diff --git a/pkg/webhook/admission/pod/storage_initializer_injector.go b/pkg/webhook/admission/pod/storage_initializer_injector.go
index f19dc5056c6..1af28320081 100644
--- a/pkg/webhook/admission/pod/storage_initializer_injector.go
+++ b/pkg/webhook/admission/pod/storage_initializer_injector.go
@@ -48,6 +48,7 @@ const (
 	PvcSourceMountPath                      = "/mnt/pvc"
 	CaBundleVolumeName                      = "cabundle-cert"
 	ModelcarContainerName                   = "modelcar"
+	ModelcarInitContainerName               = "modelcar-init"
 	ModelInitModeEnv                        = "MODEL_INIT_MODE"
 	CpuModelcarDefault                      = "10m"
 	MemoryModelcarDefault                   = "15Mi"
@@ -172,6 +173,11 @@ func (mi *StorageInitializerInjector) InjectModelcar(pod *v1.Pod) error {
 	if getContainerWithName(pod, ModelcarContainerName) == nil {
 		modelContainer := mi.createModelContainer(image, constants.DefaultModelLocalMountPath)
 		pod.Spec.Containers = append(pod.Spec.Containers, *modelContainer)
+
+		// Add the model container as an init-container to pre-fetch the model before
+		// the runtimes starts.
+		modelInitContainer := mi.createModelInitContainer(image)
+		pod.Spec.InitContainers = append(pod.Spec.InitContainers, *modelInitContainer)
 	}
 
 	// Enable process namespace sharing so that the modelcar's root filesystem
@@ -684,6 +690,42 @@ func (mi *StorageInitializerInjector) createModelContainer(image string, modelPa
 	return modelContainer
 }
 
+func (mi *StorageInitializerInjector) createModelInitContainer(image string) *v1.Container {
+	cpu := mi.config.CpuModelcar
+	if cpu == "" {
+		cpu = CpuModelcarDefault
+	}
+	memory := mi.config.MemoryModelcar
+	if memory == "" {
+		memory = MemoryModelcarDefault
+	}
+
+	modelContainer := &v1.Container{
+		Name:  ModelcarInitContainerName,
+		Image: image,
+		Args: []string{
+			"sh",
+			"-c",
+			// Check that the expected models directory exists
+			"echo 'Pre-fetching modelcar " + image + ": ' && [ -d /models ] && [ \"$$(ls -A /models)\" ] && echo 'OK ... Prefetched and valid (/models exists)' || (echo 'NOK ... Prefetched but modelcar is invalid (/models does not exist or is empty)' && exit 1)",
+		},
+		Resources: v1.ResourceRequirements{
+			Limits: map[v1.ResourceName]resource.Quantity{
+				// Could possibly be reduced to even less
+				v1.ResourceCPU:    resource.MustParse(cpu),
+				v1.ResourceMemory: resource.MustParse(memory),
+			},
+			Requests: map[v1.ResourceName]resource.Quantity{
+				v1.ResourceCPU:    resource.MustParse(cpu),
+				v1.ResourceMemory: resource.MustParse(memory),
+			},
+		},
+		TerminationMessagePolicy: v1.TerminationMessageFallbackToLogsOnError,
+	}
+
+	return modelContainer
+}
+
 // addEmptyDirVolumeIfNotPresent adds an emptyDir volume only if not present in the
 // list. pod and pod.Spec must not be nil
 func addEmptyDirVolumeIfNotPresent(pod *v1.Pod, name string) {
diff --git a/pkg/webhook/admission/pod/storage_initializer_injector_test.go b/pkg/webhook/admission/pod/storage_initializer_injector_test.go
index f9b48239c01..9256b193359 100644
--- a/pkg/webhook/admission/pod/storage_initializer_injector_test.go
+++ b/pkg/webhook/admission/pod/storage_initializer_injector_test.go
@@ -2723,6 +2723,33 @@ func TestInjectModelcar(t *testing.T) {
 			t.Errorf("Expected two containers but got %d", len(pod.Spec.Containers))
 		}
 
+		// Check that an init container has been injected, and it is the model container
+		if len(pod.Spec.InitContainers) != 1 {
+			t.Errorf("Expected one init container but got %d", len(pod.Spec.InitContainers))
+		} else if pod.Spec.InitContainers[0].Name != ModelcarInitContainerName {
+			t.Errorf("Expected the init container to be the model but got %s", pod.Spec.InitContainers[0].Name)
+		} else {
+			// Check that resources are correctly set.
+			if _, ok := pod.Spec.InitContainers[0].Resources.Limits[v1.ResourceCPU]; !ok {
+				t.Error("The model container does not have CPU limit set")
+			}
+			if _, ok := pod.Spec.InitContainers[0].Resources.Limits[v1.ResourceMemory]; !ok {
+				t.Error("The model container does not have Memory limit set")
+			}
+			if _, ok := pod.Spec.InitContainers[0].Resources.Requests[v1.ResourceCPU]; !ok {
+				t.Error("The model container does not have CPU request set")
+			}
+			if _, ok := pod.Spec.InitContainers[0].Resources.Requests[v1.ResourceMemory]; !ok {
+				t.Error("The model container does not have Memory request set")
+			}
+
+			// Check args
+			joinedArgs := strings.Join(pod.Spec.InitContainers[0].Args, " ")
+			if !strings.Contains(joinedArgs, "Prefetched") {
+				t.Errorf("The model container args are not correctly setup. Got: %s", joinedArgs)
+			}
+		}
+
 		// Check that the user-container has an env var set
 		found := false
 		if pod.Spec.Containers[0].Env != nil {