Tesla has a talent for making things look simple on the surface while burying the complexity underneath. The new Model Y All-Wheel Drive is a textbook example. Priced at $41,990, it slides into the US lineup between the base Rear-Wheel Drive and the pricier Premium tiers. A quiet but deliberate move to make sure no wallet goes unaddressed.
On paper, the pitch is straightforward. You get dual motors without being forced into the full Premium package. The EPA-estimated range comes in at 294 miles, a noticeable drop from the 321 miles the base RWD manages. That’s the trade-off. But the Model Y AWD earns its keep in the acceleration department, hitting 0-60 mph in 4.6 seconds flat, compared to a leisurely 4.5 seconds for the RWD. The difference is stark enough to feel, not just read about.
Along with the new variant, Tesla has quietly retired the “Standard” label across both the US and Canadian markets. What used to be called the Model Y Standard is now simply the Model Y RWD. Clean, clinical, and a little harder to position as the budget option when the name doesn’t say so anymore.
The full US Model Y lineup now breaks down like this: RWD at $39,990, the new AWD at $41,990, Premium RWD at $44,990, Premium AWD at $48,990, and Performance AWD topping the range at $57,490.
The gap between base and Premium remains where the real hardware story lives. Base models run a 69 kWh battery and 18-inch steel wheels. Premium bumps that to 78.1 kWh, swaps in 19-inch aluminum wheels, upgrades to full-size adaptive LED headlights, and adds a 15-speaker audio system with a subwoofer. The interior follows suit: full vegan leather, heated and ventilated front seats, electrically folding rear seats, an 8-inch rear touchscreen, and a fully exposed panoramic glass roof replace the more modest Standard setup.
Europe gets its own five-variant lineup, though it diverges from the American version with the inclusion of an RWD Long Range option. Canada, meanwhile, watches from the sidelines. The new naming convention arrives, but the new AWD variant does not. At least, not yet.
