Tesla Model Y due sooner than expected

Tesla Motors finally appears to be turning a corner, with the US EV brand posting its second quarterly profit in a row and saying production of the Tesla Model Y will be released months ahead of schedule.

The all-new mid-size SUV is now forecast to arrive in the US “by the end of Q1 2020”, but it’s not yet known when first Australian deliveries will take place.

In October, Tesla said the Model Y, its fourth model line, would be launched in mid-2020 rather than around October as originally planned.

The revised Tesla Model Y release timing was announced in the company’s fourth-quarter 2019 earnings report, which stated Tesla recorded its second consecutive quarterly profit and outlined a $US105 million ($A155m) net profit in the final three months of 2019.

Thanks partly to the completion of its Chinese Gigafactory in Shanghai, Tesla says it has improved operating leverage and cost efficiencies, which should allow it to reach an “industry-leading operating margin”.

Earlier this month, Tesla was named the world’s most valuable automotive brand.

“2019 was a turning point for Tesla,” said the company. “We demonstrated strong organic demand for Model 3, returned to GAAP profitability and generated USD$1.1b of free cash flow for the year.”

Tesla says Model Y production has already begun in its Fremont facility in California, alongside the Model 3 on which it’s based, where there is initial combined production capacity of 400,000 cars per year.

Production of the Model 3 started in China in December and the Model Y will be produced there from 2021. Avoiding tariffs for imported vehicles, Tesla built its first Gigafactory outside the US in just 10 months.

The Shanghai facility, which has annual production capacity of 500,000 vehicles and could also produce a small China-only model, is expected to make China the world’s biggest EV market and Tesla’s biggest market.

Tesla said it expects to easily deliver more than half a million vehicles in 2020.

Tesla’s quarterly report also outlined new details surrounding the brand’s smaller new SUV, which will also be built in Berlin and is expected to become Tesla’s top-seller globally.

All-wheel drive variants (Dual Motor and Performance, which can hit 100km/h in as little as 3.7sec) will now offer a US EPA range of 507km – up from 450km. In Australia, Tesla states the Model Y’s maximum range at 540km, which is claimed to be the longest of any SUV on the road.

Meantime last week, Tesla said a petition for North America’s road transport authority, NHTSA, to recall half a million of its vehicles due to unintended acceleration problems was baseless.

“This petition is completely false and was brought by a Tesla short-seller,” said the company in a statement on January 20.

“We investigate every single incident where the driver alleges to us that their vehicle accelerated contrary to their input, and in every case where we had the vehicle's data, we confirmed that the car operated as designed.

“In other words, the car accelerates if, and only if, the driver told it to do so, and it slows or stops when the driver applies the brake.”