On 17 September Tesla started sending software 2026.32.6 to eligible cars in the United Arab Emirates. The company’s own UAE note, carried the same day as a press release, says the update adds Grok — a voice assistant Tesla describes as built by SpaceX AI — at no extra Grok fee. Owners do not take the car to a workshop. They wait for an over-the-air package, then turn the feature on. Tesla’s support pages still mark Grok as beta. That is the right frame: a staged software rollout, not a new battery pack and not a plug-in hybrid.
What the assistant is allowed to do is narrower than the branding. Tesla says drivers can ask it to set or change a navigation destination, look up points of interest, place a phone call, search for music or podcasts, and adjust climate controls, all without tapping through menus. It can also pull answers from the owner’s manual when a dashboard message needs translating into plain language. Access is from the steering-wheel microphone or the centre screen. Tesla’s condition for actually using it is a Premium Connectivity subscription or a stable Wi-Fi link. The company also says the conversations are anonymous from its side and are not tied to the vehicle. Arabian Post, reporting the same rollout, added that the UAE cellular pipe for Tesla’s connected services is provided by e&, while the Premium Connectivity subscription itself is still bought from Tesla, and that a “Hey Grok” wake phrase can be switched on in settings. Those connectivity details are Arabian Post’s reporting, not a second Tesla press note.
Tesla named five eligible nameplates: Model S, Model 3, Model X, Model Y, and Cybertruck. Eligibility is not automatic. ArabWheels (18 September) and Arabian Post both restated Tesla’s support rule that the car needs an AMD infotainment processor, plus a recent enough software baseline. Owners can check that under Controls → Software → Additional Vehicle Information. If the processor is not AMD, Grok will not appear, even on a current Model Y. Tesla also listed several conversation styles and five named voices in the UAE note; we are not reprinting that menu. The useful fact for a buyer is that the personalities live in the car’s software, not in a separate Grok account. Tesla says no extra Grok subscription is required today, and Arabian Post notes that unsigned-in use can still be capped and that those rules may change.
Shoppers comparing the battery cars Tesla actually sells here should start on the live Tesla hub, not on a made-up Grok landing page. The Model Y (2025) card is a battery SUV: 75 kWh, 501 km on the Long Range AWD row, 331 kW, 250 kW DC, and Available in the UAE, the United States, and the United Kingdom. The Performance row on that page is 446 km from the same 75 kWh pack. The Model 3 (2025) card is a battery sedan: Long Range RWD at 584 km, Long Range AWD at 547 km and 366 kW, Performance at 476 km, 250 kW DC, also Available in those three markets. Both pages sit on the battery-electric list. They are not plug-in hybrids and do not belong on the PHEV list. Grok does not change those range, pack, or charge-rate figures.
Tesla’s 17 September UAE statement put three list prices on the same note: Model Y Premium at AED 174,990, with leasing from AED 3,777 a month; Model 3 from AED 144,990, leasing from AED 3,155; Cybertruck at AED 404,990. ArabWheels and GCC Business News repeated those AED figures. We are citing Tesla’s rollout note, not a fresh scrape of tesla.com/en_ae. The live Model S (2025) and Model X (2025) cards already show UAE Available alongside the US and UK. The live Cybertruck (2025) card currently lists the United States as Available (123 kWh, 523 km AWD Dual Motor, 445 kW, 250 kW DC) and does not yet carry a UAE row — we are not adding one from a press-release price. If you want a plug-in hybrid instead of a battery Tesla, use the PHEV hub; there is no live GAC GS7 plug-in page to send you to, and we are not inventing that slug.
A software assistant does not settle whether a Model Y is the right car for a Dubai or Abu Dhabi commute. It does mean compatible cars already in driveways can pick up a new cabin feature without waiting for the next hardware refresh. Check the processor, check Premium Connectivity or Wi-Fi, and treat Tesla’s own beta label as the limit of what has been confirmed.
