455 kilometres.

Model Y RWDModel Y Long Range AWD
DriveRWDAWD
Output220 kW331 kW
Acceleration5.9 s4.3 s
Top Speed201 kph201 kph
WLTP range466 km551 km
Battery62.5 kWh78.4 kWh
Charging capacity DC175 kW250 kW
Charging time DC 10-80%

Whether the prices will change will only become apparent once the ordering systems have been changed. Currently, the list price in Germany for the LFP variant with rear-wheel drive is 44,990 euros. With the large NMC battery pack, the ‘old’ Model Y costs 48,990 euros, and the all-wheel drive is available from 54,990 euros.

Tesla hopes that the revised Model Y will revitalise its growth momentum. As reported, Tesla sales fell slightly for the first time ever in 2024, and Tesla also sold fewer cars in Germany in the previous year than in 2023. In Germany, The US carmaker had to endure a drop of almost 40 per cent to 37,574 new registrations – Volkswagen and BMW have overtaken Tesla.

Update 14 January

As leaked the day before, Tesla actually started production of the revised Model Y Juniper in Grünheide on Tuesday. “We are starting to produce the first vehicles today,” a Tesla spokeswoman told the German news agency dpa on Tuesday. She did to provide further details.

According to the spokesperson, however, this is not yet the official start of production. As no further details are known, the scope of production of the new model is unclear. The German Handelsblatt reported on Monday that some test bodies had already been produced in the previous weeks – so there is already initial experience with the revised model in the Brandenburg factory, but scaling up production is always a new challenge. Tesla has not only changed some chassis parts with the Juniper facelift, but also the production method for several components.

Customers in Europe cannot order the new model yet. The spokeswoman also gave no indication of when that will be the case. However, the changeover of the ordering systems is expected in the coming weeks.

handelsblatt.com (in German), yahoo.com (update)

1 Comment

about „Tesla Model Y: Production in Grünheide kicks off“
Speedfriend
14.01.2025 um 13:52
I remember when Tesla Berlin was going to be pumping out 500k Model 3s, before building 2x 500k Model Y lines. Now Model Y is on the same line which never seemed to get above 250k annual run rate.

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