China-Only? Not Anymore — Tesla’s 6-Seat Model Y L Spotted in Europe; Range Revealed

In a relatively surprising change, the long-wheelbase, premium Model Y L has been spotted getting tested in Germany at the Nürburgring, suggesting that the new 6-seat vehicle is destined for a global launch, and not just the Chinese market.

This exciting news comes just as the first official powertrain specifications for the Model Y L were unveiled in a public regulatory filing in China, giving us the most complete picture of the upcoming Model Y L.

The European Prototype

The prototype of the new Model Y L was seen undergoing road testing near Germany’s famous ‘Ring, a common proving ground for new vehicles being prepared for the European market. Tesla tests every single one of their new vehicles that’s destined for global sales there, as we’ve most recently seen with the recently released 2026 Model S and the upcoming Model Y Performance.

The appearance of a physical prototype in Europe is an indicator of Tesla’s intentions here. Vehicle testing and homologation for European roads is a costly and deliberate process, and the manufacturer wouldn’t take it on if they were planning on the model to be exclusively for China. This strongly suggests that a launch in Europe is being planned, which means that we will likely see a North American launch as well.

Official Specs Revealed

While the camouflage prototype logs miles in Germany, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) website was updated with a report that details the first concrete numbers we’ve seen for powertrain specs for the new variant, following the official unveiling of the Model Y L last month.

Model Y L

In short, Tesla is using an 82kWh LG battery using NMC battery chemistry. Here’s what the range sheet looks like, based on the CLTC range.

Model 3+

The Model 3+, a variant that’s exclusive to China, also had its powertrain specs detailed in the same filing, using a similar LG pack, coming in at a whopping 78 kWh, and being an RWD vehicle, it is insanely efficient.

A Note on CLTC vs EPA Ranges

The official range figures are based on China’s CLTC standard, which is known to be significantly more generous and optimistic than the EPA standard used in North America. To get a more realistic EPA-equivalent figure, the CLTC figures should be dropped by approximately 30%.

The North American Question

The combination of a European testing program and a finalized powertrain from a global battery manufacturer suggests that a North American launch for the Model Y L is a very strong possibility. While there has been no official confirmation from Tesla, a six-seater Model Y with a more spacious third row and ample cargo capacity would fill a key gap in the company’s lineup. We recently covered that the Model Y L 6-seater is expected to have second-row (and third-row) seats that fold flat, something even Tesla’s Model X doesn’t provide.

The Model Y L offers a far more family-friendly alternative than the current Model Y, all without the premium markup of the Model X.

What was thought to be a China-only vehicle just a short time ago is now shaping up to potentially be Tesla’s next major global vehicle launch. With a prototype in Germany and specs revealing the vehicle’s range, the Model Y L will be a serious contender for family vehicles in North America, Europe, and China.

We recently also took a look at leaked photos of the interior of the Model Y L and created a list of all the features that the vehicle will include.

It’s a situation many Tesla owners have likely encountered: you get out of the car and lock it, but a passenger with their phone key stays inside. You might walk away assuming the car is locked and secure, but because a key is still detected nearby, the doors can be opened from the outside.

Now, a new undocumented feature in software update 2025.26 is alerting users to this issue and clearly showing that the vehicle doors can still be opened.

New Alert UI

When you remotely lock the vehicle while a phone key is detected inside or near the vehicle, Tesla will now alert users inside and outside the vehicle.

On the touchscreen, there’s now a new glowing animation that lets users know that the vehicle can still be opened from the outside due to a phone key being nearby. This is shown near lock buttons in the status bar and above the vehicle.

On the outside, users will also be alerted when the vehicle can still be opened. Tesla will flash the hazard lights twice, and the mirrors will not fold in as they usually do.

New Animation explaining Phone Key is still nearby vehicle when you remotely lock it! pic.twitter.com/F7P1dOQ7tl

— Bennett (@_bennettm_) August 7, 2025

Details and Model Support

Beyond just informing the passengers, the new interface also provides a solution. There’s a drop-down menu, similar to the ‘Unlock Doors’ menu, that says “Doors can still be opened. Phone key is nearby.” Users are given the option to “Lock Doors,” which disables automatic unlocking of the doors from the outside.

The system appears to work by using a combination of seat sensors and possibly the cabin radar to detect that a person is still inside the car, along with Bluetooth to determine the distance of the phone key. This feature is not exclusive to vehicles with ultra-wideband and is available on older vehicles as well.

Locking and unlocking doors can definitely get a little tricky when it involves multiple people and multiple phone keys. Adding in a few more alerts is a good thing as you don’t want to encounter a situation when you think the vehicle is locked, but someone can open it from the outside due to a phone key being inside the vehicle.

The functionality of this feature is a bit vague, but we were able to reproduce it on a 2025 Model Y and a 2018 Model 3 – but not on the Cybertruck.

With the big 10x parameter FSD update next month, we’re learning new things about what will be included. This time, Elon Musk has confirmed that the next major FSD update will substantially reduce the need for driver attention. In FSD update v13.2.9, Tesla introduced a short grace period before warning the driver, but otherwise, Tesla’s driver monitoring requirements have been fairly strict since vision-based monitoring was first introduced in FSD update v12.4.

The fact that Tesla is looking to reduce the monitoring requirements could be a sign of confidence in the next FSD update, which will include massive changes. Musk has now officially confirmed that this next FSD update will be FSD v14.

This will substantially reduce the need for driver attention, but some complex intersections, heavy weather or unusual events will still require attention.

Note, the Austin robotaxi FSD build is ~6 months more advanced than what is available in cars in America and there are…

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 8, 2025

Still Supervised, For Now

While a substantial reduction in driver attention is one of the goals, Elon was quick to provide a crucial, albeit realistic, caveat. FSD is still in the hands of users, and it’s meant to be supervised. He stated that some complex intersections, heavy weather, or edge cases will still require the driver’s attention. Drivers will remain ready to take over at any time.

This helps to manage expectations and confirms that while Tesla is extremely confident in this build with higher capabilities and safety, it remains a supervised system that requires the driver to be alert and ready to take over when needed.

There appear to be two driving factors behind Tesla’s reasoning for reduced driver monitoring. One is the increased capabilities of the new FSD build. While the other is keeping passengers safe while they perform simple actions that require their attention.

Tesla’s AI team noted that people often turn off FSD to grab their phone and check a message, change a song, or change their destination – and will then re-enable FSD, all in the name of avoiding a strike. Musk stated that this is obviously more dangerous than just leaving FSD engaged, so they’re trying to strike a balance between proper driver monitoring and keeping passengers safe.

What’s Coming

The Austin Robotaxi FSD build is about six months more advanced than what is available today on customer vehicles. Tesla’s latest FSD release for customers was FSD v13.2.9, which was released back in May, but we have to go all the way back to November 2024 before we see any major improvements, which were launched with FSD v13.2.

This tells us that Tesla has been hard at work behind the scenes, working on FSD improvements that we haven’t seen outside of the Robotaxi (a list of FSD improvements we’ve seen on the Robotaxi). Elon previously mentioned that Robotaxi’s Austin-specific quirks shouldn’t make it into the generalized build going to customers, nor into future Robotaxi builds, but as generally learned edge cases.

With that said, the 10x parameter FSD update should help the car feel far more human – eerily human, according to Elon.

While it’s not full, unsupervised autonomy quite yet, Elon’s comments and excitement show that there will be major improvements in the next FSD update, which is now being called FSD v14.

Musk previously stated that he expects FSD Unsupervised to be available in select cities this year, which likely means they’ll be based on this next build.