By Dylan Petrello '21
On Thursday, after much anticipation, Elon Musk finally unveiled what his newest electric SUV, the Model Y, looks like. As car buyers in the United States have slowly been transitioning from sedans to SUVs, Tesla expects this to be their best selling model. Musk stated in January to investors on a conference call that he expects “The demand for the Model Y will be maybe 50% higher than the Model 3 - could be even double.” Tesla has already been producing the Model X, which has a market price at more than $100,000 yet doesn’t account for much of a percentage of their sales. Musk, however, has stated that the Model Y will be within a price range of $40,000 to $50,000. This unveiling is a part of an increasing trend as US consumers switch from sedans to SUVs. Many SUV focused companies, such as Jeep and Subaru, have seen increases in SUV sales by 20% and 26% over the past three years, respectively. Companies such as Cadillac, that are mainly Sedan focused, have seen sales drop by 8% over the past few years. Now, these companies are rushing to produce SUVs, which means Tesla should be expecting competition from many other automakers which are starting to make their own electric SUVs. Many analysts even believe that the main reason electric cars haven’t fully taken off is because of the fact that they have only been available largely as sedans. This increasing market for electric SUVs should result in an increasing trend towards electric cars in the near future.Given the instability and controversy over Tesla and Musk over the past couple of months, this new model could be the make or break for the electric automobile juggernaut. While projections for the Model Y are high, with some even believing it could potentially be the best selling SUV in the United States, Tesla’s instability and history of not delivering what it promised could ultimately get in the way, especially if it suffers from the same issues as the Model 3 and Model X, in terms of delivering consistent quality. This leaves the future of this Model highly uncertain, so all that can be done now is wait. Musk expects the Model Y to go on sale soon, with a long-range model being released in fall 2020 and a standard-range model announced for 2021. I personally believe that Tesla will be able to follow through with their promises as Elon Musk has remained ultimately trustworthy despite controversy, and the new Model Y should be a big turnaround for the company.Sources:https://www.cnn.com/2019/03/14/tech/elon-musk-tesla-modey/index.htmlhttps://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/tesla-model-y-crossover-suv-unveilehttps://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-02-22/americans-don-t-just-want-suvs-anymore-they-need-the