Toyota Engineers Praise Tesla Model Y Teardown as a "Work of Art"

• Toyota engineers conducted a teardown study of the Tesla Model Y to understand what makes it so successful
• While Toyota currently lacks specialized EV features, they plan to revamp their EV strategy and launch a dedicated BEV architecture by 2026
• ​Toyota's dedication to improving their technology and EV strategy shows that they are taking the competition seriously

A Tesla Model Y shown charging at a Tesla destination charger. Credit: Tesla

Tesla is the undisputed leader in the world of electric vehicles, and will likely continue to dominate the space selling more full battery electric vehicles than any other company. But, if you step outside the EV marketplace and look at the greater automobile industry as a whole, well, Tesla is just a small fish in a very big ocean.

The world’s largest automaker is a whale by comparison selling almost 10x Tesla’s unit volume. That behemoth would be, of course, Toyota. And, you could say, after decades of experience and many millions of vehicles sold of all types, they might know a thing or two that they could teach the much younger EV startup.

However, it seems that in reality, in order to dominate the emerging electric vehicle market, Toyota should take a page from the Tesla playbook.

According to a report from Automotive News, Toyota's engineers have conducted a teardown study of the Tesla Model Y (which currently outsells Toyota vehicles in some markets), as the company strives to learn what Tesla is doing so well. Impressed by the Model Y's simple yet efficient vehicle design, created using advanced manufacturing techniques, they had glowing things to say.
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​"Taking the skin off the Model Y, it was truly a work of art. It's unbelievable," said one Toyota executive.

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We fell in love with the Model Y when we tested the dual-motor Performance model in 2020. So much so that we featured it in the August issue of the EV Resource Magazine.But while that car may look the same as the newest versions of the vehicle... under the skin it's dramatically different! Even still, if you're curious to see what we thought about it then, go ahead and click on the photo:

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Sources: Automotive News, InsideEVs

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