Tesla

Donald Trump livestreamed a Tesla showcase in the White House driveway on Tuesday, apparently reading the notes of a Tesla sales pitch as he performed choosing one of its EVs to purchase from five delivered for the event.

Although there have been an increasing amount of protests against Tesla, “the Seattle Fire Department (SFD) has not yet said whether foul play was suspected as the cause of the fire, which is under investigation,” according to KOMO News.

Musk tweeted that in 2022, adding that it could “...cross rivers, lakes & even seas that aren’t too choppy.” Today Electrek highlights this incident that occurred Monday morning in Ventura, CA.

At least, that’s what this SEC filing says. He’s one of several insiders who’ve been selling lately, I notice; the chair of Tesla’s board, Elon Musk’s brother, and Tesla’s CFO all dumped tens of millions in shares last month, too. Tesla shares closed today at $222.15, down 41 percent this calendar year. They’re still up about 25 percent from this time last year. It remains unclear whether the continuing Tesla protests have rendered the brand toxic.

With Tesla shares crashing over 50 percent since December, some shareholders are left wondering how much longer they can hold out. Fortunately Reddit is a place where financial masochism thrives, and losses that cross into the six-figure territory are seen as a sign of fortitude. A post from a Tesla shareholder who lost “tens of thousands” of dollars and was looking for coping strategies yielded these absolutely master-class responses:

Six people were arrested Saturday after “several hundred protestors” blocked entrances to a Manhattan Tesla showroom, The New York Times reports. “Tesla Takedown” protests aim to hurt Elon Musk by targeting Tesla, which has seen sales dropping globally since Musk started directing deep cuts in the federal government.

Users on a Facebook group for Cybertruck owners are posting about public backlash being directed towards their vehicles, showing people flicking them off and lewd or abusive messages they’ve received.

Tesla is currently offering prospective Foundation Series Cybertrucks free Supercharging “during your ownership of the vehicle,” as spotted by automotive journalist Chad Kirchner. Tesla is showing banners advertising the promotion on the Cybertruck website.

Nine people were arrested over the weekend during a “raucous” demonstration outside a Tesla showroom in Manhattan this past weekend, Reuters reports. The protest, which drew hundreds of participants, was part of an escalating “Tesla Takedown” movement opposed to Elon Musk’s takeover of the federal government. The protesters want to hurt Musk by deterring sales of Tesla vehicles and tanking the company’s stock price. Huge crowds turned out for demonstrations in Florida and Arizona as well.

The company’s value dropped below $1 trillion for the first time since last November, causing anti-Elon Musk protesters to celebrate on Bluesky. But the losses don’t appear to have much to do with the demonstrations, which only started earlier this month.

After questions were raised earlier this month about the line item proposing $400 million for “Armored Tesla (Production Units),” the State Department said the solicitation stemmed from a Biden-admin request. However, an NPR reporter says a document shows the Biden administration had approved less than $500k to look into armoring electric vehicles, while experts said the new figure would just about account for replacing the department’s entire 3,000-vehicle fleet with Tesla trucks.

The company has been laboring for years to get the permissions in place to launch its Full Self-Driving system in its largest customer market, and now it seems like that work is finally about to pay off. Bloomberg reports that Tesla has a software update ready to push in a couple of days. It’s not clear whether FSD will be as expansive as it is in the US. But Tesla is facing some real competition in China, including from BYD’s recently announced God’s Eye driver assist feature.

The federal team in charge of overseeing the safety of autonomous vehicles was already pretty small: only about seven people total, according to the Washington Post. But now the Elon Musk-led cuts have eliminated three of the seven. That’s probably good for Tesla, which aims to launch a robotaxi service this summer.

After tracking down an unsuspecting Cybertruck stopped at a traffic light, the anonymous TikToker in a Jack Skeleton mask uses a projector mounted on their dash to display crude jokes about Musk on the truck’s lift gate. Messages include “The most recalled truck in 2024” and “Musk, this truck is really like you... tons of hype, underwhelming in bed.” There’s also plenty of Nazi imagery, after Musk’s infamous fascist salute at Trump’s inauguration. Sure, it requires more technical skills than spraying “Fuck Elon” on a bunch of Teslas. But @cybertruck_hunters certainly wins points for ingenuity.

Tesla leaker Chris Zheng claims the company will return the signal stalk to the Model 3, which went stalkless after its 2024 redesign. Tesla deleted the turn signal and drive stalks on its redesigned Model S and Model X vehicles as well, moving the controls to steering wheel buttons and the center touchscreen and relying on automation. But now it seems like the stalk is making a comeback. For example, the recent Model Y redesign included a simplified turn signal stalk.

Tesla sales have plummeted in several countries over the last month, dropping by 38 percent in Norway, 63 percent in France, and 75 percent in Spain. Only 1,277 new Teslas were registered in Germany in January, a 60 percent drop compared to the previous year.

Tesla confirmed the launch of Full Self-Driving in Mexico, replying “¡Hola México!” to a Tesla Owners Mexico post that shows the software running in the country. Previously, FSD would downgrade to Autopilot for US Tesla owners who cross the border to Mexico. Mexico doesn’t have as stringent safety rules as the EU, which was expected to approve a version of FSD in early 2025. Musk later said that’s “proving challenging” during an earnings call.

Here’s the unelected government official speaking about his part-time hobby, Tesla:

It’s the company’s first earnings report since Donald Trump’s inauguration and Elon Musk’s elevation as cost-cutter in chief for the new administration. So even though we’re probably all sick of Musk and his various antics, it’s probably worth tuning into the webcast at 5:30PM ET to hear Musk respond to questions about AI, China, robotaxis, and the likely elimination of federal EV incentives. And I’m sure we’ll hear a lot of concerns about how the world’s richest man chooses to split his time.