Another Tesla Model Y prototype has been spotted, and this time it was equipped with the unreleased old turbine wheels from the Model 3 unveiling in 2016.
After the original unveiling, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said that they “spent a lot of time on those wheels,” and that they plan on bringing them to production.
Tesla ended up bringing to production the aero wheels as 18-inch standard wheels on the Model 3.
According to design patents published last year, Franz Von Holzhausen, Tesla’s chief designer, and Bernard Lee, Tesla design manager, were credited with designing the aero wheels.
The automaker also made the five ‘v’ spoke wheels unveiled on the original prototypes as 19-inch Sport wheels option.
But Tesla also unveiled a third wheel design that was only displayed on a bright red model that wasn’t a working prototype:
This design was credited to Joonas Vartola, a car designer who left Tesla in 2016 to become an independent designer in Finland.
Last year, Musk said that Tesla would make that design available as an aftermarket upgrade later in the year, but it never happened.
Now, more than a year later, a new Model Y prototype has been spotted with the same or very similar wheels (pictures via garrickk8 on Reddit):
As usual, pre-production prototypes are not always representative of what will be offered when starting production.
When configuring a Model Y on Tesla’s website at the moment, only the two same wheel options available for Model 3 are available.
In March, Tesla unveiled the Model Y, an all-electric crossover based on Model 3 with up to 300 miles of range.
The automaker said that it plans to bring the vehicle to production in fall 2020.
We recently learned that Tesla is working on a fifth assembly line at the Fremont factory as the automaker is preparing the production of its fifth electric vehicle.
Tesla says that the Model Y production program is going to require a much lower capital investment than Tesla’s previous programs due to efficiency improvements and the new crossover SUV sharing 70% of its parts with the Model 3.
In recent weeks, there has been an increasing number of Model Y prototype sightings as Tesla started a road-testing program on public roads.
Electrek’s Take
Hopefully, they bring those wheels to production as Musk promised last year.
Maybe they could offer it exclusively to Model Y for a while, and then as an aftermarket option for Model 3 as production ramps up for Model Y.
I assume both vehicles are going to share the same wheel format, which is going to contribute to the 70% part-sharing situation.
What do you think? Let us know in the comment section below.
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