The Model Y crossover that Tesla debuted late Thursday in Hawthorne, California, will start being delivered to customers in the fall of next year.
The company immediately began taking $2,500 pre-orders, a bigger ask than the $1,000 it first charged to reserve a Model 3 sedan.
Musk showed off a blue prototype of the mid-sized SUV, which is roughly 10 percent bigger than its best-selling sedan.
Three higher-end versions of the new vehicle will start delivery in fall 2020, with a standard one available in spring 2021, priced at $39,000 and equipped, offering 7 seats, with a 230-mile battery.
Those are impressive specs, but while a new Tesla still feels like a major event, a whole host of family-toting electric SUVs are already on sale or about to come online.
Glitzy debuts for the Jaguar I-Pace, Mercedes-Benz EQC, and Audi E-tron have come and gone.
You can place an order for the mass market Hyundai Kona Electric right now, or pocket your checkbook for another few months, when you should be able to write one for the Kia Niro EV.
Meanwhile, BMW, Porsche, Chinese upstart Byton, and American startup Rivian are working toward rolling out their own zappy SUVs and taking a juicy bite out of a market that Tesla has long dominated.
The Model Y is a logical next step for Tesla, but by the time it goes on sale in fall 2020, it’ll face more competition.
Ford trolled Tesla just ahead of the event with a tweet saying “hold your horses” — a clear reference to its Mustang-inspired electric performance SUV coming in 2020.
Tesla’s announcement did not impress investors since the stock closed down over $14 or 5 percent to $275 on Friday.
The shares are now down over $44 or 14 percent since Elon Musk announced the $35,000 Model 3 version and that the company would be closing almost all of its stores (which it has now halfway reversed).
