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Pressures mount for BMW as Tesla continues to lead US large luxury car market
It’s a little early to predict that Tesla will drive the giant global automakers, one by one, into bankruptcy. However, there’s no question that some brands are already feeling the shockwaves from the electric automaker’s rise, especially in certain market segments.
Every automaker has its own mix of products, so the companies have varying degrees of exposure to the coming wave of disruption. As known Tesla bear Seeking Alpha argues, BMW could be in the most vulnerable position of all. Unlike the Big Three, BMW doesn’t sell pickup trucks, and unlike VW and the Asian carmakers, it doesn’t offer cheap entry-level runabouts (at least not in the US market). The Bavarian brand’s bread and butter consists of high-end sporty sedans and luxury SUVs – precisely the market segments in which Tesla is beginning to mop up the competition.
BMW’s troubles aren’t just theoretical – Seeking Alpha writer ValueAnalyst notes that sales of the company’s flagship sedan, the 7 Series (which BMW has produced since 1977), are in decline. As shown by tables from CarSalesBase.com, 7 Series sales jumped in 2016 after a redesign, but fell significantly in 2017. If current trends continue, yearly sales in the US for 2018 could see the lowest sales since 1992.
Tesla’s Model S has dominated the large luxury segment for a couple of years now, as a table from Statista makes clear. Tesla’s gains have come at the expense of legacy brands such as BMW and Mercedes, which has seen a year-to-date 15% drop in sales of its S Class.
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Above: Large luxury car sales in the United States in 2016, by key model in units (Source: Statista)
The news could get worse for the German sedan-meisters. According to SA’s ValueAnalyst, there are several indications that Tesla may be planning another redesign of Model S, and the latest specs for the upcoming Semi and Roadster make it sound as if battery improvements may be on the way too. When Model 3 comes into its own, it’s expected to offer stiff competition for BMW’s best-selling 3 Series. Considering all these factors, ValueAnalyst believes that “BMW can very well face an existential risk as early as 2018.”
In fact, in an earlier article entitled BMW Will Be the First to Go, ValueAnalyst characterized the company as “floundering in the face of severe competitive pressure and industry disruption.” BMW recently announced a $240-million investment in battery research, but that’s only a fraction of the billions that Tesla has invested over the last decade. “BMW may be years behind Tesla in battery technology.”
The company’s woes are not limited to competition from Tesla. Reuters recently reported that German prosecutors have begun an inquiry into allegations that BMW indulged in the same sort of diesel emissions shenanigans that have cost Volkswagen a few billion bucks. And BMW is in worse financial shape than VW was, with lots of debt and little cash on its balance sheet.
Taking it all into account, our Alpha Seeker expects BMW to be “the first traditional automaker to be significantly impacted by Tesla’s growth, as it has no segment that will not be under severe disruption by 2019.”
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Note: Article originally published on evannex.com, by Charles Morris
Source: Seeking Alpha
News
Tesla utilizes its ‘Rave Cave’ for new awesome safety feature
Part of the massive interior overhaul of both the Model 3 “Highland” and Model Y “Juniper” was the addition of interior accent lighting to help bring out the mood of the vehicle, increase the customization of the interior, and to create a unique listening experience.
Tesla is utilizing its ‘Rave Cave’ for an awesome new safety feature that will arrive with the upcoming Spring Update for 2026.
Part of the massive interior overhaul of both the Model 3 “Highland” and Model Y “Juniper” was the addition of interior accent lighting to help bring out the mood of the vehicle, increase the customization of the interior, and to create a unique listening experience.
Tesla added a Sync Lights feature that will strobe the accent strips with the beat of the music.
It is one of the most unique and one of the coolest non-functional features of a Tesla, as it does not improve the driving of the vehicle, but makes it a cool and personal addition to the interior.
However, Tesla is going to take it one step further, as the Rave Cave lights will now be used for blind spot recognition. This feature will be added as the Spring 2026 Update starts to roll out.
A lot of CRAZY new features coming with Tesla’s 2026 Spring Update, including a new FSD app!
– Self-Driving App (AI4 hardware): New app in App Launcher > Self-Driving for one-tap FSD subscriptions, activation guides, and ongoing stats.
– “Hey Grok”: Voice-activated Grok with… https://t.co/ljeYPlq9Qt— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) April 13, 2026
Tesla writes:
“Accent lights now turn red when an object is in your blind spot and your turn signal is engaged, or when an approaching object is detected while parked.”
This neat new safety feature will now increase the likelihood of a driver, who is operating their Tesla manually, of seeing the blind spot warnings that are currently available on the A pillar and on the center touchscreen.
These new alerts will now warn drivers of cross traffic as they back out of a parking space with little to no visibility of what is coming. It is a great new addition that will only increase the safety of the vehicles, while also utilizing something that is already installed in these specific Model 3 and Model Y units.
The Model 3 and Model Y were the central focus of the Spring 2026 Update, especially considering the fact that the Model S and Model X are basically gone, with only a few hundred units left. Additionally, Tesla included new Immersive Sound and Car Visualization for the Model 3 and Model Y specifically in this new update.
News
Tesla parked 50+ Cybercabs outside its Texas Factory with some crash tested
Dozens of Tesla Cybercabs have been spotted at Giga Texas crash testing facility ahead of launch.
Drone footage captured by longtime Giga Texas observer Joe Tegtmeyer shows over 50 units of Tesla Cybercab at the Austin factory campus, including several units clustered by Tesla’s on-site crash testing facility.
The outbound lot at Gigafactory Texas sits just outside the factory exit and serves as the primary staging area where finished vehicles are held before being loaded onto transport carriers or dispatched for validation testing. On any given day, the lot holds a mix of Model Y and Cybertruck units alongside the growing Tesla Cybercab fleet, as can be seen in the drone footage captured by Joe Tegtmeyer.
Tesla Cybercab fleet spotted at Gigafactory Texas on April 13, 2026 [Credit: Joe Tegtmeyer)
Tesla Cybercab fleet spotted at Gigafactory Texas [Credit: Joe Tegtmeyer)
Tesla Cybercab crash test units spotted at Gigafactory Texas [Credit: Joe Tegtmeyer)
Tesla announced its Spring 2026 software update, and it’s the most feature-dense seasonal release the company has put out. The update covers twelve named changes spanning FSD, voice AI, safety lighting, dashcam storage, and pet display customization, among other things.
The centerpiece for owners with AI4 hardware is a redesigned Self-Driving app. The new interface lets owners subscribe to Full Self-Driving with a single tap and view ongoing FSD usage stats directly in the vehicle.
Grok gets its biggest in-car upgrade yet. The update adds a “Hey Grok” hands-free wake word along with location-based reminders, so a driver can now say “remind me to pick up groceries when I get home” without touching the screen. Grok first arrived in vehicles in July 2025, but each update has pushed it closer to genuine daily utility. Musk framed the broader vision clearly at Davos in January, saying Tesla is “really moving into a future that is based on autonomy.”
On safety, the update introduces enhanced blind spot warning lights that integrate directly with the cabin’s ambient lighting, building on the blind spot door warning that arrived in update 2026.8.
Dog Mode has been renamed Pet Mode and now lets owners choose a dog, cat, or hedgehog icon and add their pet’s name to the display.
Dashcam retention now extends up to 24 hours, up from the previous one-hour rolling loop, with a permanent save option for any clip. Weather maps now show rain and snow with better color differentiation and include the past hour of precipitation data along the route.
Tesla has now established a clear rhythm of two major OTA pushes per year. As with last year’s Spring update, that cycle started taking shape in 2025 with adaptive headlights and trunk customization. The 2025 Holiday Update then added Grok to the vehicle for the first time. This Spring follows that structure: the Holiday update introduces new architecture, and the Spring update broadens it across the fleet.
Two notable features still did not make it. IFTTT automations, which launched in China earlier this year, were held back from this North American release for unknown reasons, and Apple CarPlay remains absent, reportedly still delayed by iOS 26 and Apple Maps compatibility issues.
Below is the full list of feature updates released by Tesla.
— Tesla (@Tesla) April 13, 2026
Tesla utilizes its ‘Rave Cave’ for new awesome safety feature
Tesla parked 50+ Cybercabs outside its Texas Factory with some crash tested
