Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) is about to raise the price of its Model Y crossover to $59,990. It shows that the electric vehicle (EV) company still has some room for price increases on updated models, even in a difficult U.S. EV market.

The new Model Y Juniper will be available in March. It will be launched in “limited release,” although Tesla does not say what that means. It has faster Wi-Fi than earlier models, reclining second-row seats, and exterior and interior changes.

Despite a large number of competitors, Tesla still has 50% of the U.S. EV market. It also makes money on its cars, while most legacy carmakers lose huge amounts of money on their EVs.

The Model Y is part of the backbone of its unit sales. In the fourth quarter, global unit deliveries totaled 495,570, up 5%. Of those, 471,930 were Tesla 3 and Tesla Y models. That figure was up 5% as well.

In 2024, Tesla’s worldwide deliveries dropped 1.% to 1.8 million. It was the first decline since 2011. While its success in the United States remains impressive, it has growing competition in China, the world’s largest EV market.

The feature that Tesla highlights as much as any other is its full “self-driving” mode. Although it has some skeptics, it is a major selling point. It operates with “minimal driver intervention.” One reason that the stock price has risen almost 100% in the past year is that an AI-controlled self-driving feature would allow Tesla’s cars to drive with no assistance at all. In the auto industry, that would be a huge leap forward.

Tesla has reduced the price of some of its cars in the United States recently. The $60,000 Model Y Juniper shows it still has some pricing power.

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