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Ford’s Farley shows Tesla Motors some love
You know the Mahatma Gandhi saying: “First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, and then you win.” We would probably change it to: “At first, they ignore you. Then, they mock you. Finally, they embrace you” And so this past week, James Farley, Ford’s CMO publicly praised Tesla’s technical fluency and distribution models. Thus begins a new chapter in the evolution of electric vehicles, EV.
When Ford shows the way
Others mainstream carmakers follow. You have to give Ford credit for a few things. They were agile enough, with the right amount of vision to lead the way in the late 2008, revitalizing our nation’s dying car industry. I’ve met with Alan Mullaly and heard Ford Jr. on more than one occasion to know that this dynamic duo saved the carmaker. Ford was the first carmaker to reach out to everyone to spread the message. Today, the media sees this company as one of the most open and inclusive, a starch contrast to many others in the industry.
Although we can argue at length as to Ford’s commitment to EVs, the Focus Electric is one of the best EV in its segment. It drives very well, has decent autonomy and performs exactly as you would expect it. In many ways, it is an ideal second EV. Still, many are frustrated Ford isn’t pushing its Focus Electric more. However, Ford’s number one preoccupation until now was to remain solvent and diversify their wide automotive choice. They created what they called Power of Choice by offering cars with various drivetrains, something they did with brio and more or less, according to public demand. Still, what James proclaimed will probably force other carmakers to acknowledge the wild success and brilliant maneuvering of the small California electric vehicle maker, Tesla Motors.
According to Jim Farley on Seeking Alpha, “Tesla’s achievements have produced benefits for the entire automotive industry.”
Tesla’s distribution, sales and service
If you read further into the article, you will pick up on something very interesting. Ford is impressed with the company’s distribution, sales and service. In other words, Ford, a carmaker, which relies on dealership distributions is saying it is impressed with Tesla’s distribution system, or lack, thereof. Ford is saying that Tesla devised of a working and successful business plan around electric cars, something that has stumped almost all car makers.
Almost all carmakers face the same dilemma when it comes to EVs. How to make money on the electric drivetrain when it requires close to no maintenance. Since carmakers enjoy a steady cash flow from planned maintenance and obsolescence strategy, EVs are a serious thorn for their business plans. In short, carmakers make a bundle on spare parts, maintenance and frequent planed failures. Electric vehicle makers don’t have that luxury and need to have a radically different business model in order to survive. Maybe if everyone fully understood this, few would complain about the relatively high price of EVs. You either pay upfront, or down the road — the choice is yours.
Ford has shown a very progressive stance in the past and has been one of the rare carmakers with a vision solid enough to get it going in the middle one of the worst global financial crisis. Mullaly and Ford have been instrumental in maneuvering the company out of the 2008 financial meltdown, and have shown an uncanny ability to appeal to population segments otherwise discarded by other makers. Today, Ford enjoys a good reputation, with better cars, good energy savings and much better quality control. If a mainstream carmaker such as Ford publicly praises a disruptive electric vehicle lifestyle startup in California, such as Tesla Motors, you know things are about to change.
Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) reported its earnings for the first quarter of 2026 on Wednesday afternoon. Here’s what the company reported compared to what Wall Street analysts expected.
The earnings results come after Tesla reported a massive beat on vehicle deliveries for the second quarter, delivering 489,126 vehicles and building 451,758 cars during the three-month span.
This was a major shock for those on Wall Street as they anticipated somewhere around 400,000 deliveries for the quarter, and showed Tesla still has plenty of demand for its vehicles around the world and in the U.S. despite losing the $7,500 EV Tax Credit last year.
Tesla Q2 2026 Earnings Results
- Non-GAAP EPS – $0.33 reported vs. $0.53 expected
- Revenues – $28.236 billion reported vs. $26.4 billion expected
- Free Cash Flow- -$1.092B
- Profit -$ 4.751B
Tesla (beat/missed) analyst expectations, so the market response to the company’s quarter is what we will look for next.
Tesla shares closed today down just over 1 percent, trading at $374.01.
In the past, it has been anyone’s guess with what Tesla shares will do after they report earnings. Strong quarters have resulted in sharp drops, while lackluster quarters have seen the stock shoot up considerably.
Tesla will hold its Q2 2026 Earnings Call in about 90 minutes at 5:30 p.m. on the East Coast. Remarks will be made by CEO Elon Musk and other executives, who will shed some light on the investor questions that we covered earlier this week.
You can stream it below. Additionally, we will be doing our Live Blog on X and Facebook.
Q2 2026 Earnings Call https://t.co/zZS6ii2TWK
— Tesla (@Tesla) July 22, 2026
Tesla is about to make parking in busy parking lots at businesses and other points of interest less stressful than ever by allowing drivers more control over where they park and how, CEO Elon Musk confirmed on X.
Tesla has been working to improve the parking performance of vehicles utilizing the Full Self-Driving suite, but now it is looking to add more customization, allowing drivers to choose the specific space they park in, but also potentially the orientation the car pulls into the spot:
It’s coming soon
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 21, 2026
Musk has reiterated on X twice over the past several weeks that Tesla is working to make things with the FSD suite based more on the driver’s specific preferences and behaviors that were seen in past drives.
Essentially, it sounds like if you tend to park away from a business to avoid other vehicles, Tesla FSD will soon recognize that preference of yours and start parking further away as well. Additionally, the prospect of assigned parking spaces has been something many owners have voiced concerns about.
Living in a community with assigned parking spaces makes using FSD incredibly difficult as it will rarely park in the correct spot when there are so many to choose from. This is also pertinent in work settings where there are sometimes assigned parking spaces.
The updates to Tesla’s Full Self-Driving suite in terms of listening to driver preferences with parking are also extending to routing. Tesla announced yesterday that with the release of its 2026 Summer Update, it was adding Automatic Navigation and Preferred Routes:
Tesla reveals 2026 Summer Update with crazy fixes to Nav and more
Tesla has always maintained the idea that any human input is bad input, and that, ideally, Tesla Full Self-Driving will always make the right decision. Of course, this is all in theory, but the issue is that so many of Tesla’s interventions have come because it does something that is not necessarily wrong, but perhaps not what the driver would prefer.
Taking these preferences into account will help Tesla alleviate some of the potentially unnecessary interventions that drivers perform.
Tesla is starting to prepare for the launch of the Optimus robot in its smartphone app, new coding strings show. Elon Musk has referred to Optimus as what will be the greatest-selling product of any kind of all time, and now, Tesla is getting ready for its launch.
Tesla’s smartphone app had several first-time mentions of the Optimus program, according to Tesla App Updates, who intially reported on the appearance. Here’s what they found:
A Dedicated “Robot” Phone Key Authentication
Tesla is working on a Bluetooth Low Energy, or BLE, authentication that is specifically for robots. This does not only apply to Optimus, though, as Robotaxi, which is Tesla’s autonomous ride-hailing platform, might also identify vehicles within the fleet as robots as well.
Tesla shows rapid teardown of Model S and X lines, paving the way for Optimus at Fremont
Essentially, pairing your phone as a key to anything Tesla identifies as a robot to a “whitelist” of authorized devices. Optimus, Robotaxi, or other products that fall into this category will only respond if the device trying to communicate with it is authorized.
This is a great security feature that will eliminate at least face-value and low-level threats.
Home Data Collection and System Alerts
This appears to be somewhat of a neural network for Optimus within your house. There will be a dedicated screen that asks for consent to collect both video and spatial data while Optimus performs in-home tasks. Everything from vacuuming, washing dishes, dusting, and other activities will be tracked.
There will also be a comprehensive alert system that will track everything from low battery to mechanical issues.
Other Changes
Most of the changes tracked in this particular app update are related to Tesla’s 2026 Summer Update, and include things such as image assets for new features, a preview of the new custom wraps feature, and other unique features.
You can check out our coverage on what is included with the 2026 Summer Update here:
Tesla reveals 2026 Summer Update with crazy fixes to Nav and more
Tesla (TSLA) Q2 2026 earnings results: miss on EPS, beat on revenue
Tesla is about to make parking in busy lots less stressful than ever
