The refresh, or Highland Model 3 began with engineering test vehicles being spotted near Giga Texas and the Fremont factory in California. Similarly, this covered-up Model Y was spotted near Pasadena, California.
Given the timelines we saw for the new Model 3, this prototype for the Model Y appears to be following a trajectory for an early to mid-2025 launch. Engineering test vehicles for the new Model 3 were first spotted in North America about 6-8 months prior to its introduction to China. After its initial release in Chinese, the vehicle was later released in North America just a few months later.
If timelines for Project Juniper are similar to what we saw for the Model 3, we should expect to see more engineering test vehicles on the road in North America soon.
The vehicle is expected to be released in China first, with a North American and European arrival following sometime after. While the Performance variant of the new Model 3 didn’t launch until April of 2024, several months after the Long Range version was available in North America, it’s not clear whether Tesla will follow a similar strategy and launch the Long Range version of the new Model Y before the Performance model.
Front Bumper Camera
There was a lot of speculation about the refreshed Model 3 coming with a front bumper camera, but so far the Cybertruck is the only Tesla vehicle that includes a bumper camera and a camera washer (video). While updated versions of the Model S and Model X are also expected to add the lower-bumper camera, so also have yet to go on sale as well.
It’s not clear why Tesla didn’t launch the new camera with the new Model 3 since the bumper was already being redesigned and the factories were being retooled. However, according to the spy shot of the updated Model Y, it looks like it could be Tesla’s second vehicle to include the bumper camera. TeslaNewswire shared a photo of the Model Y with the brightness increased which appears to reveal the new front bumper camera. The location is exactly where you’d expect, very similar to the Cybertruck and similar to early shots of the prototype Model 3 that also contained the bumper camera.
It’s not clear whether this additional camera will make it into the production version, but it’s at least a sign that Tesla is considering adding this camera to another model.
Musk Asks People to Stop
Elon Musk replied to Sawyer Merritt on X (Twitter), not only reiterating that the refreshed Model Y will not be released this year. He also asked people to stop hinting that it will be since it damages Tesla’s sales of the current vehicle.
Musk reiterates that the new Model Y will not launch in 2024
kylaschwaberow/X
Potential Upgrades
While the release of the new Model Y may be about a year out in North America – there is a chance that the updated Model Y Juniper could show up with Hardware 5 sensors and computers. Elon Musk estimated that HW5, now dubbed AI5 was about 12-18 months away from production. The new Model Y could be the vehicle that debuts the new FSD package.
Of course, all of the rest of the upgrades that came with the updated Model 3 will all likely come to the Model Y – a new front and rear fascia, new adaptive headlights, increased range, ambient lighting, new colors, new speakers, and better dynamics in general. Package all of that up with what was already the best-selling car in 2023, and we’ve got a hit on our hands.
Subscribe
Subscribe to our newsletter to stay up to date on the latest Tesla news, upcoming features and software updates.
Tesla has issued an OTA recall for the Cybertruck – unsurprisingly, one that has already been fixed for customer vehicles. We’ll expand on the recall a little later, but more importantly, the recall filing revealed that Tesla has now built and sold 27,185 Foundation-Series Cybertrucks for customers.
OTA Recall
The OTA recall – which was issued in update 2024.32.5.2 and above, covered an issue that could delay the rearview camera being displayed on the dashboard.
This would occur if the Cybertruck was powered on, and then quickly shifted to reverse. The rearview camera would not come up on screen within the prescribed 2-second timeframe.
According to the NHTSA filing, Tesla has already fixed this via the OTA update, and the rearview camera will now display within that 2-second timeframe as required going forward. This was another easy OTA fix for Tesla.
Not a Tesla App
27k Cybertrucks
The filing also revealed that Tesla has produced and delivered approximately 27 thousand Foundation-Series Cybertrucks through September 14th. Tesla has been producing the Cybertruck for approximately 11 months now, with the 12-month anniversary coming up on November 13th.
Elon Musk previously mentioned that Tesla intends to produce approximately 375,000 trucks per year to compete with the ICE pickup market. Today, Tesla produces 1.7 million Model 3 and Model Y vehicles per year, and about 80,000 Model S and Model X vehicles a year.
Overall, that 27 thousand over a year is only the start of production, and as Tesla expands and improves its production lines, we can expect that number to continue growing at a rapid pace. With the Foundation Series ending and Tesla opening up invites for reservation holders to configure their non-FS Cybertruck, that number is only expected to increase. The non-FS Cybertruck is priced at $79,990, $20k less than the Foundation Series. The Cybertruck will also become eligible for the Canadian iZEV Heavy EV Rebate.
This puts the Cybertruck in an excellent spot in the future—and it has already outsold its EV competitors in the same market. We’re looking forward to seeing how fast Tesla meets the upcoming demand for non-Foundation Series Cybertrucks.
Tesla has released software update 2024.38 to its employees for its last round of internal testing. We now have preliminary release notes for this update.
It looks like this update will be smaller and focus on two main changes. However, keep in mind that there could be additional features that may only apply to certain regions or vehicles that are not mentioned here.
The two features are the ability to use Spotify with a free Spotify account (still requiring Premium Connectivity), and improvements to the vehicle’s side mirror functions.
We’ve recently been able to confirm these changes with an employee.
Spotify
Since Premium Connectivity’s free Spotify Premium (for Europeans only) is going the way of the dodo, it looks like Tesla and Spotify will now allow you to log in to your Spotify account with a free account, at least in Europe and Australia. Tesla also recently announced that vehicles in North America that use the “Streaming” app will now be changed to a free version of Slacker that will include ads and other limitations.
If the ability to use Spotify for free is limited to Europe and Australia, where these users already had free access to Spotify Premium, then this isn’t a huge deal. However, if Tesla and Spotify now allow you to stream Spotify in your vehicle with a free account, that will be a huge win for many owners. The free version of Spotify has limited skips and includes ads. Other music services require you to have a premium or paid subscription before allowing you to stream in the vehicle. In either case, you’ll still need Tesla’s Premium Connectivity plan to stream music over the vehicle’s connection, or you could use your phone’s hotspot feature.
Side Mirrors
The side mirrors are finally getting some additional customization options with two improvements.
First, you will now be able to customize the side mirror’s tilt when reversing. By default, a Tesla’s side mirrors will angle downwards while reversing to provide a better perspective of what’s close to the edges of your vehicle, rather than your blind spots. You’ll now be able to customize the level of tilt when this happens. To adjust the tilt angle, go to Controls > Mirrors > Adjust Tilt Position.
This will help folks who are either taller or shorter than the norm – you’ll now be able to customize the angles to better suit you. It’s a simple update, but a much-appreciated one!
Next up for the side mirrors – you’ll be able to fold them in the quick menu. That’s the menu that pops up when you press and hold down the left scroll wheel. You’ll also be able to unfold them from the quick menu as well.
Other Updates
Similar to other recent updates, Tesla now has an Other Updates section where they list smaller features that don’t warrant their own release notes.
In this section, Tesla outlines four improvements, although only two are noteworthy. One of them is the ability to manually fold the side mirrors using the quick function that we talked about above and the other is improvements to the WiFi menu. The four points Tesla mentions in their release notes are:
- The Wi-Fi menu provides more information about your Wi-Fi connection as well as tips for improving your connection.
- Hold down the left scroll wheel and select Fold Mirrors to fold the mirrors in or out.
- This update contains important security fixes and improvements
- This version contains minor fixes and improvements
This update is expected to start rolling out to users in the next week or two, so it won’t take long now before we have the full release notes for this update available.
_300w.png)
![Elon talks about Twitter and job cuts at Bloomberg forum [video]](https://www.notateslaapp.com/images/news/2022/elon-musk-qatar-forum_300w.jpg)
