Hours before the launch of Tesla’s Model Y, Elon Musk’s electric vehicle company posted a tantalizing teaser of the compact SUV that’s been almost four years in the making.
This would be the best look EV fans have ever gotten of the Model Y, aside from a slew of renders, but there’s still much more to come.
The brief video clip appeared across Tesla’s social media accounts on Thursday and showed the Model Y wrapped in a matte black cover in pearlescent garage. It amassed almost 3,000 retweets and nearly 130,000 likes on Instagram within an hour.
The description is short but provides crucial information for anyone interested in tuning in to see Model Y’s live unveiling.
“Model Y Thurs 8pm PDT,” read the caption followed by a link to Tesla’s livestream landing page. The reactions were for the most part a mix of excited reaction GIFs with a good dose of heart-eye and fire emojis. And for good reason, the Model Y is expected to add much more depth to Tesla’s current EV roster.
The entry-level car is set to help expand Tesla from a premium automaker to reach a broader market, the same goal as the Model 3 that arrived in July 2017 and the Pickup Truck set for an unveiling later this year. The base price for the Model Y could be about $38,500, and it might also be the catalyst that revolutionizes driving as we know it.
It could be the company’s first-ever vehicle to ship with fully autonomous driving straight from launch day. CEO Elon Musk said in an interview last month that the company will offer “feature complete” autonomous driving sometime this year, before moving to fall-asleep-at-the-wheel levels by the end of next year.
Tesla first outlined its full autonomy plans in October 2016, when it launched the “Hardware 2” platform. That included an array of cameras, radar, ultrasonic sensors, and GPS capable of one day supporting self-driving cars.
The upcoming vehicle could be the first Tesla model to launch with the “Hardware 3” suit right from day one. It could be the jumping point for when Tesla begins focusing on bringing car autonomy to the larger consumer market instead of the driving experience.
