BRUSSELS, BELGIUM – JANUARY 13: Tesla Model Y full electric crossover SUV on dispaly at Brussels … [+] Expo on January 13, 2023 in Brussels, Belgium. (Photo by Sjoerd van der Wal/Getty Images)
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Tesla is not giving any ground on Model Y leases in May while keeping the price competitive, despite extending the range of its lowest-priced variant.
The new “Long-Range” rear-wheel-drive Model Y with a freshly spec’d EPA estimated range of 320 miles is available with a $399 a month lease with $2,999 down (lease pricing as of Sunday May 5). That does not include taxes and fees. (Note that Tesla by default shows the lease price at $299 a month with “gas savings” so you have to toggle that off.) Tesla has also added the Quicksilver color option to the Model Y as of Friday.
As widely reported, Tesla rolled out the new Long Range variant on its website Friday night, bumping up the range from 260 miles to 320 miles. The price also got a $2,000 boost from $42,990 to $44,990. But the lease remains very competitive and, as it turns out, leases may be the way to go with Tesla. Model 3 leases, for example, are very aggressive, rendering the Model 3 virtually a $30,000 car, according to Pat Ryan, Founder & CEO of CoPilot, an AI-assisted car shopping app.
“Incentives are very popular right now as the industry is looking to provide consumers with some relief on interest rates. The deal on the Model Y falls more within that category,” Ryan told me in a phone interview. Tesla has been putting pressure on rivals in recent weeks with price cuts on the Model Y, Model S and Model X in the US
The Model Y took a third of all EV sales in the US in 2023, according to Kelley Blue Book. Overall, Tesla outsold VW, Subaru and others in 2023, according to KBB.
