Can this car save Tesla from itself?

Love it or hate it (and there are plenty from both sides) Tesla has been the leading light for electric vehicles. The American brand has been both a technology and sales leader, turning EVs from a futuristic gimmick to a mainstream reality.

But to say the brand has had a turbulent last 12 months would be an enormous understatement. A scarcely believable combination of an aging model line-up and the brand’s CEO suddenly deciding to become one of the world’s most controversial and polarising figures have worked together to help stall the brand’s sales and destroy its image in the eyes of many. Tesla cars and showrooms around the world are being vandalized in the wake of Elon Musk, the brand’s colourful frontman, getting deeply involved in right-wing politics. In the USA he has, seemingly gleefully, sacked thousands of workers and gutted entire government departments, which has (not unsurprisingly) made him a villain in the eyes of many. Even those who used to look to him as a potential ‘saviour’ for planet Earth.

But the political mess in which Musk finds himself, with billions wiped off Tesla’s stock value, is only part of the story of Tesla’s troubled period. The introduction of the Cybertruck, the radical and angular take on a ute, has not had anywhere near the sales impact Musk and his executives would have hoped – and it’s unlikely to be offered here in Australia anytime soon either.

So instead, Tesla Australia is limited to just its two vehicle range – the Model 3 sedan and Model Y SUV. The sedan was given a mid-life refresh in 2024 and now it’s the turn of the SUV. Which brings us to what we’re driving here – the 2025 Tesla Model Y.

This is a make or break vehicle for Tesla in Australia (and potentially the rest of the world), as it needs to arrest the brand’s declining sales amid its image crisis. That won’t be an easy task though, because even putting aside the politics, Tesla is under major threat from a new armada of rivals, in particular cheaper alternatives from Chinese brands. The likes of the BYD Atto 3 and Sealion 7, Deepal S07, Xpeng X6 and even South Korean (but Chinese-built) Kia EV3 and EV5.

So Tesla is off to a bad start, because the new Model Y range – which consists of the Dual Motor Long Range AWD version we’re testing here and a single motor RWD option available too – are more expensive than the pre-facelift models. This 2025 edition is priced from $58,900 for the RWD variant and $68,900 for the Long Range AWD.

Thankfully, Tesla has made some significant changes to help justify the price, starting with the refreshed looks but also include new specification, including new heated and ventilated front seats, improved heated rear seats, an 8-inch infotainment screen in the rear, ambient lighting, acoustic glass, pixel-by-pixel headlights and a new hands-free tailgate that can open on approach.

The visual changes are clearly an evolution of Tesla’s Cybertruck design language, with flatter surfaces front and rear, but these changes sit atop the existing platform – because this is a facelift/update, not an all-new model.
There have been some minor tweaks to the powertrain, but Tesla doesn’t like to publish power and torque figures so it’s unofficial that the RWD makes 220kW of power and 420Nm of torque, while the Long Range reportedly has 331kW/559Nm. That’s enough for the Long Range to sprint 0-100km/h in just 4.8 seconds, which is very, very rapid for a mid-size SUV.

Tesla has also slightly increased the battery performance for longer range, with the RWD capable of a claimed 466km, while the Long Range manages 551km to live up to its name.

The bigger, far more important, mechanical change is to the suspension. The ride was a big area of criticism for the previous Model Y, so Tesla’s engineers have tried to make it a more compliant and comfortable driving experience. They’ve largely succeeded, with the Model Y feeling firm but not fussy over bumps.

Another big area for improvement is cabin refinement, with acoustic glass and low rolling resistance tyres added to help make for a quieter driving experience.

Will this be enough to lure buyers back to the brand turned off by Musk’s politics? That’s a nearly impossible question to answer. Will this be enough to win back buyers who wanted something fresh after the old Model Y got stale? That’s more likely, although the brand does face stiff competition from more and more brands, so it won’t be easy.