Tesla’s revised Model Y SUV will begin deliveries in the United States in March, according to new listings on the company’s website.
TakeAway Points:
- New listings on Tesla’s website indicate that the company will begin delivering a redesigned Model Y SUV in the United States in March.
- Without the $7,500 federal tax credit, the new Model Y Juniper costs $59,990.
- An accounting rule requiring banks to record bitcoin and other tokens as liabilities on their balance sheets has been repealed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Revamped Model Y
The Model Y Juniper has a price tag of $59,990, not including a federal tax credit of $7,500 for new electric vehicle purchases. It features a redesigned fascia, front and rear light bars, and an upgraded interior with ventilated seats, reclining second-row seats and faster Wi-Fi, the website shows.
Tesla began taking orders for the new Model Y variant from customers in Canada and Europe on Thursday and started sales in China about two weeks ago. CEO Elon Musk shared a video from the Tesla account on X Thursday night showing off the new Model Y.
Tesla is looking to revitalize its core automotive business, which faces increased competition across the globe. Executives are expected to discuss Tesla’s fourth-quarter and year-end results on Wednesday after markets close.
Tesla’s last new model, the angular steel Cybertruck, began rolling out to customers at the end of 2023. While it became the bestselling electric truck in the U.S. last year, sales didn’t make up for a decline in overall deliveries, which fell for the first time in 2024.
Musk, who also runs SpaceX and owns social media site X, has been at the center of attention in recent months because of his hefty financing of President Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign and his position in the newly elected president’s inner circle.
After his inauguration Monday to begin his second White House term, Trump signed an executive order indicating he will likely repeal the federal electric vehicle tax credit, which was approved by Congress during the Biden administration as part of the Inflation Reduction Act. Tesla has long benefitted from the government-supported incentives, but ending the credits will likely have a more harmful impact on competitors in the EV market.
Before the release of the new Model Y variant, Musk’s political rhetoric, along with Tesla’s ageing lineup, had led to a decline in the company’s reputation, according to research from Brand Finance.
SEC revokes unpopular banking rule that blocked Wall Street banks from adopting crypto
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has rescinded an accounting rule that forced banks to treat bitcoin and other tokens as liabilities on their balance sheets.
The guidance was a major deterrent to Wall Street banks owning bitcoin—and was the latest in a string of actions taken by the new Trump administration to make it easier for U.S. companies and financial firms to deal in virtual, decentralized currencies.
The guidance, known as Staff Accounting Bulletin 121, or SAB 121, was introduced in 2022 and subjected digital assets to strict capital requirements. The measure, which significantly raised the financial and regulatory risks of offering crypto custody services, boosted operational costs for financial institutions and ultimately discouraged broader participation by Wall Street in crypto markets.
Efforts to overturn SAB 121 gained bipartisan support in Congress last year. But then-President Joe Biden vetoed the proposed legislation, leaving the rule intact and further discouraging banks from adopting digital assets. Banks have been largely forbidden from expanding their crypto offerings beyond derivatives trading and offering ETFs to wealth management clients.
Crypto task force
SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce, who on Tuesday was tapped to lead a new “crypto task force” within the agency aimed at “developing a comprehensive and clear regulatory framework for crypto assets,” praised the announcement.
“Bye, bye, SAB 121! It’s not been fun,” she wrote in a post on X late Thursday night following the decision.
The SEC’s decision to revoke the rule was announced in a public notice, just days after Gary Gensler, a former SEC Chair and vocal supporter of the measure, stepped down from his role. Gensler had defended the rule as necessary to protect investors in the event of crypto firm bankruptcies.
This week in Davos, Switzerland, Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon said that from a regulatory perspective, the bank couldn’t own bitcoin and that it would revisit the issue if the rules changed. The CEOs of Morgan Stanley and Bank of America
also weighed in from the World Economic Forum on how President Donald Trump’s pro-crypto tone could reshape their plans and potentially lead to expanded digital offerings.
