Founded in 2003, Tesla is the top manufacturer of electric vehicles in the US. Led by billionaire CEO Elon Musk, the automaker upended the industry with the futuristic designs and technology of the Gigafactory, the Model S sedan, the Model X SUV, the mass-market Model 3, and soon, the Model Y compact SUV and the unconventional, Blade Runner-inspired pickup Cybertruck. The company has also experienced a number of growing pains on the path to that status as a leader, including public clashes with government agencies, and it commonly faces questions about its technology, issues with its manufacturing, and the treatment of its workforce. The Verge covers all of Tesla’s product launches and ambitions, including energy generation and storage, and the push towards autonomous cars.
Siddhant Awasthi, who was also in charge of the Model 3 program, announced his departure on LinkedIn after three years overseeing the Cybertruck’s dismal rollout. A recent recall notice shows that just 63,619 have been sold in the US since its 2023 launch — far from the 250,000 annual sales that Elon Musk once predicted.
The long-delayed, next-gen Roadster is maybe, finally going to see the light of day, Elon Musk said during the company’s shareholder meeting Thursday.
Production is scheduled to start 12-18 months after the demo, or sometime in mid-to-late 2027. The seemingly interminable delays have already caused MKBHD and Sam Altman to cancel their reservations. And Musk hedged on whether the April demo will actually take place. I’m sure the fact that Musk is planning the demo on April 1st isn’t a big red flag.
Elon Musk just floated the idea of a chip fabrication facility, or “tera-fab,” to keep up with Tesla’s own demand for semiconductors. He was speaking during the company’s annual shareholder meeting, where he just was awarded a $1 trillion pay package tied to growing Tesla’s value by orders of magnitude.
Tesla is holding its annual shareholder meeting in Austin, Texas, today, where investors will decide the fate of CEO Elon Musk’s enormous $1 trillion compensation package. The meeting starts at 4 pm ET and will be livestreamed on X.com.
The proposal is widely expected to pass, considering Musk’s popularity with retail shareholders, and his ability to vote his own extensive holdings. Polymarket currently has its likely passage at 94 percent, same as Kalshi.
Yes. The answer is yes.
The suit alleges that the company’s vehicle design trapped five people inside a burning Model S following a 2024 crash in Wisconsin, killing all of them. Tesla is already facing a federal investigation into complaints that its door handles, which sit flush against the vehicle and are electronically controlled, can trap people inside their vehicle during a crash. The company has said it would redesign the handles.
Just like MKBHD in September, the OpenAI CEO has now canceled his Roadster preorder — or tried to, at least, given his email request bounced back. Altman said he understands delays, “but 7.5 years has felt like a long time to wait.” Using it to advance his feud with Elon Musk was probably a bonus.
This one seems pretty minor, all things considered. It’s for a possible issue with the installation of an off-road light bar accessory that could detach while driving. But it’s notable given that the truck has already racked up a whopping 10 recalls in just two years on the road. Most have been related to poor build quality, which could also be a factor in the truck’s dismal sales record.
Elon Musk’s political activities — buying Twitter, renaming it X, and letting election deniers and white supremacists back on; donating nearly $300 million to elect Donald Trump; heading DOGE — have dramatically harmed Tesla’s financial fortunes, according to a new study from the National Bureau of Economic Research by Yale University economists. Musk’s polarizing behavior likely cost the company up to 1.26 million vehicle sales in the US alone, the group estimates. Meanwhile, EV sales from other automakers popped 17-22 percent, as Musk-disgusted shoppers spent their cash elsewhere.
This is the same robot that couldn’t handle popcorn distribution at Tesla’s diner, and was revealed to be remote controlled at the company’s Cybercab event. In a Q3 earnings call, Musk said he would “of course” ensure that “Optimus is safe” before allowing it to perform surgery on anyone. Volunteers?
A potential battery pack contactor defect could cause the EVs to suddenly lose power, as reported by Reuters. Tesla acknowledged in a NHTSA filing that the issue impacts 12,963 2025 Model 3 and 2026 Model Y vehicles manufactured between March 8th and August 15th, 2025.
Affected vehicles are equipped with a battery pack contactor manufactured with InTiCa solenoid which may suddenly open due to poor coil termination connection, potentially causing a sudden loss of propulsion.
At Wired, Zoë Schiffer (a Verge alum) talked to Cybertruck owners about life with Elon Musk’s controversial car. Somehow, the quotes in this story are even more ridiculous than the photos.
Apparently the lower-cost Standard trim still has the same glass roof as the Premium models, but Tesla installed a fabric headliner so you can’t see through it. Motor Trend and Car and Driver both clocked this in their hands-on with the new Model Y. It’s a strange move — Wouldn’t this end up costing more than just replacing the glass with metal or fiberglass? — but this is Tesla after all.
The new Tron movie isn’t getting the greatest reviews, but that hasn’t stopped Tesla from pushing a software update that enables customers to turn their vehicles into light cycles on their infotainment screens. Some Tesla owners are complaining that this basically amounts to free advertising for Disney. Maybe Tesla should have stopped after sending one of its Optimus robots to try to “fight” Jared Leto at the film’s premiere.
Is that a plastic hubcap, perhaps on a more affordable Model Y? A fan for the revamped Tesla Roadster? A new HVAC system? Or is it a Tesla frisbee, as some commenters have guessed? I guess we’ll have to tune in tomorrow (October 7th) to find out.
EV sales are sure to dip, and automakers are pulling back their investments. Now the real challenge will emerge.
The Financial Times has a good rundown of the extensive executive churn across Elon Musk’s companies in recent months, from Tesla’s robotics team to xAI’s CFO. Musk’s “24/7 campaign-style work ethos” is apparently a little difficult to keep up with.
The next-gen charging station, which is located in Redwood, Calif., is capable of putting out 500kW of peak power. Currently, the only Tesla vehicle that can accept that rate is the Cybertruck. The station also is only available to Tesla vehicles for now.
He put down $5,000, and then another $45,000, to reserve a revamped Tesla Roadster when it was first unveiled in 2017. But Tesla never got around to making one, so he decided to cancel it. The cancellation process involved multiple emails and phone calls, but eventually he got a check from Tesla... for $45,000. That’s right, they kept the $5,000 initial deposit.
NBC News founded dozens of incidents in which Tesla owners using Full Self-Driving report near-misses with oncoming trains. The vehicles weren’t braking in time, forcing the drivers to intervene. Some cars stopped on the tracks, while others tried to actually turn onto the tracks. If I were trying to convince people my car company was actually on the cusp of solving real-world autonomy, I’d be very concerned by this!
IIHS moderate overlap crash test results for seven EVs show good ratings for the i4, Blazer EV, post-April 2025 Cybertruck, and ID.Buzz, and acceptable for Tesla’s Model 3. (No word on the door handles.)
The F-150 Lightning (poor) and Ariya (marginal) results showed risks of injuries to backseat passengers.
