Tesla kills $41,990 Model Y AWD: all-wheel drive now costs $8,000 more

Tesla has pulled the $41,990 Model Y All-Wheel Drive from its US online configurator. The cheapest dual-motor Model Y you can order now is the Model Y Premium AWD at $49,990, an $8,000 jump.

The trim lasted just over nine months. Tesla launched it in early February, and it’s gone without a word from the company.

What’s left in the Model Y lineup

Here’s what Tesla’s US Model Y design studio lists as of today (prices before the destination fee):

Model Y Rear-Wheel Drive: $39,990 (348 miles EPA, 0-60 mph in 6.8 seconds)

Model Y Premium Rear-Wheel Drive: $45,990 (355 miles, 5.4 seconds)

Model Y Premium All-Wheel Drive: $49,990 (327 miles, 4.3 seconds)

Model Y Performance: $57,990

Model Y L Premium (six seats): $61,990

When Tesla launched the base Model Y AWD in February, it was basically the stripped-down Model Y with a second motor. It had 294 miles of range, did 0-60 mph in 4.6 seconds and kept the same cut-down cabin as the base RWD. At a $2,000 premium over the single-motor version, it was the most sensible AWD pricing Tesla had offered in years.

And the AWD trim isn’t the only change. In February, the Premium RWD cost $44,990 and the Premium AWD cost $48,990. Both are now $1,000 higher.

Add it up and the cheapest all-wheel-drive Model Y went from $41,990 to $49,990 in nine months. That’s a 19% increase.

Rivals still sell AWD crossovers for about $40,000

The timing isn’t great for Tesla’s competitive position. Chevrolet’s 2027 Equinox EV LT 1 AWD starts at $40,295 before destination, with 307 miles of EPA range. Ford’s Mustang Mach-E Select AWD starts at $40,795.

Both now undercut Tesla’s cheapest AWD crossover by more than $9,000.

If you live somewhere it snows and you were shopping for a new Model Y, the math just got a lot worse. You can still find some base AWD units in Tesla’s inventory, but once those are gone, that’s it.

This is also the latest cut in a year of Tesla shrinking its lineup. Elon Musk killed the Model S and Model X in January to free up Fremont for Optimus, and Cybertruck production is winding down. Meanwhile, the most recent new Tesla is the $61,990 Model Y L, which sits at the top of the range, not the bottom.

Electrek’s Take

We liked this trim. It was the first time in a long time that Tesla treated all-wheel drive as a $2,000 option rather than a huge upsell bundled with a nicer interior, and it put the Model Y right in the price bracket of the Equinox EV and Mach-E with AWD.

Now it’s gone, and the Premium trims went up $1,000 on top of that. Tesla didn’t explain either move. It rarely does anymore.

There are two plausible reasons. Either Tesla is tight on Model Y build slots and would rather fill them with higher-margin Premium trims, or the cheap AWD simply wasn’t selling. We don’t know which. But both explanations land in the same place for buyers: a more expensive Model Y.

And Tesla has a habit of this. The “Standard” name for its cheaper Model Y and Model 3 lasted a few months. The single-motor Cybertruck, the only version that made sense, was gone within days. Cheaper trims show up, get a news cycle, and quietly disappear.

That’s a problem for a company whose consumer lineup is shrinking down to two cars. The Model Y is Tesla’s volume. Thinning it out at the bottom is the opposite of what you’d do if growing EV sales were the priority.

How long before the $39,990 RWD goes the same way?