As Tesla is preparing to launch the Model Y in China early next year, the automaker appears to have sent a unit built at Giga Shanghai to the US.
The camouflaged Model Y was spotted at the Port of Tacoma in Washington State after being offloaded from Ship Tulane. According to Tesla Container Ship & Delivery tracker @VedaPrime, the vehicle was shipped from China on December 9 and arrived in the US on December 23.
As for why the electric SUV was shipped to North America, Veda Prime suggests it could be heading to California for the team at Tesla to inspect.
A #Tesla Model Y has been spotted in Tacoma in the US, unloaded from Ship Tulane. The car from from Tesla Shanghai (Dec 9 -23)
This unit appears to be headed for US Tesla review pic.twitter.com/Plg3zpTSPe
— VedaPrime (@VedaPrime) December 25, 2020
This may not be the first Model Y made at Giga Shanghai on US soil. In October a camouflaged Model Y was spotted on the back of a car carrier outside Tesla’s Design Studio in Hawthorne, California. That vehicle also had the longer Euro license plate holder on the front the car.
Based on recent drone footage captured above Giga Shanghai, Tesla has already started serial production of the Model Y in China. In a video captured earlier this month, a long line of Model Y’s were spotted under car covers, seemingly in preparation for customer deliveries to begin soon.
