Franz von Holzhausen was interviewed for the 500th episode of the Ride the Lightning podcast with Ryan McCaffrey, where Tesla’s chief designer was asked directly about the possibility of Glacier Blue making its way to North America, and about the future of Midnight Cherry Red for the Model Y.
Tesla launched the new Model Y in China in January, adding a new colour to the list of available options, Glacier Blue. However, when the new Model Y debuted in North America a few weeks later, Glacier Blue was not on the Design Studio, leading to questions about whether it would eventually come to Giga Texas and the Fremont factory.
While von Holzhausen didn’t provide a direct confirmation, his comments strongly suggest that North American Tesla buyers may eventually get access to the Glacier Blue paint option.
“I’m not going to answer that specifically, but if you look at the history of how things evolve and change in the ability to order things, you can extrapolate maybe something out of that. I can’t guarantee it either way,” von Holzhausen said.
The history von Holzhausen is referring to is Tesla’s pattern of introducing new colours gradually across different markets. This happened most recently with Quicksilver, which was first introduced as a colour exclusive to Giga Berlin, but has since made its way to Giga Shanghai, and then Giga Texas and Fremont.
Another colour that was exclusive to Giga Berlin was Midnight Cherry Red (MCR), but that has since been removed from the European version of the online configurator with the introduction of the new Model Y. When asked about the fate of MCR von Holzhausen was even more elusive, simply replying, “I’m not going to answer it,” before adding a cryptic “stay tuned.”
Von Holzhausen also discussed how the company carefully evaluates which colours to keep and which to phase out, stating that having too many paint options slows down efficiency on the production line, and that the majority of customers still pick either black or white.
The interview covers a whole lot more, including his longevity at Tesla, what his daily driver is, the new Model Y. You can listen to the full 1h24m interview below.
