News
GM CEO Barra leans on price parity to take out Tesla in race to EV superiority
General Motors CEO Mary Barra has plans to catch Tesla by mid-decade, and she plans to lean on cheaper electric vehicles that are more comparable in price to gas cars to do it. Ultimately, Barra plans to be out-manufacturing and out-selling everyone, including Tesla, by the mid-2020s.
“We’re taking all the steps to do it,” Barra said on Yahoo! Finance earlier this week. “We have said that by mid-decade, we will be selling more EVs in this country than anyone else, including Tesla.”
A lofty goal in its own right, GM wants to outpace the world’s most successful electric vehicle company in the matter of a few years, outmaneuvering the Austin-based car manufacturer and its vocal CEO Elon Musk. More affordable cars are the key to the plan, which Barra solidified during the interview. You have to be able to offer people non-luxury cars and non-luxury prices, something Barra seems to believe Tesla is not able to do currently.
“Remember, we’re not necessarily just selling at the premium end,” perhaps stabbing at Tesla’s lineup, which has gone from sub-$40,000 to a shade below $47,000 for its most affordable Model 3 trim level. “We’re going to have electric vehicles affordable at $30,000.”
Tesla has upped prices on its electric vehicles for over a year with unpredictable-but-steady cost increases. Earlier this year, CEO Elon Musk blamed “inflation pressure” for the rises in price throughout Tesla’s lineup. Nevertheless, the company has not necessarily felt the effects of the inflation as demand continues to funnel in at healthy levels. Tesla reported its biggest quarter in Q1 with 310,048 vehicle deliveries. It also demolished Wall Street consensus estimates on its financial spreadsheet, beating EPS projections by nearly $1 and beating revenue estimates by nearly $1 billion. “Basically, the future is very exciting. I’ve never been more optimistic or excited about Tesla’s future than I am right now,” Musk said on the call.
While GM offers several affordable electric options, starting with the $31,500 Chevrolet Bolt EV and the $39,900 Chevrolet Silverado EV, which is expected to hit the market in Spring 2023, the automaker hits other sectors too. Its GMC Hummer EV offers high-powered luxury functionality, but GM has struggled with getting it to customers. It also has the Cadillac LYRIQ, another luxury vehicle that costs $58,795. These two vehicles are at premium price points, but that is not GM’s ultimate focus.
“We’ve really worked to listen and understand what the customer is looking for,” Barra said, which is perhaps one reason GM chose to partner with Honda on a series of EV models that could hit the market in 2027.
GM is fourth in the global EV market share with 7.6 percent. Tesla led 2021 with nearly 14 percent of the global EV market.
As for the race to EV superiority, Barra believes it is more of a marathon than a sprint, vowing to catch up to Musk and eventually pass him.
“I think it’s a little bit longer game.”
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News
Tesla Model Y and Model 3 named safest vehicles tested by ANCAP in 2025
According to ANCAP in a press release, the Tesla Model Y achieved the highest overall weighted score of any vehicle assessed in 2025.
The Tesla Model Y recorded the highest overall safety score of any vehicle tested by ANCAP in 2025. The Tesla Model 3 also delivered strong results, reinforcing the automaker’s safety leadership in Australia and New Zealand.
According to ANCAP in a press release, the Tesla Model Y achieved the highest overall weighted score of any vehicle assessed in 2025. ANCAP’s 2025 tests evaluated vehicles across four key pillars: Adult Occupant Protection, Child Occupant Protection, Vulnerable Road User Protection, and Safety Assist technologies.
The Model Y posted consistently strong results in all four categories, distinguishing itself through a system-based safety approach that combines structural crash protection with advanced driver-assistance features such as autonomous emergency braking, lane support, and driver monitoring.

This marked the second time the Model Y has topped ANCAP’s annual safety rankings. The Model Y’s previous version was also ANCAP’s top performer in 2022.
The Tesla Model 3 also delivered a strong performance in ANCAP’s 2025 tests, contributing to Tesla’s broader safety presence across segments. Similar to the Model Y, the Model 3 also earned impressive scores across the ANCAP’s four pillars. This made the vehicle the top performer in the Medium Car category.
ANCAP Chief Executive Officer Carla Hoorweg stated that the results highlight a growing industry shift toward integrated safety design, with improvements in technologies such as autonomous emergency braking and lane support translating into meaningful real-world protection.
“ANCAP’s testing continues to reinforce a clear message: the safest vehicles are those designed with safety as a system, not a checklist. The top performers this year delivered consistent results across physical crash protection, crash avoidance and vulnerable road user safety, rather than relying on strength in a single area.
“We are also seeing increasing alignment between ANCAP’s test requirements and the safety technologies that genuinely matter on Australian and New Zealand roads. Improvements in autonomous emergency braking, lane support, and driver monitoring systems are translating into more robust protection,” Hoorweg said.
News
Tesla Sweden uses Megapack battery to bypass unions’ Supercharger blockade
Just before Christmas, Tesla went live with a new charging station in Arlandastad, outside Stockholm, by powering it with a Tesla Megapack battery.
Tesla Sweden has successfully launched a new Supercharger station despite an ongoing blockade by Swedish unions, using on-site Megapack batteries instead of traditional grid connections. The workaround has allowed the Supercharger to operate without direct access to Sweden’s electricity network, which has been effectively frozen by labor action.
Tesla has experienced notable challenges connecting its new charging stations to Sweden’s power grid due to industrial action led by Seko, a major Swedish trade union, which has blocked all new electrical connections for new Superchargers. On paper, this made the opening of new Supercharger sites almost impossible.
Despite the blockade, Tesla has continued to bring stations online. In Malmö and Södertälje, new Supercharger locations opened after grid operators E.ON and Telge Nät activated the sites. The operators later stated that the connections had been made in error.
More recently, however, Tesla adopted a different strategy altogether. Just before Christmas, Tesla went live with a new charging station in Arlandastad, outside Stockholm, by powering it with a Tesla Megapack battery, as noted in a Dagens Arbete (DA) report.
Because the Supercharger station does not rely on a permanent grid connection, Tesla was able to bypass the blocked application process, as noted by Swedish car journalist and YouTuber Peter Esse. He noted that the Arlandastad Supercharger is likely dependent on nearby companies to recharge the batteries, likely through private arrangements.
Eight new charging stalls have been launched in the Arlandastad site so far, which is a fraction of the originally planned 40 chargers for the location. Still, the fact that Tesla Sweden was able to work around the unions’ efforts once more is impressive, especially since Superchargers are used even by non-Tesla EVs.
Esse noted that Tesla’s Megapack workaround is not as easily replicated in other locations. Arlandastad is unique because neighboring operators already have access to grid power, making it possible for Tesla to source electricity indirectly. Still, Esse noted that the unions’ blockades have not affected sales as much.
“Many want Tesla to lose sales due to the union blockades. But you have to remember that sales are falling from 2024, when Tesla sold a record number of cars in Sweden. That year, the unions also had blockades against Tesla. So for Tesla as a charging operator, it is devastating. But for Tesla as a car company, it does not matter in terms of sales volumes. People charge their cars where there is an opportunity, usually at home,” Esse noted.
Elon Musk
Elon Musk’s X goes down as users report major outage Friday morning
Error messages and stalled loading screens quickly spread across the service, while outage trackers recorded a sharp spike in user reports.
Elon Musk’s X experienced an outage Friday morning, leaving large numbers of users unable to access the social media platform.
Error messages and stalled loading screens quickly spread across the service, while outage trackers recorded a sharp spike in user reports.
Downdetector reports
Users attempting to open X were met with messages such as “Something went wrong. Try reloading,” often followed by an endless spinning icon that prevented access, according to a report from Variety. Downdetector data showed that reports of problems surged rapidly throughout the morning.
As of 10:52 a.m. ET, more than 100,000 users had reported issues with X. The data indicated that 56% of complaints were tied to the mobile app, while 33% were related to the website and roughly 10% cited server connection problems. The disruption appeared to begin around 10:10 a.m. ET, briefly eased around 10:35 a.m., and then returned minutes later.

Previous disruptions
Friday’s outage was not an isolated incident. X has experienced multiple high-profile service interruptions over the past two years. In November, tens of thousands of users reported widespread errors, including “Internal server error / Error code 500” messages. Cloudflare-related error messages were also reported.
In March 2025, the platform endured several brief outages spanning roughly 45 minutes, with more than 21,000 reports in the U.S. and 10,800 in the U.K., according to Downdetector. Earlier disruptions included an outage in August 2024 and impairments to key platform features in July 2023.