tesla model y

The 2021 Tesla Model Y Standard Range has gone on sale in the US, alongside a long-awaited seven-seat option for the brand's mid-size SUV. Added to Tesla's US online configurator over the weekend, the rear-wheel-drive Model Y Standard Range is priced from US$41,990 (AU$54,500) – some US$8000 less than the previous cheapest Model Y on offer, the US$49,990 (AU$65,000) all-wheel-drive Long Range.

The rear bumper of a Tesla Model 3 was torn off during a storm in Florida earlier this month, once again bringing the build quality of the US-made electric vehicles under scrutiny. Logan Derouanna, who owns the damaged vehicle, told carscoops.com he was decelerating while attempting to change lanes – in heavy rain – when he heard a “huge noise,” and eventually discovered the rear bumper had torn loose, possibly from a build-up of water.

International automotive manufacturing expert Sandy Munro – previously a vocal critic of Tesla – has praised the latest efforts by the electric-car maker in building its new Model Y compact SUV. The upcoming Model Y is based on the brand’s existing Model 3 sedan platform and shares approximately 75 per cent of its components with its smaller sibling to reduce manufacturing cost.

After two profitable quarters, its first in many a moon, Tesla posted a US$702 million ($984 million) loss during the first quarter of 2019. Although red ink was expected, the loss was significantly larger than many analysts and the market had predicted, and ranks as the company's fourth largest quarterly loss so far.

Fisker, the car company founded by designer Henrik Fisker, has released a teaser image of an affordable all-electric crossover to be revealed later this year. Said to feature a "futuristic, elegant muscular look", the new electric SUV has a prominent lower grille and a glass plate for the radar system where a traditional upper grille would normally reside.