Tesla has confirmed that the upcoming Model Y crossover will be assembled at its Fremont factory in California.
Despite unveiling its ‘baby-Model X’ a few months ago, the electric car manufacturer had yet to disclose where it would be built. There was talk that the Model Y could be manufactured at Tesla’s Gigafactory in Nevada, but during a recent podcast, CEO Elon Musk said that current plans call for the Model Y to be built at the same site as the Model 3, Model S and Model X.
“Right now, our default plan actually is to produce the Y at Fremont. I was skeptical about whether this made sense at first, but my team convinced me the fastest way to get to volume production is to do the Y at Fremont,” he said.
Tesla has yet to say if the site will need to be expanded to accommodate the Model Y, though that seems very likely. After all, the company constructed a massive tent in a parking lot at its factory last year as it started to increase production of the entry-level Model 3. If it does have to grow its Fremont site, it certainly has adequate time to do so, as production of the Model Y isn’t set to commence until the second half of 2020.
The Tesla Model Y will be sold in four configurations. The entry-level, Standard Range model will land in spring 2021 and start at $39,000, and will be preceded by the Long Range, Model Y Dual Motor AWD, and the Model Y Performance in fall 2020.