Tesla is preparing to enter limited trial production of the new Model Y “Juniper” refresh in its Shanghai factory on October 22nd, according to a Chinese car blogger.

Tesla released its “Highland” Model 3 refresh last August, and it was a much more significant overhaul than we were expecting.

The headline features were a new front-end, more efficiency, and a quieter cabin. But there were a lot of other interior improvements as well (and one big de-provement, the deletion of steering column stalks).

Since then, there has been speculation that a Model Y refresh is coming soon. While the Model Y is not currently as old as the Model 3 was when it received its refresh, it stands to reason that there would be a number of people who are now waiting for a potential Model Y refresh before buying the car.

So Tesla likely feels more of a sense of urgency to update the Model Y, which is their (and the world’s) best-selling vehicle after all. The more people think a refresh is coming soon, the more they might push off buying decisions.

And while Tesla said there’s no Model Y refresh coming “this year”, the year is almost over now, and we’ve seen plenty of indications of it coming soon throughout the year.

In recent months, we have seen a camouflaged prototype clearly sporting a new “highland-like” front end and leaked uncamouflaged pictures of parts of the prototype.

Now there’s more potential news, in the form of a report from a Chinese car blogger who said trial production will begin this week in Tesla’s Shanghai gigafactory.

The rumor was first posted by 胖虎Shawn (Fat Tiger Shawn), a Chinese car blogger, on Weibo.

However, production will reportedly start slow, at a rate of just 12 vehicles a day, and with strict restrictions on factory workers making the unannounced upgraded model. It is not likely for the car to be available before the end of the year, as Tesla would put its focus on shoring up its Q4 numbers with its usual end-of-quarter rush.

This also meshes with previous supply chain reports we’ve seen suggesting the refresh would be available in Q1 of 2025.

Producing the car in Shanghai first also would suggest that it may not be available in North America before elsewhere. As was the case with the Model 3, the refresh came to Europe four months before it came to the US. So if this report is true, we may be waiting for even longer on this side of the pond (either that, or Austin and Fremont have better infosec than Shanghai does…).

While we don’t yet know the details of the refresh, we can imagine that many of the changes from the Model 3 would be carried over to the Model Y.

In spy photos, the front end already looks to be carried over, and it might receive similar efficiency improvements from improved aerodynamics. A quieter interior from higher use of acoustic glass seems likely, and most of the interior improvements also seem like they would carry over. That probably also includes the steering column stalk deletion, so if you’re looking for a Model Y with stalks, you don’t have a lot of time left (feel free to use our referral link in that case).

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