Start with what the Tesla Model Y is: a 5-door SUV, built from 2020, in the decade the industry is turning electric. What it meant takes a little longer. The shape is credited to Franz von Holzhausen.
Where it came from
The Tesla Model Y is a battery electric compact crossover SUV produced by Tesla, Inc. since 2020. Presented in March 2019 as the company's fifth production model, the Model Y is the best-selling electric vehicle of all time, having sold more than 2.16 million units worldwide. After its 2019 introduction, the Model Y started production at the Tesla Fremont Factory in California in January 2020. Production at Giga Shanghai, China was added in December 2020, and at Gigafactory Texas since late 2021. Deliveries from Gigafactory Berlin-Brandenburg, Germany started in March 2022.
The Model Y is based on the Model 3 sedan and serves as a larger variant, with around 76 percent of parts being shared between the two and identical exterior and interior styling. While most Model Y are configured with two-row seating, in the US the Model Y offered optional third-row seats for a seven-passenger seating capacity until the 2025 refresh. In 2023, Tesla delivered 1.2 million Model Ys, making it the world's best-selling vehicle that year, surpassing the Toyota Corolla and becoming the first electric vehicle to claim that title. In 2024 sales were second to the Toyota RAV4. A refreshed version of the Model Y was revealed in January 2025, with upgrades similar to the upgraded Model 3. In mid-2025, Tesla introduced the Model Y L, a long-wheelbase, six-seat variant of the Model Y.
Under the skin
The record carries the shape — a 5-door SUV. The engine, output and weight have not yet reached the open record, and MotorJury does not guess at them.
In context
In the Tesla line-up the Tesla Model Y has a clear place: the factory was Fremont, California (Tesla Fremont Factory. The cars a buyer would have weighed it against include the Porsche Taycan, the Kia EV6, the Nissan Z. Nearby in the Tesla catalogue sit the Cybercab and the Elon Musk's Tesla Roadster.
Owning one today
Buying one now means $21,400–$39,900 for a typical example, and running it — fuel and maintenance at its age — costs about $1,100–$1,860 a year. Insurance sits around $1,480–$2,190 a year. The figures are class-level estimates from the federal record, with the formula on the methodology page; the model-year pages carry complaints, recalls and repair costs year by year.