A six-seat, long-wheelbase version of the China-only Tesla Model Y has been leaked on the country’s Ministry of Industry and Information website, providing a glimpse at a bigger, more practical version of 2023’s best-selling car.
Dubbed the Tesla Model Y L – the ‘L’ standing for ‘long-wheelbase’ – is 18.6cm longer than the regular Model Y, measuring in at 4.7 metres long. Height has also increased from 1.6m to 1.7m.
The changes in size indicated that the Tesla Model Y L can now accomodate six with two up front, two three in the middle, and two in a third row. Despite the longer wheelbase, the Model Y L doesn’t house seven like its predecessor.
Based on the recently-facelifted Tesla Model Y, the leaked images show that the long-wheelbase car has 19-inch wheels, a new boot lip spoiler, and a soft gold paint finish.
The patent for the Tesla Model Y long-wheelbase suggests a twin-motor powetrain with up to 455bhp, a significant hike on the Euro-spec 375bhp AWD dual-motor. However, the Model Y LWB weighs in at 2,088 kilograms over the standard car’s 1,997kg.
The Model 7 long-wheelbase should help Tesla regain some ground in the Chinese market, where it has undergone a 12% drop in sales during the first half of 2025. There is no news as to whether it will becoming to the UK, where the company was marginally overtaken by BYD in UK sales earlier this year.
While BYD shifed more cars than Tesla with 7,231 units to 7,165, Tesla sold its 250,00th UK car in March this year, 11 years after it introduced the Model S. In terms of rivals, the China-only (for now) Xiaomi YU7 looks to be one of the Tesla Model Y LWB’s strongest competitors with a starting price of around 253,000 Chinese yuan; roughly £26,000.
The YU7, in top-tier form, produces up to 680bhp. Yet like the Model Y LWB, there is no news whether the YU7 – or the Xiaomi brand as a whole – will hit UK shores.
