Yesterday, we told you about the Big News about Tesla’s cheaper cars, which are de-contented versions of the Model 3 and Model Y, called the Model 3 and Model Y Standard. Tesla cheapness engineers took out a number of things from the entry-model cars, including power mirror controls, audio system speakers, front and rear light bars, used fabric seat upholstery instead of leather, and, in the case of the Model Y Standard, eliminated the panoramic glass roof. Well, that’s not exactly right; they eliminated the ability of the people in the car to use the glass roof, which is not exactly the same thing as replacing the glass panel with a lighter and cheaper material, like steel or plastic. It’s much, much worse.
Let me be clear about something here right off the bat: I think that Tesla knows exactly what they’re doing, and the solution they arrived at was the one that met the goals of saving as much money as possible on the building of these cars. As counterintuitive as their roof solution may sound, I have no doubt that it is in fact the cheapest way to do this. I’m not here to cast doubt on Tesla’s competence when it comes to finding the optimal way to save money.
What I am here to do is complain, loudly, about how much this particular solution sucks, and how it feels like a cruel punch to the crotch for people who maybe don’t have as much money to spend on a car. Economically, sure, I’ll buy that it makes sense. But ethically and culturally and conceptually, this is just a miserable symptom of how twisted life has become.
Let’s just recap what is going on here with the Tesla Model Y Standard’s roof; the other trim levels of the Model Y incorporate a nice panoramic glass roof. This is a fairly common option on cars today – and has been for a while now – and it’s something that I think genuinely makes interiors more airy and open and pleasant. A large chunk of glass in a roof is also a lot heavier than a steel roof and there’s potential for leaks, as well as less thermal and sound insulation when compared to a conventional steel roof and headliner, so it’s not like that pleasing airy feeling is completely free.
The Model Y standard has such a glass roof, but, as you can see from those screengrabs above, the glass is blocked in the interior of the car by an opaque headliner. The video those screenshots are from shows all this, and the host of the video spoke with Tesla representatives who confirmed that, thanks to vendor arrangements and manufacturing processes, it’s actually cheaper to just build these with a glass roof and then block it off.
I don’t doubt that this is true, though I can think of examples in the past where a version of a car replaced glass panels for cheaper and lighter steel panels, like this Volkswagen Type 3 Panel Van:
I guess the manufacturing process was more human-oriented back then, and simpler overall? Again, I have no doubt Tesla picked the cheapest path, it’s just hard to wrap my head around it.
Here’s that video so you can see:
In the video, it’s also noted that blocking the big window in the roof allows for the HVAC system to work less hard, so there is an estimated 5% efficiency gain, so that’s nice.
Also, I don’t care, because conceptually I dislike the idea of this roof so very much.
Just think about what is going on here: they wanted a cheaper version of their car, and in their research, one of the “premium” elements of the car – the panoramic roof – turned out to not be cheaper to remove. In fact, it would have cost more to remove it. So, instead of thinking that’s great, people will get an even better, more enjoyable car for their money, they decided to design and engineer a new part – the Model Y standard headliner – that covers the panoramic roof, so you can’t get the benefits of it.
You still get many of the downsides – the increased weight, potential for leaks, higher repair costs compared to a steel roof – but zero of the enjoyment. All because you were callow and debased enough to want to pay a bit less for your car, like some sort of filthy animal.
Seriously, I would have preferred it if they offered a canvas roof instead of this; that at least would have some novelty and charm about it.
It’s only a punitive measure – it’s like if you got a cheap hotel room that faced a lovely view, but because the hotel didn’t think you paid enough, they painted over the window. Because fuck you, you poor sack of crap.
I also hate the oxymoronic and euphemistic way they describe the roof on their website:
“Closed glass roof?” The hell does that even mean? I guess the marketing team thought “useless glass roof” or “glass roof you don’t deserve, you impoverished loser” didn’t hit the tone they were going for?
I understand the thinking here: I understand that they want to differentiate the different trim levels, and being able to enjoy the panoramic roof may be one of those things that convinces a customer to pay the extra $5,000 or so to go up to the next trim level. I understand why they did something so seemingly inane. I get that it makes sense.
I also get that it sucks. I’m sure mosquitoes fill some important niche in the ecosystem, but I think they suck, too. This really isn’t any different from how companies like BMW tried to make heated seats and other features subscription-only, and we all hated that shit. It’s the same basic idea: you’re hauling around hardware in your car that the company is blocking you from using, and that a shitty thing. Though at least in the case of subscriptions, you could at least get the option to use the feature, like heated seats or whatever. In the Model Y standard, you can’t just pay something and be able to see out of your roof.
I’m sure you could tear out the headliner if you were really determined, and I wouldn’t blame you if you were.
I’m glad Tesla has a cheaper car available, but I can’t say I think it’s cheap enough, or that it’s cheap in the right ways. They still have those overcomplicated electrically-operated door handles, for example. They couldn’t have replaced those with some entirely functional and trouble-free mechanical handles?
Fundamentally, though, I just hate the whole thought process behind preventing a car buyer from having access to a feature built into the car just because the company doesn’t think you deserve it. It’s all avarice and cruelty, and as far as I’m concerned, this entire way of thinking can fuck right off. I don’t care if it makes sense for Tesla’s bottom line; it’s disrespectful for people who just want a cheaper car, and I don’t have to like it.
So there.
Well, well, this certainly puts a whole new spin on the phrase “Glass Ceiling.”
I would rather have it this way. The all-glass roof is stupid if you live in a place with brutal sun for most of the year, as I do. Just yet another example of Tesla doing dumb shit because Elon thought it’s “cool”. They sure didn’t save any money making the whole roof glass. Though the early ones flying off on the highway was certainly entertaining.
Those car/vans with glass replaced by metal were not so much cheaper to build, but that many European countries required no windows in the back to qualify for much cheaper commercial registration and taxes. At an extreme, Sweden has a weird classification where cars with no rear seat and a limited top speed can be registered as “A-tractors” and 15yos can drive them on the road with a moped license.
Didn’t Tesla do the exact same thing with the Model S where they all had the same size batteries and they limited the capacity through software for the cheaper versions? Autopilot is the same as well, although that can be activated later via software.
Here’s a good cost-saving feature that would actually be popular: Remove the Autopilot hardware from the base model. That’s gotta save a decent amount, right?
What’s the over/under on how long it takes for a Youtube video to go up once this becomes available that shows exactly how to cut out that headliner and trim it out with some generic pieces and some spray adhesive?
I’m a silver-linings kind of guy. For example, I really appreciate that I have so much flexibility in my hamstrings from spending all of my time bent over holding my ankles, thanks to our wealthy overlords.
It all just seems like a ploy to get people into the showroom and upsell them into the standard versions of the vehicles.
Great, one step up from spray painting the windows. Might as well do the rest, call it a panel delivery, and give us new candy vans in 20 years.
Or I guess they might already be candy vans.
This reminds me of when I had a Jeep YJ with the 4 cyl. Jeep offered a 20-gallon gas tank as an option instead of the 15-gallon standard tank. In reality, all YJs had the same tank installed. The difference is that the 15-gallon tank has a vent tube inserted that traps a 5-gallon bubble of air at the top of the tank tricking the gas station pump to click off early. By removing the vent tube you could upgrade yourself to a 20 gal tank for free!
I remember reading somewhere (not from Chrysler) that this was to meet emissions though? They couldn’t meet emissions standards with the 4.0L and a full 20gal tank, so by carrying 5gal less fuel, it was just light enough get fractionally better mileage and pass the test. My 4.0L YJ only holds 15gal.
Same sort of dumb reason that the original GM G-bodies had those fixed rear door windows and some other stuff left off. To save the weight of the regulators.
My car (EU type approval) has a stupid(*) high tyre pressure recommendation for the load that is used during type approval, and a *lower* pressure with *higher* load. But I guess it got it in a lower tax bracket.
(*) Tyres sound like basket balls dribling, and wear out the center of the thread.
I feel like the only reason its cheaper is they know they aren’t gonna sell enough of these to make it worth redoing the entire roof with a steel panel- in the long term over enough cars that has to be cheaper right?
I’m not a huge moonroof or glass roof fan. Rarely ever have used them.
I don’t feel too insulted by this and if anything it makes me excited that there is sure to be someone who’ll figure out a way to uncover the glass roof and show us all how to do it on their YouTube channel.
It’s going to be just a few milliseconds before a new headliner pops up on Aliexpress and Temu. What’s preventing me from buying this cheap version and just replace the covered headliner with just a trimmed frame?
Wow. Inverted landau top was not on my 2025 bingo card. Welcome back.
For a company whose market cap is in trillions, you’d typically wouldn’t expect this type of chintz. I mean, if toyota pulled this kind of shit, people would be very outraged. With Tesla, Musk saves the day once again and asks for another $50 bazillion dollars to be added to his compensation.
“It’s not half-assed, it’s *minimalist*.”
You’re technically correct. The best kind of correct
“Seriously, I would have preferred it if they offered a canvas roof instead of this; that at least would have some novelty and charm about it.”
Hence, the 2CV.
Comparing the interior shot of the cheaper interior with a normal one, it appears that covering the glass allows them to use a single piece headliner versus the multi-piece headliner that lines the edges of where the glass meets the roof frame on the normal version.
Theoretically, this should save them time and labor costs for installation, but I’m not privy to the assembly process of a Model Y.
So I’m probably one of like 7 people who think there is merit to doing it up this way, and it was mentioned only briefly in the article and in the video: The gaining of efficiency back through making the HVAC system having to deal with less heat in the cabin.
I’ve been in enough Teslas and other glass roof cars to know that it gets hotter easier no matter what kind of tint or electrochromic hoo-ha you put on it. Absent spending millions and millions of dollars to design in metal panel and its associated press tooling, and likely re-crash testing it because you’ve changed the structure of the car fundamentally (as modern flush-bonded glass contributes a lot of rigidity to unibody cars), just putting a headliner in was probably the best tradeoff cost-wise.
I think it’s a bit silly but not malicious like Jason does, but taken in context with the smaller wheels, the engineering side was probably trying to stretch the range as much as possible as some crumbs of consumer appeal, in the face of deleting literally everything else. To be honest I wasn’t sure what else you could really strip out of a M3/MY.
(I do think a lot of the feature reduction list is actually a blessing, being not a fan of electrically actuated and motorized touchscreen doohickeys. Now put it all in a van)
This design still lets the heat through the glass and traps it inside, so unless there’s a lot of insulation in that headliner, it’s going to heat up, which will in turn heat the rest of the cabin. I don’t think that’s too big a deal, but I don’t think HVAC efficiency is what Tesla was thinking when they made that particular change.
Could you in theory buy one and then replace the headliner to make the roof “useable”
I wouldn’t be surprised if they put some kind of sensor in the headliner that throws an error code if the original isn’t installed. Just like printers. Hell, even my blender has a sensor so you can’t use aftermarket cups.
Thanks I hate it, somehow this is worse then planned obsolescence.
Ahh, just like BMWs “radiator recognition sensor” on some earlier PZEV cars. The radiator was coated with some magic that reduced pollutants of air passing through it. It was $$$ and required as part of the PZEV rating, so a sensor was added that would illuminate the MIL and throw a code if it was replaced with a much cheaper non PZEV model
Not just BMW. Mercedes did it too – but Mercedes sells the sensor separately from the radiator at least. Same sensor, different wiring connector.
The reason the example “1600 Varevogn” had no rear windows has to do with taxation in different countries and different periods, to allow a vehicle designed for personal use to be taxed as a comercial vehicle.
Same reason for some strange conversions of luxury vehicles to pickups a couple of decades ago here. I know a couple have been featured here, or on that other site, with no explanation. Here it is.
“Panel Van” Wagons with opaque/steel rear windows were common during that period even in the US. They were mostly for tradesmen who needed a covered cargo area before utility vans took over that niche.
The retro PT Cruiser and Chevy HHR were available as panel van wagons in the 2000’s.
Those were cool. Almost as a successor to that, Ram sold a version of the Grand Caravan with blocked out rear windows as the C/V Tradesman.
Also in the 1970’s Chevrolet sold the Vega Panel Express and Ford had the Pinto Panel Wagon.