New Tesla Model Y L six-seater leaked in China

A new Tesla Model Y L six-seat version has been leaked on China’s Ministry of Industry and Information website, giving us our first undisguised look at the longer, more practical iteration of the American firm’s hugely-popular electric SUV.

The leak not only includes images to give us a look at the Model Y L (‘L’ seemingly standing for ‘long-wheelbase’), but reveals some key technical information, too. Compared to the standard car’s 4,760mm length, the Model Y L is 186mm longer - 150mm of that comes from expanding the distance between the two axles. Tesla has also increased the height of the L version, from 1,624mm to 1,668mm.

Those changes mean that the Model Y L now has space for six occupants with two up front, two in the middle and two in a third row. That’s still not quite as capacious as the old Tesla Model Y model - which came with the option of seven seats. 

If the patent images are anything to go by, the Model Y L will also get a new design of 19-inch wheels, a new boot lip spoiler and a new gold paint finish. 

The patent filing suggests a dual-motor powertrain for the Model Y L with potentially 455bhp - more than the 375bhp output of the AWD dual-motor model we get in the UK. The long-wheelbase version does have to lug around some extra weight, however - 2,088kg compared to the regular-sized car’s 1,997kg kerbweight. 

The addition of a more versatile Model Y should help Tesla’s sales figures over in the crucial Chinese market, where the firm recently experienced a 12 per cent drop in sales over the first half of the year. There’s no word yet on whether the Model Y L will come to the UK, though with BYD recently overtaking Tesla in the UK sales charts here, we might yet see reinforcement of the brand’s mid-sized electric SUV range.

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