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Tesla is offering new lease terms for the 'Juniper' Model Y, looking to spur sales of its best selling vehicle.
Both Long Range Rear-Wheel Drive and Long Range All-Wheel Drive Model Y versions are now being offered with $1,000 down on leases versus the $3,000 down previously listed on Tesla's website. The Long-Range RWD is now $459/month with $1,000 down versus the $3,000 down previously listed on Tesla's website. The Long-Range AWD is $499 a month with $1,000 down. The lease stipulates 36 months and 10,000 miles/year. The final upfront price does not include taxes and fees and the "due at signing" amount. Monthly payments for leases tend to be lower compared to auto loans, according to Experian. And CEO Elon Musk has mentioned several times in earnings calls that monthly payments are the biggest factors in driving sales.
Deliveries of the Model Y, the most popular electric vehicle in the U.S., fell sequentially to 64,051 in the first quarter of this year, down from 85,506 in the fourth quarter of last year, a 25% drop, according to an estimate provided by Cox Automotive. That said, that drop was not unexpected as consumers held off on purchases as they waited for the 2026 (the official model year) Model Y, which began deliveries in volume in April. And as Tesla retooled its factories and temporarily stopped production of the Y.
CEO Elon Musk said on Tuesday of last week that Tesla is experiencing a "major rebound in demand" during an interview on CNBC. He cited a "global factory changeover for the model Y" that "required factory shutdown across the world," as one of the reasons for the slowdown in the first quarter. Anecdotal evidence in Los Angeles, a key market for Tesla, shows the new Model Y quickly appearing on highways.
The Model Y is expected to take a leading role in the rollout of the unsupervised Full-Self Driving, aka Robotaxi, in Austin, Texas in June. The Robotaxi service will initially involve a small fleet of Tesla-owned Model Y vehicles operating in geofenced areas - not unlike Waymo's service. Musk says this will scale up quickly, however.