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Porsche confirms Cayenne EV and second, larger all-electric SUV

Credit: Porsche

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Porsche announced two upcoming EVs at its earnings event today and revealed that it achieved record earnings during 2022.

Porsche has had a lot of great news to deliver to investors since its IPO late last year. Following Porsche’s IPO, the brand doubled down on its electrification strategy with the announcement of the Macan EV and has even become the most valuable automaker in Europe. Today’s earnings announcement was, luckily, more good news. The German brand announced that it had achieved record earnings in 2022 and revealed two new EV models, a Porsche Cayenne EV and an unnamed EV SUV placed above the Cayenne.

While some of Porsche’s EV projects, including the Macan and 718 EVs, have become well-known, little has been said about the premium automaker’s largest offering, the Cayenne. And sadly, other than the brand confirming its existence and its post-2025 launch date, very little was released. Porsche stated that the vehicle would be based on its SSP platform, but even the platform’s details remain under wraps.

The second EV Porsche announced is described as “positioned above the Cayenne,” which will likely be a larger and more luxury-oriented product compared to the Cayenne. This vehicle could compete with upcoming Land Rover EVs, an EV Cadillac Escalade, or other massive three-row electric SUVs. The release date of this second SUV was not specified, but it will likely follow the introduction of the Cayenne EV in the second half of this decade.

More details are known about the smaller upcoming electric Porsche offerings, including the Macan EV coming in 2024 and the 718 EV coming in 2025. With the details about these vehicles, estimating the specifications for both upcoming electric SUVs may be possible.

Due to the sheer size of the Cayenne and its upcoming bigger brother, we can anticipate the batteries to be used to swell well above the 100kWh size found in the upcoming Macan. Furthermore, with such massive vehicles, both will likely be offered with dual motor drive trains as a minimum, with tri or quad-motor variants potentially being used for higher trim “Turbo” versions. Finally, along with their eye-watering curb weights, many anticipate both vehicles to have jaw-dropping price tags, matching or exceeding the price of the current gas-powered Cayenne.

Outside of the announced EVs, Porsche had more good news for investors. Not only had the brand achieved record earnings, but also a record profit margin of 18%. Europe’s most valuable car maker will aim for a profit margin of 20% in the coming years. Following this good news, Porsche is considering implementing a dividend of 1 euro per share or 1.01 euros per preferred share.

Thanks to the SUV market’s sheer size and the Cayenne platform’s previous success, there is no wonder Porsche is looking to electrify it next, especially as it aims for 80% EV sales by 2030. However, by the time Porsche gets these vehicles to dealer showrooms, it remains unclear what the market landscape will look like. Hopefully, these products can continue to lure Porsche buyers and help the performance brand become more sustainable in the coming years.

What do you think of the article? Do you have any comments, questions, or concerns? Shoot me an email at william@teslarati.com. You can also reach me on Twitter @WilliamWritin. If you have news tips, email us at tips@teslarati.com!

Will is an auto enthusiast, a gear head, and an EV enthusiast above all. From racing, to industry data, to the most advanced EV tech on earth, he now covers it at Teslarati.

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Tesla makes big Full Self-Driving change to reflect future plans

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tesla interior operating on full self driving
Credit: TESLARATI

Tesla made a dramatic change to the Online Design Studio to show its plans for Full Self-Driving, a major part of the company’s plans moving forward, as CEO Elon Musk has been extremely clear on the direction moving forward.

With Tesla taking a stand and removing the ability to purchase Full Self-Driving outright next month, it is already taking steps to initiate that with owners and potential buyers.

On Thursday night, the company updated its Online Design Studio to reflect that in a new move that now lists the three purchase options that are currently available: Monthly Subscription, One-Time Purchase, or Add Later:

This change replaces the former option for purchasing Full Self-Driving at the time of purchase, which was a simple and single box to purchase the suite outright. Subscriptions were activated through the vehicle exclusively.

However, with Musk announcing that Tesla would soon remove the outright purchase option, it is clearer than ever that the Subscription plan is where the company is headed.

The removal of the outright purchase option has been a polarizing topic among the Tesla community, especially considering that there are many people who are concerned about potential price increases or have been saving to purchase it for $8,000.

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This would bring an end to the ability to pay for it once and never have to pay for it again. With the Subscription strategy, things are definitely going to change, and if people are paying for their cars monthly, it will essentially add $100 per month to their payment, pricing some people out. The price will increase as well, as Musk said on Thursday, as it improves in functionality.

Those skeptics have grown concerned that this will actually lower the take rate of Full Self-Driving. While it is understandable that FSD would increase in price as the capabilities improve, there are arguments for a tiered system that would allow owners to pay for features that they appreciate and can afford, which would help with data accumulation for the company.

Musk’s new compensation package also would require Tesla to have 10 million active FSD subscriptions, but people are not sure if this will move the needle in the correct direction. If Tesla can potentially offer a cheaper alternative that is not quite unsupervised, things could improve in terms of the number of owners who pay for it.

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Tesla Model S completes first ever FSD Cannonball Run with zero interventions

The coast-to-coast drive marked the first time Tesla’s FSD system completed the iconic, 3,000-mile route end to end with no interventions.

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A Tesla Model S has completed the first-ever full Cannonball Run using Full Self-Driving (FSD), traveling from Los Angeles to New York with zero interventions. The coast-to-coast drive marked the first time Tesla’s FSD system completed the iconic, 3,000-mile route end to end, fulfilling a long-discussed benchmark for autonomy.

A full FSD Cannonball Run

As per a report from The Drive, a 2024 Tesla Model S with AI4 and FSD v14.2.2.3 completed the 3,081-mile trip from Redondo Beach in Los Angeles to midtown Manhattan in New York City. The drive was completed by Alex Roy, a former automotive journalist and investor, along with a small team of autonomy experts.

Roy said FSD handled all driving tasks for the entirety of the route, including highway cruising, lane changes, navigation, and adverse weather conditions. The trip took a total of 58 hours and 22 minutes at an average speed of 64 mph, and about 10 hours were spent charging the vehicle. In later comments, Roy noted that he and his team cleaned out the Model S’ cameras during their stops to keep FSD’s performance optimal. 

History made

The historic trip was quite impressive, considering that the journey was in the middle of winter. This meant that FSD didn’t just deal with other cars on the road. The vehicle also had to handle extreme cold, snow, ice, slush, and rain. 

As per Roy in a post on X, FSD performed so well during the trip that the journey would have been completed faster if the Model S did not have people onboard. “Elon Musk was right. Once an autonomous vehicle is mature, most human input is error. A comedy of human errors added hours and hundreds of miles, but FSD stunned us with its consistent and comfortable behavior,” Roy wrote in a post on X.

Roy’s comments are quite notable as he has previously attempted Cannonball Runs using FSD on December 2024 and February 2025. Neither were zero intervention drives.

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Tesla removes Autopilot as standard, receives criticism online

The move leaves only Traffic Aware Cruise Control as standard equipment on new Tesla orders.

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Credit: Tesla Malaysia/X

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.

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