Tesla teases October 7 announcement with cryptic social media videos
Tesla posted two teaser videos on X over the weekend, hinting at a major reveal on October 7, 2025. The clips feature a spinning wheel displaying the company's logo and accelerating, followed by a dark image of vehicle headlights, sparking widespread speculation about a lower-cost Model Y. Shares of the electric automaker rose more than 4% in trading on October 6 amid the buzz.
Tesla's official X account shared the first video early on October 5, 2025, at 3:05 a.m. ET, showing a metallic component—possibly a wheel or fan—spinning with the Tesla logo before speeding up and fading to black with the date "10/7." A second video posted later that day at 9:10 p.m. ET depicted headlights glowing in darkness, again ending with the October 7 date and the phrase "See you Tuesday."
Analysts and investors largely anticipate the announcement will unveil a stripped-down version of the Model Y, codenamed E41, designed to be about 20% cheaper to produce than the current refreshed model, which starts at around $45,000. Tesla confirmed in June 2025 that it had completed "first builds" of the vehicle, with sales planned for the fourth quarter and production ramping up more slowly than initially expected. The affordable variant is projected to scale to 250,000 units annually in the U.S. by 2026, potentially contributing 155,610 units to deliveries that year, according to Visible Alpha estimates.
This tease follows Tesla's record third-quarter deliveries of 497,099 vehicles, boosted by a rush of purchases before the $7,500 federal EV tax credit expired on September 30, 2025. Despite the quarterly surge, analysts forecast annual deliveries to dip to about 1.62 million vehicles in 2025 due to reduced incentives and other headwinds, before rebounding to 1.85 million in 2026.
"Tesla is teasing something big as a flurry of X posts has fans bracing for what looks like the launch of a more affordable Model Y tomorrow," said Matt Britzman, senior equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown. "The price tag will be the real tell, offering clues on how far Tesla has pushed cost savings and how much new demand it can unlock."
The company has not launched a new mass-market vehicle in years, relying on updates to the Model 3 and Model Y. Its most recent major debut, the Cybertruck, has faced soft sales, with a March 2025 recall filing indicating 46,096 units built since November 2023. While some speculate the reveal could involve the long-delayed Roadster, multiple sources point to the affordable Model Y as the focus, aimed at sustaining momentum amid slowing EV demand.