German EV rental firm NextMove is loving the Tesla Model Y. Last year, the veteran rental firm made headlines worldwide when it canceled a $5.5 million purchase of Model 3s citing build issues. Things have apparently turned around in NextMove’s eyes. With the Model Y, the company gave it a glowing review and made a promise to purchase the vehicle (number of units unknown) once the Model Y is made in Germany.
NextMove’s managing director, Stefan Moeller, had a lot of positive things to say about the Model Y. “The Model Y is a typical Tesla and convincing overall package. It will probably be the new box office hit that will sell well all over the world. For German standards, there are still some gaps, color errors and other small things to be criticized — but like the Model 3, it can be assumed that this will improve in later production versions. When the Model Y comes from the new German Gigafactory Berlin in Grünheide, we can expect a bit more in terms of processing. I am impressed with the vehicle — and as soon as the Model Y is made in Germany, we will also include it in our rental fleet for our customers.”
In unserem Blog findet ihr unseren schriftlichen Bericht zum @Tesla #ModelY und einige Fotos vom Test.#emobility #elektromobilitaet @tesla #TeslaModelY #ModelYhttps://t.co/vUt9mp3SrX
— nextmove (@nextmove_de) May 22, 2020
The company purchased and exported the vehicle to Germany. This made it the first time we know of that the Tesla Model Y had been exported to anywhere in Europe. Moeller, who is 2 meters tall (6’5″ and some change), noted that it was easier for him to get into the Model Y than the Model 3. He said that he had to get into the Model 3 “in stages,” but that it was easier for him to sit in both the driver and passenger sides of the Model Y.
The Model Y that NextMove was able to test was fully equipped with Autopilot and was the performance version. It took Moeller 3.7 seconds to reach 100 kilometers an hour (62 mph).
Moeller thinks that the Model Y will have some tough competition — “the sales figures will be exciting because this time Tesla has plenty of competition in the neck with the VW ID.4, the Skoda Enyaq, or the Hyundai 45 — and with its own vehicle from German production will only come on the market as a straggler in the middle of next year.”