- Tesla lowered the lease price of the most affordable Model Y version.
- As a result, the Model Y Long Range Rear-Wheel Drive costs the same to lease as the Model 3 Long Range RWD.
- When buying with cash, the base Model Y is $2,500 more expensive than the Model 3.
Tesla appears to be on an end-of-year incentive spree, at least when it comes to its best-seller, the Model Y crossover.
After offering all sorts of deals, including three months of free access to Superchargers and the so-called Full Self-Driving (Supervised) feature, the American AI and robotics company is making a more meaningful move where it matters the most: customers’ wallets.
Last night, Tesla slashed the monthly lease price for the base Model Y Rear-Wheel Drive crossover by $50, bringing it to the same level as the Model 3 RWD sedan. That’s despite the fact that the entry-level Model Y is $2,500 more expensive to buy than the most affordable Model 3.
Without any incentive in place, the Tesla Model 3 Long Range Rear-Wheel Drive starts at $44,990, while the Model 3 Long Range Rear-Wheel Drive retails for $42,490 excluding destination.
The new lease deal applies to a 36-month contract with a $2,999 down payment and an annual mileage of 10,000 miles. It also means that Tesla is basically subsidizing $1,800 over three years for people who want to get a new Model Y instead of a Model 3–$50 per month for 36 months.
It’s worth noting that Tesla doesn’t offer a buy-out option at the end of their lease agreements, so it might just make more sense to get a Model Y instead of a Model 3 for the same money. It’s slightly bigger than its sedan counterpart and has a hatchback. At the same time, though, it’s getting a bit long in the tooth, whereas the Model got an update this year and has fresher looks. The Model Y’s 337-mile range rating is also lower than the Model 3’s 363 miles, and the zero to 60 miles per hour time of the crossover is 1.6 seconds behind the sedan.
Currently, there’s just one version of the Model 3 that’s more expensive to lease than its Model Y counterpart. The Model 3 Long Range All-Wheel Drive costs $349/month to lease, while the Model Y Long Range AWD is $399/month. The Performance AWD versions of both models cost the same when leasing: $599/month.
