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Tesla Model Y Promo Financing Is Now 1.49% APR for Most Trims — Performance Stays at 3.99%

The Sept. 3 terms require excellent credit and at least 5% down; Model Y L Premium is excluded, and an otherwise identical $40,000 72-month loan costs about $623 more in total payments than at the 0.99% rate documented in August.

By Autonomous News Desk

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Tesla's current U.S. offers page lists 1.49% APR for up to 72 months on the Model Y Rear-Wheel Drive, All-Wheel Drive, Premium Rear-Wheel Drive and Premium All-Wheel Drive for well-qualified buyers ordering on or after September 3, 2026. Model Y Performance remains on a separate 3.99% APR promotional rate.1

That 1.49% figure is not a blanket rate for every Model Y or every buyer. Tesla excludes Model Y L Premium, used vehicles and enterprise sales from these promotional Model Y terms, and says applicants need excellent credit and a minimum 5% down payment plus applicable taxes and fees. Tesla also says not all applicants will qualify.1

The documented August rate was 0.99%

The Tesla offers text reviewed on September 6 did not provide a public rate-history changelog, so the prior rate has to be established from dated historical reporting rather than inferred from the current page.1 Notebookcheck reported on August 1 that Model Y Rear-Wheel Drive and All-Wheel Drive financing had moved from 0% to 0.99% APR.2 CarsDirect reported on August 6 that the base Model Y was at 0.99% APR and said that rate matched the Premium trim's then-current offer.3

A separate Notebookcheck report published September 4 described Tesla's September 3 change as a move from 0.99% to 1.49% for the base Rear-Wheel Drive, All-Wheel Drive and Premium Model Y trims, while Performance remained at 3.99%.4 Taken together, those dated reports provide the historical baseline for the financing comparison; they are secondary records, not a Tesla-hosted changelog.342

The move from 0.99% to 1.49% is a 0.50-percentage-point increase in the promotional APR.142 Its effect is modest month to month but measurable over a six-year loan.

Using a standard fixed-payment amortization calculation and holding both the amount financed and the term constant, a $40,000 loan for 72 months at 1.49% costs about $8.66 more per month and $623.20 more in total payments than the same loan at 0.99%.142 That is an Autonomous News calculation, not a Tesla payment quote. It excludes taxes, fees, insurance, differences in down payment and any variation in the APR a borrower is actually approved for.

The exclusions and timing matter

Tesla's current terms make September 3 the order-date boundary for the 1.49% Model Y promotion. They also say promotions are subject to change or end at any time and cannot be applied retroactively.1 The Tesla terms reviewed on September 6 do not state a fixed expiration date for the Model Y 1.49% offer.1

Model Y Performance is still listed at 3.99%, while Model Y L Premium is outside this promotional-rate offer entirely.1

Sources

Footnotes

  1. Tesla — Current Offers. Dynamic U.S. offer and legal-terms page, reverified Sept. 6, 2026 at 04:03 MT. https://www.tesla.com/current-offers Establishes the current Model Y 1.49% and Performance 3.99% promotional APRs, up-to-72-month term, Sept. 3 order boundary, credit/down-payment conditions, exclusions, offer-change/nonretroactivity language. The Tesla text reviewed on Sept. 6 did not expose a public prior-rate changelog or a fixed Model Y promotional-rate expiration. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8

  2. Notebookcheck — Model Y APR financing rate increase nixes zero interest deal. Published Aug. 1, 2026; updated Aug. 2, 2026. https://www.notebookcheck.net/Model-Y-APR-financing-rate-increase-nixes-zero-interest-deal.1357696.0.html Reports Model Y RWD/AWD financing at 0.99% in early August, up from zero. Secondary historical evidence; it does not by itself enumerate both Premium variants and is used with S003/S004 for the broader historical baseline. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  3. CarsDirect — 2026 Tesla Model Y Loses 0% APR Deal. Published Aug. 6, 2026. https://www.carsdirect.com/deals-articles/2026-tesla-model-y-loses-0-apr-deal Establishes a dated historical record of the base Model Y moving to 0.99% APR and CarsDirect's statement that the rate matched the Premium trim's then-current offer. Secondary historical evidence; it does not define the current Sept. 3 terms. ↩ ↩2

  4. Notebookcheck — Tesla ups Model Y APR financing rate for its bestselling trims. Published Sept. 4, 2026. https://www.notebookcheck.net/Tesla-ups-Model-Y-APR-financing-rate-for-its-bestselling-trims.1388592.0.html Reports the Sept. 3 move from 0.99% to 1.49% for base RWD/AWD and Premium Model Y trims, with Performance remaining at 3.99%. Secondary historical/contemporaneous reporting; its demand, margin and strategy interpretations are not adopted here. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4