Tesla‘s six-seat Model Y L is starting to show up with more concrete delivery date windows in holders’ order trackers, weeks before the first US customer deliveries are due to begin.
Tesla‘s shareholder and X user Sawyer Merritt, who regularly relays reports from owners, posted screenshots on Friday showing several Model Y L buyers in the US who had just received estimated delivery windows for the first time.
Tesla shareholder and X user Sawyer Merritt, who regularly relays reports from owners, posted screenshots on Friday showing several Model Y L buyers in the US who had just received estimated delivery windows for the first time.
The windows ranged from August 29–September 26 to September 13–September 30, and as far out as October 7–November 18, each tied to a “Start” or “Continue” prompt in the Tesla app asking buyers to complete delivery-related tasks.
It is not clear when any of these particular orders were placed, since Tesla opened US orders for the Model Y L on July 2and neither the order holders nor Merritt specified how long ago each reservation went in.
The spread across the screenshots likely reflects orders placed at different points over the past six weeks now being assigned to different production batches.
As of Friday, a buyer placing a fresh order for the Model Y L, still sold in the Launch Series trim, is being quoted an estimated delivery in ‘December 2026’ — a four-month wait.
Price and Specification
The Model Y L launched in the US at $61,990 for the Launch Series, or $63,380 including the mandatory $1,390 destination charge.
That is about $4,000 above the $57,990 Model Y Performance and roughly $22,000 above the $39,990 rear-wheel-drive Model Y. Analysts had expected a figure closer to $54,000, based on the roughly $4,000 premium the L commands over the standard Model Y in China.
The Launch Series is a fully loaded all-wheel-drive trim bundling one year each of Full Self-Driving (Supervised), Supercharging and Premium Connectivity, along with free choice of paint, interior and wheels, plus Launch Series badging, floor mats, puddle lights, suede dash inserts and sill plates.
The model has a six-seat 2+2+2 layout, about seven inches longer than the standard Model Y, rated at 325 miles of range.
Gap Between Trims
The wait for the Model Y L stands in sharp contrast to the rest of the Model Y lineup.
The Standard RWD and AWD configurations of the regular five-seat Model Y are currently quoting delivery in the October-to-November window.
The Premium RWD and AWD trims, along with the Performance version, show estimates of just four to six weeks.
Two separate factors are at work. The Model Y L’s wait reflects a production ramp for a variant Tesla began building only weeks ago. The Standard trims’ longer queue reflects demand.
California’s MyFirstEV incentive, the point-of-sale rebate the state began rolling out to Tesla buyers on August 3, drove that demand toward the cheapest configurations.
The program knocks $3,500 off a new zero-emission vehicle priced under $50,000. At $61,990, the Model Y L does not qualify.
Tesla burned through its allocated share of the funds in about four days, according to earlier reporting.
Built in Texas, Not Shipped From China
The Model Y L for American buyers is built at Gigafactory Texas.
The first US-built example rolled off the line there in early July, days after orders opened, and display units began reaching stores and showrooms in late July.
The variant was developed for China, where it launched in August 2025 and has since expanded to Australia, New Zealand, India and several Southeast Asian markets. Elon Musk said that month that it would not enter production in the United States, and later that it would not arrive before the end of 2026, if at all.
Tesla brought it forward.
A bare body-in-white was spotted at Giga Texas in the spring, a camouflaged car was seen testing on Interstate 280 in California, and a completed unit appeared under covers at the Texas plant in May.
The constraint on US deliveries is therefore domestic.
Giga Texas is ramping the L on a site that also builds the standard Model Y, the Cybertruck and the Cybercab, and the factory underwent tooling changes to accommodate it.
