News
CT Dealership said “direct sales EVs like Tesla are a very small percentage of the vehicles sold”
A Connecticut dealership employee said at a planning and zoning meeting that “direct sales EVs like Tesla are expensive luxury vehicles and they are a very small percentage of the vehicles sold.” The dealership employee who made that claim works for Hoffman Auto Group.
This is a follow-up to our earlier report that Tesla cut ties with South Windsor after siding with the local dealerships.
Tesla was looking to purchase a new location for a new service center and gallery. In this area, Tesla would complement stores such as Apple. All Tesla would need the town to do is adjust the zoning laws to allow car sales and service.
The South Windsor, CT Facebook page shared a live stream of the meeting and you can watch the replay here.
Dealership sales rep: “Direct sales EVs Tesla are a very small percentage of the vehicles sold”
Tyrrell Dabrowski, sales director at Hoffman Auto Group could be seen laughing at around 1:30:10 which is when the statement about Hoffman suing towns was read aloud.
He also spoke beginning at 1:58 into the meeting. In his speech, he claimed that Tesla owners can’t get good service. I’m not sure if he was boasting or actually taking himself seriously about this since Hoffman Auto Group is blocking Tesla from serving its customers.
“The Hoffman Auto Group, you know, we’re committed to defending the dealer franchise system because it provides the consumers with benefits and protections.”
Dabrowski added that the dealer franchise system “keeps prices low by fostering fair and healthy competition on a level playing field. Direct sales by manufacturers is not necessary for the rapid introduction of EVs in the State of Connecticut. Direct sales EVs like Tesla are expensive luxury vehicles and they are a very small percentage of the vehicles sold.”
Other Dealership Testimonies
Mitchell Sealing Ford testified that Tesla is terrible and illegal. And the Connecticut Automotive Retailers Association claimed that Tesla is trying to sell vehicles in South Windsor which is illegal.
Unfortunately for Tesla, the change was voted down and the location is dead. It’s another win for dealerships–especially those who are spreading misinformation.
Hoffman Auto Group’s Claim Debunked
The claim that direct sales EVs like Tesla are only luxury cars and make up a small percentage of sales is highly misleading.
Tesla is not only the global EV leader, but during the first half of 2022 alone, Tesla delivered 564,000 vehicles which represented a growth increase of 27% year-over-year.
During Tesla’s Q2 2022 earnings call, Elon Musk said that he is confident that Tesla would be able to get to 5,000 cars a week in Austin and Berlin by the end of this year.
“There’s always a lot of uncertainty like the production looks like S-curve, and that intermediate part of S-curve the difficult to bridge that with high certainty. But the end part of the S-curve, you can say, I think you can have a lot more certainty.”
“And so that’s why I’m confident we’ll get to 5,000 cars a week at — in Austin and Berlin by the end of this year or early next year and probably but not certainly, 10,000 cars a week at both locations by the end of next year.”
Statement from Tesla Owners of Connecticut
The Tesla Owners Club of Connecticut shared the following statement with me in an email:
“Unfortunately, once again Tesla was kicked to the curb. Legacy dealerships have an awful reputation. South Windsor didn’t want to open up pandora’s box to any dealership coming into this beautiful part of their town. “
“It was painful to listen to the dealer’s disparaging testimony. Their backward thinking and anti-competitive remarks will lead them to bankruptcy eventually. “
My Previous coverage of Hoffman Auto Group & Tesla
When I wrote for CleanTechnica, I extensively covered the ongoing drama that Hoffman Auto Group caused.
- In June 2021, Hoffman Auto Group sued Tesla and the Town of East Hartford because they didn’t want Tesla to sell to customers.
- In June 2021, Hoffman’s Bradley Hoffman told Senator Haskell, that dealers have spent millions on charging stations and solar panels. I replied to him on Twitter asking him to share where he got that information from. He never replied.
- In August 2021, East Hartford approved the Tesla Service Center—but that didn’t last for long.
- Once the Tesla service center was approved, Hoffman sued Tesla.
- In September 2021, I wrote about why dealerships don’t want to compete with Tesla.
- And in March 2022, I reported on East Hartford ruling in favor of Hoffman and other dealerships regarding Tesla and its new service center.
- My interview with Senator Will Haskell
Tesla will increase its Full Self-Driving subscription price, meaning it will eventually be more than the current $99 per month price tag it has right now.
Already stating that the ability to purchase the suite outright will be removed, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said earlier this week that the Full Self-Driving subscription price would increase when its capabilities improve:
“I should also mention that the $99/month for supervised FSD will rise as FSD’s capabilities improve. The massive value jump is when you can be on your phone or sleeping for the entire ride (unsupervised FSD).”
This was an expected change, especially as Tesla has been hinting for some time that it is approaching a feature-complete version of Full Self-Driving that will no longer require driver supervision. However, with the increase, some are concerned that they may be priced out.
$99 per month is already a tough ask for some. While Full Self-Driving is definitely worth it just due to the capabilities, not every driver is ready to add potentially 50 percent to their car payment each month to have it.
While Tesla has not revealed any target price for FSD, it does seem that it will go up to at least $150.
I should also mention that the $99/month for supervised FSD will rise as FSD’s capabilities improve.
The massive value jump is when you can be on your phone or sleeping for the entire ride (unsupervised FSD). https://t.co/YDKhXN3aaG
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 23, 2026
Additionally, the ability to purchase the suite outright is also being eliminated on February 14, which gives owners another reason to be slightly concerned about whether they will be able to afford to continue paying for Full Self-Driving in any capacity.
Some owners have requested a tiered program, which would allow people to pay for the capabilities they want at a discounted price.
Unsupervised FSD would be the most expensive, and although the company started removing Autopilot from some vehicles, it seems a Supervised FSD suite would still attract people to pay between $49 and $99 per month, as it is very useful.
Tesla will likely release pricing for the Unsupervised suite when it is available, but price increases could still come to the Supervised version as things improve.
This is not the first time Musk has hinted that the price would change with capability improvements, either. He’s been saying it for some time. In 2020, he even said the value of FSD would “probably be somewhere in excess of $100,000.”
The FSD price will continue to rise as the software gets closer to full self-driving capability with regulatory approval. It that point, the value of FSD is probably somewhere in excess of $100,000.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 18, 2020
Tesla has chosen to axe the ability to purchase Full Self-Driving outright from a select group of cars just days after CEO Elon Musk announced the company had plans to eliminate that option in February.
The company is making a clear-cut stand that it will fully transition away from the ability to purchase the Full Self-Driving suite outright, a move that has brought differing opinions throughout the Tesla community.
Earlier this week, the company also announced that it will no longer allow buyers to purchase Full Self-Driving outright when ordering a pre-owned vehicle from inventory. Instead, that will be available for $99 per month, the same price that it costs for everyone else.
The ability to buy the suite for $8,000 for a one-time fee at the time of order has been removed:
NEWS: Tesla no longer allows buyers to purchase FSD outright in the U.S. when ordering a pre-owned vehicle directly from inventory. Tesla now gives you the option to either subscribe for $99/month, or purchase FSD outright after taking delivery (available until February 14th). pic.twitter.com/1xZ0BVG4JB
— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) January 23, 2026
This is a major move because it is the first time Tesla is eliminating the ability to purchase FSD outright for one flat fee to any of its vehicles, at least at the time of purchase.
It is trying to phase out the outright purchase option as much as it can, preparing people for the subscription-based service it will exclusively offer starting on February 14.
In less than a month, it won’t be available on any vehicle, which has truly driven some serious conversation from Tesla owners throughout the community.
There’s a conflict, because many believe that they will now lose the ability to buy FSD and not pay for it monthly, which is an attractive offer. However, others believe, despite paying $8,000 for FSD, that they will have to pay more money on top of that cost to get the unsupervised suite.
Additionally, CEO Elon Musk said that the FSD suite’s subscription price would increase over time as capabilities increase, which is understandable, but is also quite a conflict for those who spent thousands to have what was once promised to them, and now they may have to pay even more money.
News
Tesla Robotaxi has a highly-requested hardware feature not available on typical Model Ys
These camera washers are crucial for keeping the operation going, as they are the sole way Teslas operate autonomously. The cameras act as eyes for the car to drive, recognize speed limit and traffic signs, and travel safely.
Tesla Robotaxi has a highly-requested hardware feature that is not available on typical Model Ys that people like you and me bring home after we buy them. The feature is something that many have been wanting for years, especially after the company adopted a vision-only approach to self-driving.
After Tesla launched driverless Robotaxi rides to the public earlier this week in Austin, people have been traveling to the Lone Star State in an effort to hopefully snag a ride from one of the few vehicles in the fleet that are now no longer required to have Safety Monitors present.
BREAKING: Tesla launches public Robotaxi rides in Austin with no Safety Monitor
Although only a few of those completely driverless rides are available, there have been some new things seen on these cars that are additions from regular Model Ys, including the presence of one new feature: camera washers.
With the Model Y, there has been a front camera washer, but the other exterior “eyes” have been void of any solution for this. For now, owners are required to clean them manually.
In Austin, Tesla is doing things differently. It is now utilizing camera washers on the side repeater and rear bumper cameras, which will keep the cameras clean and keep operation as smooth and as uninterrupted as possible:
🚨 Tesla looks to have installed Camera Washers on the side repeater cameras on Robotaxis in Austin
pic.twitter.com/xemRtDtlRR— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) January 23, 2026
Rear Camera Washer on Tesla Robotaxi pic.twitter.com/P9hgGStHmV
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) January 24, 2026
These camera washers are crucial for keeping the operation going, as they are the sole way Teslas operate autonomously. The cameras act as eyes for the car to drive, recognize speed limit and traffic signs, and travel safely.
This is the first time we are seeing them, so it seems as if Safety Monitors might have been responsible for keeping the lenses clean and unobstructed previously.
However, as Tesla transitions to a fully autonomous self-driving suite and Robotaxi expands to more vehicles in the Robotaxi fleet, it needed to find a way to clean the cameras without any manual intervention, at least for a short period, until they can return for interior and exterior washing.
Tesla to increase Full Self-Driving subscription price: here’s when
Tesla starts removing outright Full Self-Driving purchase option at time of order
