Sad news for big families: Tesla Model Y seven-seat unlikely for Australia – for now anyway

April 9, 2025April 8, 2025 Toby Hagon 4352 Views 0 Comments model y, Tesla

The Tesla Model Y is unlikely to make the seven-seat family car leap in Australia – at least not for a few years.

Tesla Australia country director Thom Drew says the Model Y seven-seater is not on the cards for Australia any time soon for one simple reason: the Chinese factory that supplies Model Y to Australia doesn’t yet manufacture them with a third row of seats.

“It’s not built at our Chinese factory,” confirmed Drew when asked by EV Central why we don’t get the Model Y seven-seater.

While Model Ys made in the US are offered in the American market with a third row of seats, the Chinese market apparently decided against it.

“The Chinese didn’t think it was appropriate for their market because it’s quite small in the back,” admitted Drew of the Model Y’s very back row.

In that way the top-selling Tesla is a lot like a Nissan X-Trail, Mitsubishi Outlander or Honda CR-V in being more of an occasional seven-seater rather than something you’d regularly fill up with humans.

Drew added that the Model Y seven-seater is “not in the plans right now”.

So, does that rule out a Model Y seven-seater years down the track?

“If they make a different variant perhaps, that could work,” he said.

But the message we got was that a seven-seat Model Y is unlikely to appear on Australian roads any time soon.

Tesla Model Y seven-seat layout — Tesla Model Y seven-seater: it’s tight, but it’d be one of the most affordable seven-seat electric cars on the market.

It’s a shame, because it would add to the appeal of what is already a very popular EV.

Seven-seat electric SUVs are a rarity on the Australian market, especially at the more affordable end of the market.

Mercedes-Benz sells the EQB, which is priced from $90,000 plus on-road costs, while the Kia EV9 is $97,000 plus on-roads.

Not that being limited to five seats has stopped the Model Y from being the top selling electric car in the country – and one of Australia’s most popular SUVs.

Tesla says early orders for the updated Model Y – codenamed Juniper – are strong and that it expects a sales bounce when first deliveries start in May.

That’s something an increasing number of rivals – from the BYD Sealion 7 and Kia EV5 to the Polestar 4 and Toyota bZ4X – may not want to hear.

Even in runout, the soon-to-be-replaced Model Y is a hot seller.

In the first three months of the year Aussies have bought 3114 of them.

While that’s a big drop from the same time last year, it’s almost triple the sales of the nearest medium SUV competitor – the Kia EV5 – and accounts for about one in six electric cars sold in Australia.

The updated Model Y is priced from $63,400 plus on-road costs and gets a sharper look with a Cybertruck-inspired nose and innovative car-width reflected light bar at the back.

It also adds ambient cabin lighting, electrically folding back seats, a rear infotainment screen and ventilated front seats to an already-generous level of standard gear that includes power adjustable front seats, heated front and rear seats, panoramic sunroof, matrix LED headlights and a powered tailgate.

First deliveries of the updated Model Y are due within weeks.