The Tesla Model Y has been crowned the 21st winner of the Drive Car of the Year award, with judges praising its practical packaging, exceptional value and game-changing technology.
The win marks the first overall win for Tesla, the first Chinese-built winner and the second time a fully electric vehicle has been awarded the gong.
The Model Y took out the best electric vehicle under $60,000 category and beat other category winners such as the BMW 5-Series, BYD Atto 2 and Dolphin Essential, Hyundai Palisade, Kia Tasman, Volvo XC90 and Zeekr 7X to win overall honours.
Drive content director James Ward said the Car of the Year accolade is awarded to the vehicle that “moves the game forward the most for Australian new-car buyers”.
Judges praised the Model Y’s future-looking technology as the crucial factor that set the Tesla apart from the rest of the field.
Priced from $58,900 before on-road costs, the 2026 Tesla Model Y Premium Rear-Wheel Drive is a fully electric SUV with a 60kWh battery that delivers a range of up to 466 kilometres.
The Tesla charging network – now widely open to owners of non-Tesla vehicles – remains Australia’s largest and most reliable electric vehicle charging network.
There’s ample cargo space (up to 971 litres in the boot, and a further 117 litres in the front), great headroom and space for taller passengers, and a central media screen to keep backseat passengers entertained.
The Juniper update has seen the Model Y’s ride quality improve significantly, and the backlit LED tail light gives it a classier look on the road.
The car’s capability as an EV earned it category honours, but it was the technology bundle, including the option to add a full-self-driving (supervised) driver assistance package for $149 a month, that helped it snatch the overall win.
The package, which is the most advanced driver assistance capability on the market, gives drivers a hint as to where semi-autonomous (and potentially fully autonomous) driving is heading.
Tesla recently extended the warranty period on all its vehicles to five years, and it continues to offer an eight-year, 160,000-kilometre warranty on the battery and drive unit.
The Tesla Model Y was Australia’s top-selling electric vehicle in 2025, and the 2026 model’s changes make the benchmark EV even better.
You can read more about the other Drive Car of the Year category winners here.
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