News
A Norwegian Teslarati’s ownership experience
Norway sees the first delivery glitches.
Tesla Motors is entering the Norwegian market, which has given a strong boost to its global sales in the past few months. The country, not only boasts very serious green credentials, but also has taken to electric vehicles (EV). However, not everything is peachy in Norway with Tesla, according to our Teslarati tipster.
So far, Tesla sold over 2,200 Tesla S the first 3 months of entering the market in Norway. This makes Norway the second largest market for Tesla, and an important part of its bottom line. Tesla Motors is a new company and entering a new market is already difficult for an established carmaker, let alone for a startup. If we rave about the ways it conducts its business in the U.S., things are not as perfect in that new market. Methinks, there is something fishy in Norway!
Norwegian Teslaratipster
Our Teslaratipster found three other individuals who have the same problem, he has in a few forums in Norway. Many have to wait a very long time for the delivery of their Model S. How long? It can last 4 to 6 months. Does it remind you of anything, you early Roadster owners?
Discontent is already brewing with a few who were promised priority delivery and often get theirs later than non-priority customers. The rest, you can finger out. There is much frustration in Norway with Tesla, which is not a good thing to have for its second largest market.
To make things worse, the warranty service wildly fluctuates from customer to customer, blurring the experience even further. Some are helped right away, while others can sometime wait up to 2 months to fix problems. It gets even more complicated when you consider some buy their Model S directly, while others take out a loan, with no guarantee of having anything fixed in a timely manner. They still have to pay interest on the car that either does not work, or has faulty parts. In short, Tesla could be facing its first real, full-blown media catastrophe in Norway by not providing an equal service to all of its brand new customers and giving them the experience we rave about here in the U.S. It needs to act very fast to avert a disaster.
Warranty and quality
Image source: Bjorn Nyland
Norway, like many other countries, has the same problem EVs face anywhere else. Where do you charge your brand new beautiful Tesla Model S? For the majority of users, this is a huge problem and home charging on a 240 V plug can take a log time… a very long time. We know Tesla is working as quickly as it can to install Superchargers around the country. Unfortunately, the first batches of the Model S came with a few problems, such as water leaking from the panoramic roof, which makes it way in the lamps and fills cracks. This is not what you want to see in a brand new car, let alone, an electric one from a foreign startup.
Our Teslaratipster says he sent a letter to his local representative, who has to contact management in the Netherlands before any help can be received through the U.S.. This is nowhere near what we are accustomed to in the U.S.
We want to see Tesla Motors succeed, and so far, the company has done almost everything right. But is it stretching itself too thin by not having thoroughly thought out its customer service in its second largest and new market in a new country? One thing is for sure, Tesla cannot afford big mistakes. The news will be all over this and pressure will be applied in every direction. Tesla must nip this in the bud quickly.
Elon Musk
Tesla removes Autopilot as standard, receives criticism online
The move leaves only Traffic Aware Cruise Control as standard equipment on new Tesla orders.
Tesla removed its basic Autopilot package as a standard feature in the United States. The move leaves only Traffic Aware Cruise Control as standard equipment on new Tesla orders, and shifts the company’s strategy towards paid Full Self-Driving subscriptions.
Tesla removes Autopilot
As per observations from the electric vehicle community on social media, Tesla no longer lists Autopilot as standard in its vehicles in the U.S. This suggests that features such as lane-centering and Autosteer have been removed as standard equipment. Previously, most Tesla vehicles came with Autopilot by default, which offers Traffic-Aware Cruise Control and Autosteer.
The change resulted in backlash from some Tesla owners and EV observers, particularly as competing automakers, including mainstream players like Toyota, offer features like lane-centering as standard on many models, including budget vehicles.
That being said, the removal of Autopilot suggests that Tesla is concentrating its autonomy roadmap around FSD subscriptions rather than bundled driver-assistance features. It would be interesting to see how Tesla manages its vehicles’ standard safety features, as it seems out of character for Tesla to make its cars less safe over time.
Musk announces FSD price increases
Following the Autopilot changes, Elon Musk stated on X that Tesla is planning to raise subscription prices for FSD as its capabilities improve. In a post on X, Musk stated that the current $99-per-month price for supervised FSD would increase over time, especially as the system itself becomes more robust.
“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),” Musk wrote.
At the time of his recent post, Tesla still offers FSD as a one-time purchase for $8,000, but Elon Musk has confirmed that this option will be discontinued on February 14, leaving subscriptions as the only way to access the system.
Tesla has initiated Cybertruck deliveries in a new region for the first time, as the all-electric pickup has officially made its way to the United Arab Emirates, marking the newest territory to receive the polarizing truck.
Tesla launched orders for the Cybertruck in the Middle East back in September 2025, just months after the company confirmed that it planned to launch the pickup in the region, which happened in April.
I took a Tesla Cybertruck weekend Demo Drive – Here’s what I learned
By early October, Tesla launched the Cybertruck configurator in the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia, with pricing starting at around AED 404,900, or about $110,000 for the Dual Motor configuration.
This decision positioned the Gulf states as key early international markets, and Tesla was hoping to get the Cybertruck outside of North America for the first time, as it has still been tough to launch in other popular EV markets, like Europe and Asia.
By late 2025, Tesla had pushed delivery timelines slightly and aimed for an early 2026 delivery launch in the Middle East. The first official customer deliveries started this month, and a notable handover event occurred in Dubai’s Al Marmoom desert area, featuring a light and fire show.
Around 63 Cybertrucks made their way to customers during the event:
First @cybertruck deliveries in the UAE 🇦🇪 pic.twitter.com/sN2rAxppUA
— Tesla Europe & Middle East (@teslaeurope) January 22, 2026
As of this month, the Cybertruck still remains available for configuration on Tesla’s websites for the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and other Middle Eastern countries like Jordan and Israel. Deliveries are rolling out progressively, with the UAE leading as the first to see hands-on customer events.
In other markets, most notably Europe, there are still plenty of regulatory hurdles that Tesla is hoping to work through, but they may never be resolved. The issues come from the unique design features that conflict with the European Union’s (EU) stringent safety standards.
These standards include pedestrian protection regulations, which require vehicles to minimize injury risks in collisions. However, the Cybertruck features sharp edges and an ultra-hard stainless steel exoskeleton, and its rigid structure is seen as non-compliant with the EU’s list of preferred designs.
The vehicle’s gross weight is also above the 3.5-tonne threshold for standard vehicles, which has prompted Tesla to consider a more compact design. However, the company’s focus on autonomy and Robotaxi has likely pushed that out of the realm of possibility.
For now, Tesla will work with the governments that want it to succeed in their region, and the Middle East has been a great partner to the company with the launch of the Cybertruck.
Tesla has officially launched public Robotaxi rides in Austin, Texas, without a Safety Monitor in the vehicle, marking the first time the company has removed anyone from the vehicle other than the rider.
The Safety Monitor has been present in Tesla Robotaxis in Austin since its launch last June, maintaining safety for passengers and other vehicles, and was placed in the passenger’s seat.
Tesla planned to remove the Safety Monitor at the end of 2025, but it was not quite ready to do so. Now, in January, riders are officially reporting that they are able to hail a ride from a Model Y Robotaxi without anyone in the vehicle:
I am in a robotaxi without safety monitor pic.twitter.com/fzHu385oIb
— TSLA99T (@Tsla99T) January 22, 2026
Tesla started testing this internally late last year and had several employees show that they were riding in the vehicle without anyone else there to intervene in case of an emergency.
Tesla has now expanded that program to the public. It is not active in the entire fleet, but there are a “few unsupervised vehicles mixed in with the broader robotaxi fleet with safety monitors,” Ashok Elluswamy said:
Robotaxi rides without any safety monitors are now publicly available in Austin.
Starting with a few unsupervised vehicles mixed in with the broader robotaxi fleet with safety monitors, and the ratio will increase over time. https://t.co/ShMpZjefwB
— Ashok Elluswamy (@aelluswamy) January 22, 2026
Tesla Robotaxi goes driverless as Musk confirms Safety Monitor removal testing
The Robotaxi program also operates in the California Bay Area, where the fleet is much larger, but Safety Monitors are placed in the driver’s seat and utilize Full Self-Driving, so it is essentially the same as an Uber driver using a Tesla with FSD.
In Austin, the removal of Safety Monitors marks a substantial achievement for Tesla moving forward. Now that it has enough confidence to remove Safety Monitors from Robotaxis altogether, there are nearly unlimited options for the company in terms of expansion.
While it is hoping to launch the ride-hailing service in more cities across the U.S. this year, this is a much larger development than expansion, at least for now, as it is the first time it is performing driverless rides in Robotaxi anywhere in the world for the public to enjoy.
Tesla removes Autopilot as standard, receives criticism online
Tesla begins Cybertruck deliveries in a new region for the first time
