In late 2021 Tesla will start producing the Model Y at Giga Berlin, its new German factory. This model promises to be a real revolution within the European market not only for being a vehicle better adapted to the tastes of the old continent than the Model S, Model X or even the successful Model 3 but also for its manufacturing methods.
According to Elon Musk, the German-produced Model Y will be “a revolution in automotive body engineering.” At the time, the executive promised to build “the world’s most advanced paint shop” in Giga Berlin, but everything seems to indicate that he will also twist the body manufacturing process.
Possibly Musk is referring to an evolution of the “unibody” manufacturing process that Tesla is already employing in the back frame of the Model Y produced in Fremont. It consists of two heavy castings versus the seventy stamped steel pieces welded between them to make up the same structure in Model 3.
This process allows for faster and cheaper manufacturing, and will seemingly go further in the future. Last year a patent was leaked in which you could see that Tesla intends to build entire bodies following this production method thanks to the use of a colossal function machine.
At the moment it is not clear if the Tesla Model Y of German origin will have a body made in a single piece, or if it will simply evolve the solutions already seen in the North American Model (for example, on several occasions Musk has promised that the two pieces that make up the rear structure of the SUV in the short term will become a single piece of function).
Both Europe and China will receive the Model Y once their respective factories (Giga Berlin and Giga Shanghai) start manufacturing it; Tesla also plans to produce the electric SUV at a fourth plant in the heart of the United States to meet demand on the East Coast.