#Tesla

Tesla, already under the NHTSA’s microscope, is facing more scrutiny over reports that some Model 3 and Model Y vehicles lost power steering. The agency posted a letter to its website earlier this week, asking for Tesla’s record on the vehicles by July 24.

Fleet buyers usually get a better price than individuals because of the large volumes they purchase, but Tesla is offering deeper discounts to some European leasing companies after previous price cuts caused a significant decrease in the values of their vehicles. That, plus expensive repairs, have driven a wedge between the American automaker and its partners on the old continent.

Tesla layoffs and safety investigations are common stories these days, but that hasn’t changed the automaker’s CEO from believing he’s entitled to tens of billions in compensation. While the company resisted marketing for many years, it now appears to have embraced the practice, and one of its most recent campaigns aims to sway shareholders to approve Elon Musk’s $55 billion pay package.

Tesla’s German plant has run into pushback on multiple occasions, as protestors opposed to the automaker’s expansion in the region have been very public with their stance. Most recently, a group of around 800 people gathered at the Tesla plant near Berlin, but the situation quickly went sideways, resulting in multiple injuries and arrests.

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Most of the media and internet pundits have been zeroed in on Tesla’s layoffs and what they could mean for the automaker and industry at large, but there’s another reported change in its operations that could signal a significant shift in how its vehicles are built. After CEO Elon Musk’s poo-pooing of LiDAR technology, Tesla now appears to be buying the sensors and has become a primary customer of a major supplier.

Locals near the town of Chesterfield, Missouri have reported fleets of new Tesla models appearing in the parking lot of a once-bustling shopping mall. But, as usual, there’s more to the story than may be suggested in bombastic headlines.

While the impacts of Tesla recent Supercharger team layoffs remain to be seen, reports have surfaced that it’s giving up on another of its innovations. Reuters sources said the automaker has scrapped plans to further develop its gigacasting efforts, which drastically reduces the complexities involved with manufacturing unibody vehicles.

Yesterday, Tesla laid off the entire team responsible for working on its Supercharger stations. Considering that so many other automakers are in the process of switching to the Tesla charging standard, how is this going to affect the EV charging landscape?

In a shocking move, Tesla laid off its entire Supercharger staff, raising questions about its future and ability to continue offering a superior experience to a growing number of EV owners. InsideEVs reported on the most immediate impact of the layoffs, as it learned that some new charging sites had already been canceled.

Tesla is undergoing layoffs, with Elon Musk confirming the loss of two senior executives and plans to reduce overhead by cutting staff. This has been relatively common within the automotive sector, with legacy manufacturers having engaged in rolling layoffs for years as a way to offset development costs and maximize profits. But Tesla has long been viewed as the vanguard of electrification and the brand most other EV manufacturers hope to embody due to its meteoric rise.

While American politicians love to harp about TikTok’s Chinese owners and the national security issues that could bring, it may also be true that they worry that the platform is influencing an entire generation with quick hits of liberal political thought and economic theory. A recent survey from AlixPartners found that young TikTok users are increasingly seeing EVs on the app, with more than half of them saying they were aware of Chinese brands like Lynk&Co and BYD.

This will come as no surprise to anyone, but Tesla is yet again changing its prices, though this time it’s on a less-than-week-old vehicle. The Model 3 Performance, which only went on sale last week, has already received a $1,000 price bump, making it $53,990 to start.

Late last year, Tesla recalled two million vehicles to add more driver monitoring safeguards to its Autopilot feature, but the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is worried it might not have done enough. The NHTSA recently announced that it was opening an investigation into the recall after crashes involving “fixed” vehicles and its early testing on the issue.

Ford hasn’t had the best luck with profitability on its electric vehicle business, but the automaker is not shying away from aiming at the cheaper end of the EV spectrum. CEO Jim Farley recently confirmed that the company would purse sub-$30,000 electric models with its next-generation product line, and said that its existing models would become better in the meantime.