You now have to pay for Tesla’s yoke steering wheel

It looks like Tesla is continuing to slowly backtrack on its attempt to literally reinvent the wheel, with its controversial ‘yoke’ steering wheel becoming a cost option on the Model S and Model X configurator.

In the US, choosing the yoke over a conventional round wheel will now set you back $250, whereas in January you could pick either free of charge. Before then of course, it was the yoke or nada.

At the moment there’s no price given for the UK market, and come to think of it there’s still no timeline for when the latest version of either car will actually be sold here.

Remember, it’s been two years since the big saloon and the falcon-doored SUV were quietly removed from sale in the UK, although you can still place a £100 deposit on one in the hope that Tesla changes its mind all of a sudden.

Which, to be fair, tends to happen: earlier this year prices for the Model 3 and Model Y were slashed by as much as £7,000 overnight, allowing both cars to undercut several rivals. As of the end of March, the Model Y was the fourth-most registered new car in the UK, and the only electric vehicle in the top 10.

Anyway, we digress. Thus far Lexus is the only other major manufacturer to dip its toe into the yoke steering water, offering such a thing with its latest version of the RZ SUV. And having driven it, the best thing we can say about it is that it worked… Make of that what you will.

Are you in the yoke or no yoke camp? Thoughts below, if you please.