The Tesla steering yoke is now a $250 choice for the Mannequin S and Mannequin X, marking a change of course for the automaker.

The yoke was introduced in January 2021 as a part of a refresh of the Mannequin S and Mannequin X, Tesla’s two oldest fashions. The autos additionally acquired a Mannequin 3-like horizontal touchscreen and the addition of Plaid efficiency fashions. The yoke started rolling out in manufacturing automobiles the next June as a compulsory function, to blended evaluations.

2023 Tesla Mannequin S – Courtesy of Tesla, Inc.

Tesla introduced again the steering wheel choice in January 2023. The traditional spherical wheel was initially reintroduced as a no-cost choice, and shortly grew to become the default on Tesla’s on-line configurator. Now, any buyer who needs the yoke should pay additional for it.

It does not seem this was Tesla’s unique plan. In July 2021, CEO Elon Musk was requested on Twitter (essentially the most direct technique to get details about Tesla as a result of the automaker now not has a public relations division) if there was any likelihood of a traditional steering wheel choice. Musk responded with a simple “no.”

Elon Musk denies plans for a steering wheel choice alongside Tesla yoke in July 2021 tweet

Since Tesla launched its steering yoke, different automakers have additionally taken up the thought, however with considerably completely different approaches. BMW utilized for a yoke steering wheel patent in 2022. The design, which included fold-away grips, frees up extra space, the automaker mentioned in a patent utility. BMW hasn’t mentioned plans to make use of this design in a manufacturing automotive, nonetheless.

Lexus has really taken that leap, including a yoke to its RZ 450e electrical crossover. Lexus’ model was designed to be used with a variable-ratio steer-by-wire system, which labored fairly nicely in a prototype drive. However Lexus has no timeline for bringing its yoke and steer-by-wire system to the U.S. market.