It’s no secret that Jay Leno is a fan of vintage automobiles and is more than willing to put his money where his mouth is. But that doesn’t mean he’s anti-EV. In fact, he owns a Tesla Model S Plaid and a Rolls-Royce Spectre. It doesn’t matter what the car is powered by—if he likes it, he likes it. Recently, Leno welcomed Franz von Holzhausen, Head of Design for Tesla, and Lars Moravy, the company’s Vice President of Vehicle Engineering, to his garage so they could detail the changes incorporated into the thoroughly updated 2026 Tesla Model Y.
The front end features several of unusual touches—or lack thereof. A light bar spans the width of the nose and connects to the daytime running lights, not the headlights. Those are actually located below the DRLs. Given that the Model Y is an electric vehicle, it has no grille to feed air to the radiator. Another thing it doesn’t have? A Tesla badge on the nose, as the nose was carefully shaped to improve pedestrian crash safety and aerodynamics. Properly equipped, the Y has a coefficient of drag as low as 0.22. The way wind flows over it also helps clean the side-mounted cameras.
That large panel of glass in the roof may not look all that unusual in this age of giant sunroofs, but it’s what’s inside the glass that’s a big deal: silver deposits. Those reflect heat, making the opening one massive Low-E window.
Rear light bars are also nothing surprising in 2025. Just look at a modern Porsche 911 or Lexus. But von Holzhausen and his team did something a little different at the rear of the Model Y: the light you see is indirect and actually reflected onto a panel.
Inside, the Model Y is all-new with a wrap-around design accented with ambient lighting. The materials are new, such as the easy-to-clean synthetic leather. Acoustically laminated glass makes the cabin quieter and a better environment for listening to the sound system, which features Tesla’s in-house digital sound processing. The front seats are now available with heating and ventilation; people riding in them are analyzed by the interior radar system and their height, heart rate, and other measurements are used to inform the car’s various safety systems so they can react accordingly. All occupants benefit from the Model Y’s new suspension settings and the smoother ride they provide. Another nice thing about the front row? A physical turn signal stalk—a logical inclusion in such a touchscreen-dependent interior.
Moravy tells Leno the 2026 Model Y rollout will start with the 458-horsepower, 440-lb-ft Launch Series, which is a Long Range all-wheel-drive model priced from $46,490, according to the Tesla website. Expect deliveries of those to begin in March and other models to come out later this year. And don’t be surprised if you see people trying to hit or better the Launch Series’ 4.1-second 0-60 time.
