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Elon Musk’s $50K TX house is a humble prefab home that can be towed by a Model X

Credit: @RGVaerialphotos/Twitter

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Tesla CEO Elon Musk has mentioned that he now lives in a ~$50K house at Starbase, Texas, where his private space company, SpaceX, is manufacturing its Starships. Based on images of the home, it appears that the Tesla and SpaceX CEO is indeed living modestly in a prefabricated housing unit that’s only about 400 square feet. 

Teslarati recently received a tip noting that Elon Musk’s housing unit in Starbase, Texas is a Boxabl Casita, a foldable, prefabricated home designed for quick installations and maximum affordability. A 20×20 unit such as the one that Elon Musk reportedly owns is priced at only $50,000, less than the cost of a Model Y Long Range Dual Motor AWD. The Boxabl Casita is durable, too, being made of concrete panels and steel. It could be installed very quickly and transported easily, as well, with the home being light enough to be pulled by a vehicle like a Model X.  

Apparent indications that Elon Musk was living in a Boxabl home actually emerged last November 2020, when the prefabricated housing company posted a video inside a unit that it just built in Boca Chica, Texas. The video was promotional in nature, with the company highlighting the advantages of building homes in a production line. At the end of the clip, however, Boxabl noted that the Casita in the video was built for a very special client in Boca Chica — one that preferred to have a Falcon 9 poster on the unit’s door. 

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The Boxabl Casita is designed to be customizable with different finishes and configurations. Yet a look at Elon Musk’s apparent housing unit in Starbase shows that the CEO only opted for a base unit. Musk did mention that he has installed improvements to the home that would probably make it worth about $69,000 today, but even such an amount is less than the cost of a base Tesla Model S. The Casita is classic Elon Musk in the way that it’s different and practical, though the idea that the 20×20 unit may be home to the world’s third-richest person is very compelling. People with a net worth of $172 billion, after all, typically live in lavish properties. 

https://twitter.com/engineers_feed/status/1367548452633206789?s=20

Boxabl appears to be a company that is very fond of Elon Musk and his ventures, with the startup showcasing one of its Casita units being configured for use in Mars as possible living quarters for astronauts. More recently, Boxabl also pitched the idea of using its prefab housing units for the expansion of Starbase, allowing the location to grow with housing units that are just as potentially disruptive as SpaceX’s rockets and Tesla’s electric vehicles. 

Watch a video of Elon Musk’s Boxabl home in Starbase, Texas, as well as Boxabl’s Mars concept below. 

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EvtJPDpAY7c

Do you have anything to share with the Teslarati Team? We’d love to hear from you, email us at tips@teslarati.com.

Simon is an experienced automotive reporter with a passion for electric cars and clean energy. Fascinated by the world envisioned by Elon Musk, he hopes to make it to Mars (at least as a tourist) someday. For stories or tips--or even to just say a simple hello--send a message to his email, simon@teslarati.com or his handle on X, @ResidentSponge.

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Tesla’s Grok integration will be more realistic with this cool feature

Tesla is preparing Grok for its first integration into vehicles, but it’s making it more robust than ever, firmware shows.

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla has not yet integrated the AI assistant Grok into its vehicles, but when it does, it will be even more realistic with a new feature that firmware coding shows.

CEO Elon Musk teased a few months back that Grok would be making its way into vehicles in the near future. The implementation has not yet occurred, but we are confident it will be rolling out soon, especially as Tesla has its sights set on a near-term rollout of the Robotaxi platform.

Tesla’s vehicles expected to get Grok voice assistant—but when?

Grok will enable AI assistance for drivers who are both manually operating Tesla vehicles or using the company’s Full Self-Driving suite. It has been widely popular and extremely useful for users on X, Musk’s social media platform.

However, Tesla hacker green has revealed through firmware that the company is planning to roll out Grok into vehicles with personalities, giving it an even more realistic tone that is totally customizable and catered to whatever the driver wants.

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There are also a handful of kids’ versions that will do things like tell stories or play trivia:

The true capabilities of Grok are nearly limitless. Back in January, Musk said on a livestream on X that, “You’ll be able to talk to your Tesla and ask for anything.”

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Grok appears to only be available on AMD-based vehicles, according to other things green found in the firmware. This means that Intel-based Teslas, which are usually older models, will not enable Grok support for right now.

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Tesla dominates Cars.com’s Made in America Index with clean sweep

Tesla continues to dominate Cars.com’s Made in America Index with a clean sweep of the Top 4 spots.

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla has dominated the Cars.com Made-in-America Index with a clean sweep of the top four spots. All four Tesla vehicles that were eligible for the analysis placed in the top four.

The Model 3 overtook the Model Y for first place this year. The all-electric crossover was first in 2024, but the Model 3 managed to overtake its sibling vehicle to claim the top spot in 2025. The Model Y took second, while the Model S took third, and the Model X took fourth.

This is an improvement from last year, as the Model Y took first, but the Model S and Model X placed fourth and ninth, respectively. The Model 3 was not in the Top 10 in 2024.

“Tesla continues to lead, claiming the top four spots and showcasing its commitment to domestic production. About 25% of the more than 400 vehicles on sale in the U.S. made this year’s AMI, and whether a vehicle is No. 1 or No.99, it contributes to the U.S. economy,” Patrick Masterson, lead researcher for the program, said.

More than 400 vehicles were analyzed for this year’s study, with Cars.com officially ranking 117 of them. There were two other EVs in the Top 10, as the Kia EV6 took sixth place, and the Volkswagen ID.4 finished in tenth.

This year’s study reflected major geographic and strategic shifts across the automotive industry. Of the 117 vehicles ranked in the program, they were produced at 36 domestic factories, leaving only 11 total factories that did not yield a car on the list. There are 47 assembly plants in operation in the U.S.

However, there still has not been a vehicle to quite reach the 100 percent domestic parts content, something that is extremely elusive. Masterson says the global supply chain is still extremely crucial to even the most American-built cars on the market.

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The average domestic parts content of the Top 10 cars was 83.4 percent in 2006, but that number has shrunk to 70.3 percent in this year’s rankings.

Some might wonder where cars like the Tesla Cybertruck or Rivian R1T are on the list. However, these vehicles did not qualify because the study only considers cars under a gross weight of 8,500 pounds.

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Tesla China roars back with highest vehicle registrations this Q2 so far

Tesla China’s 80% week-over-week growth was the most notable among Chinese EV brands.

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Credit: Tesla China

Tesla China saw a notable rise in new vehicle registrations in the week of June 9 to 15, 2025. During the week, Tesla China’s registrations saw an impressive 80% week-over-week increase, resulting in the electric vehicle maker posting its highest insurance registration figures this Q2 so far. 

Tesla China Roars Back

During the week ending June 15, 2025, Tesla China saw 15,500 insurance registrations. This represents an 80% increase from the previous week’s 8,640 units. This is also the highest number of registrations that Tesla has posted in China for the past ten weeks, as noted in a CNEV Post report.

Tesla watchers have observed that the electric vehicle maker’s 80% week-over-week growth was the most notable among Chinese EV brands. Following Tesla was Xpeng, which saw a 52% week-over-week growth to 6,400 registrations, and Nio, which saw a 9.3% week-over-week increase to 4,700 registrations. 

Tesla China does not report its weekly vehicle registration figures, though the company’s overall performance in the Chinese auto market can be inferred through new vehicle registration data. Fortunately, these registrations are closely tracked and reported by industry watchers, as well as automakers like Li Auto.

Tesla Model Y Impact

Industry watchers estimate that Tesla China was able to deliver 11,200 new Model Y units to customers in the week ending June 15. This represents a week-over-week improvement of about 85% from the previous week. This bodes well for the revamped all-electric crossover, as it suggests that demand for the vehicle remains strong.

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The new Model Y is Tesla’s highest volume seller. Thus, it would not be a surprise if the company’s numbers this Q2 2025 end up relying on the sales figures of the revamped all-electric crossover. Fortunately, Tesla has two more weeks before the quarter ends, which should be enough to increase its quarterly sales numbers to a notable degree.

Tesla’s domestic sales in China totaled 38,588 units in May, down 30% year-over-year but up 34% percent from April, as per data from the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA). In the same month, Giga Shanghai also exported 23,074 vehicles in May.

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