News
GM lists Chevy Bolt EV and EUV as ‘#1 mainstream EV series’ in Q4 and FY 2022 US sales report
General Motors (GM) has released its 2022 US fourth quarter and full-year sales report for the US, and in it, the veteran automaker highlighted some of its key milestones during the past year. GM deserves quite a lot of credit in 2022, considering that the American automaker was able to reclaim the US’ top spot in overall auto sales from Toyota Motor Corp, one of its strongest rivals.
As per GM’s Q4 and FY 2022 US sales report, it was able to post a total of 2,274,088 sales in the United States in 2022. This corresponds to a 3% year-over-year rise. The company also posted a strong comeback in the fourth quarter, with US sales rising up 41% year-over-year to 623,261 units. Toyota, on the other hand, posted overall sales of 2,108,458 units over the year.

Considering its accomplishments, it was no surprise that General Motors listed several of its “#1” milestones in 2022. The company specifically listed some of the vehicles behind its “#1” accomplishments in 2022, such as the Cadillac Escalade, which was the number one large luxury SUV for the 9th straight year; and the Chevrolet Corvette, which was the number one luxury sports car. Interestingly enough, GM also listed the Chevrolet Bolt EV and Bolt EUV as the “number one mainstream EV series in Q3 and Q4.”
GM did not specify what it meant by “mainstream EV series” in its report, though it should be noted that the Chevrolet Bolt EV and EUV’s Q4 sales of 16,108 units in the United States are quite conservative, at least compared to some of the country’s most popular battery electric cars. In the third quarter, for example, Counterpoint Research listed the Chevy Bolt EUV with a 4.8% sales share in the US, while the Tesla Model 3 commanded 20.4%.
GM did highlight that the Chevrolet Bolt EV and EUV had their best sales year to date with a 53.5% increase to 38,120 units, but a notable part of this gain was likely due to the fact that the vehicle’s numbers were throttled last year due to a global recall. In a way, however, the Chevy Bolt EV and EUV did have a pretty impressive comeback story in 2022, considering the challenges GM faced with its battery issues that ultimately resulted in a production halt for the vehicle.
Also, GM appears to have a lot of plans with its EV segment in 2023. These are listed below.
- Chevrolet Bolt EV and Bolt EUV production expected to increase to more than 70,000 units this year to meet strong global demand
- Three Chevrolet EVs launching in the industry’s most popular segments
- Cadillac LYRIQ production continues to increase to meet strong customer demand
- GM’s first Ultium-dedicated assembly plant – Factory ZERO in Detroit and Hamtramck – slated to resume production this month. GMC HUMMER EV SUV planned to launch mid-2023
- BrightDrop Zevo 600 production is underway at CAMI, Canada’s first full-scale EV plant, with Zevo 400 manufacturing slated to begin later this year
GM’s Q4 and FY 2022 report can be viewed below.
Q4 YE22 Sales Release 2 by Simon Alvarez on Scribd
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Elon Musk
How to use Grok Bot to block spam calls and texts
Musk told users to ask Grok Bot to scrub their phone numbers from spam lists.
Elon Musk has a new use case for Grok Bot, and it is the spam call. On Thursday he replied to an X user named Arash with a short instruction: “Ask your @Grok @Bot to remove your phone number from spam call & text lists!” Arash had said he got tired of the calls, had an AI bot find his number on listing sites and file removal requests, and packaged the process as a free skill for others.
The skill is called Spam-Call Scrubber, which is described to find a phone number on people search sites and data brokers, submits the opt outs, completes the confirmation emails those sites send back, and rechecks on a schedule the user picks. Using it requires the Grok Bot app. The pitch is time saved, since most broker opt outs sit behind separate forms on separate sites.
Ask your @Grok @Bot to remove your phone number from spam call & text lists!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 15, 2026
Musk said Grok Bot now gives each bot its own email address, and that it can detect scam emails. On Thursday he also said SpaceX would make users whole if the bot botches a purchase or leaks a card, then told users to shop away from Amazon after the retailer blocked the agent, as Teslarati reported. The terms of service we reviewed at the time put responsibility for what an agent does on the user.
For Tesla owners, Grok Bot is not just a phone app. Tesla brought Grok Bot into its vehicles on September 22, and we argued earlier this week that the Cybercab’s real advantage may be the errands it runs during a ride. Every Cybercab and the rest of the Model Y Robotaxi fleet has it enabled. The more routine tasks like this one become, the more a rider has reason to hand over something personal in the back seat.
The new Spam-Call Scrubber skill can be downloaded for free and works on sites that honor removal requests, while noting that listings can reappear, and illegal robocallers do not check any registry. Whether Spam-Call Scrubber cuts anyone’s call volume is something the first wave of users will find out, and Musk’s endorsement guarantees that wave is coming.
Investor's Corner
Tesla’s flying Roadster just revealed something bigger than the car
Analysts say the Roadster demo puts a Tesla and SpaceX merger back on the table.
The Roadster unveiling near Waco ended Thursday night, and by Friday morning much of the investor reaction had less to do with the car than with who owns the rocket technology inside it.
Wedbush analyst Dan Ives said the event “puts the Tesla/SpaceX relationship on the table in a tangible way,” pointing to the propulsion, pressure vessel and control hardware sitting on a Tesla product. Gene Munster of Deepwater Asset Management called the demo “a ridiculous display of engineering” with “no commercial value” beyond embarrassing traditional automakers, though he said it showed Musk wants the two companies together.
The more specific forecast came a day earlier from Barclays. Analyst Dan Levy told clients a deal could be announced before Tesla’s annual meeting, which must happen by December 6, and that an announcement in late October or early November could make shareholder approval harder. Barclays expects SpaceX to be the buyer in an all stock deal, with Tesla holders receiving SpaceX shares at a premium, based on market values of roughly $2.1 trillion for SpaceX and $1.5 trillion for Tesla. If nothing lands around the meeting, the bank still sees an announcement within 6 to 12 months.
The Roadster demo just added more weight to merger speculations. Tesla’s demo used cold gas thrusters and pressure tanks of the kind SpaceX uses on Falcon 9, and Musk described the car as a collaboration between Tesla and SpaceX engineers, as we mentioned in our breakdown of the three Roadster configurations.
Musk has not publicly addressed a deal since the event, as far as we have seen. His most direct answer remains the one he gave at the All In Summit, when he said that with so much collaboration, “who can imagine what action one might take” without ruling anything out. Ives has held to a 2027 timeline since his March note, and Musk pushed back on the China piece of the speculation when ARK floated a year end announcement in August.
The next test is Tesla’s third quarter earnings call on October 21. However, we recall in July that Musk told analysts, “we can’t talk about combining companies and that kind of thing on an earnings call,” so a clear answer wouldn’t be expected.
News
How Tesla’s Roadster fan system and thrusters are built to dominate the corners
Tesla’s Roadster uses fans, active wings and cold gas thrusters to create grip at any speed.
Tesla’s new Roadster is best known for flipping through the air in Texas, but the technology that matters most for a race track is the stuff that keeps it on the ground. Tesla’s Roadster page describes a multi-mode fan and ground sealing system that acts as a downforce generator, pulling air out from beneath the car. Tesla says it provides enough suction to hold the vehicle upside down, even when stationary.
That is the key difference from the wings and diffusers on a normal supercar. Conventional aero only makes downforce when the car is moving, and it grows with speed, so a car has the least grip in the slow corners and under hard braking. A fan system makes downforce at any speed. Tesla’s patent, which we covered last year, describes fans and deployable skirts that create sealed or partially sealed regions under the car, with the fans extracting air to lower the pressure and increase grip and stability.
Still processing this … the most unreal thing I’ve seen. https://t.co/HtEuvnkZjY
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) October 16, 2026
Tesla pairs that with active wings, a next generation steer by wire system and a Track Mode that lowers the car and changes the suspension, with high downforce and low drag settings for the circuit. To keep weight down, Tesla points to magnesium, titanium and carbon fiber, manual controls and a fixed seat position, which it says lets the car respond to driver inputs almost instantly.
Tesla Roadster: Three configs, one can fly, 0-60 in 0.8 seconds
The cold gas thrusters are the other half. On the Thrust version they sit at the rear and Tesla says they take the car from 0 to 60 mph in under 0.9 seconds, while the Rocket version adds perimeter thrusters for forward, upward and lateral rotational movement. Tesla says the all electric actuators make micro adjustments within a fraction of a second.
Roadster transforms in Track Mode
These aero features aren’t just for looks: they provide the best passive downforce package of any road car (approaching F1 levels!) with wing actuation driven by the @Tesla_Optimus actuator system https://t.co/AqrC4qUga9
— Tesla (@Tesla) October 16, 2026
Musk has been talking about records for years. In June 2019 he said, “We’re going to do things with the new Roadster that are kind of unfair to other cars.” That September, when a follower asked whether the Roadster would beat the Nürburgring production car record, he replied with one word, “Absolutely,” as we reported at the time. In February 2024 he said Tesla had “radically increased the design goals” for the car and that its sub one second 0 to 60 time would be “the least interesting part.”
There are caveats. Tesla has not published a lap time or a verified cornering figure, so the record talk is still a promise rather than a result. Tesla also says the car is not approved for public road use, and the thruster features are limited to the Rocket trim, which is invite only. Fan cars have also been banned or withdrawn before, and getting a sealed underbody to work on a rough public road is a harder problem than on a smooth track. The first real test will be an official lap at a circuit.