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Porsche rolls out another Taycan teaser in the form of an instructional video

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Porsche is gearing up for the production of its very first all-electric vehicle — the Taycan. Initially dubbed as the Mission E sedan prior to being christened with its official name, the Taycan is expected to start production sometime in 2019.

There is no doubt that the upcoming sedan is attracting a lot of interest from the EV community. That said, the vehicle just has this one tiny issue — its name is proving to be a pain to pronounce. To address this, Porsche has released its latest teaser for the vehicle, which comes in the form of an instructional video on how to pronounce “Taycan” correctly.

While it is easy to point the blame at Porsche for giving its first all-electric car a tricky name, this is not the first time that the legacy carmaker has published a “how to pronounce” video. Back in 2016, the company rolled out a similar ad, demonstrating the correct pronunciation for “Porsche.” In that particular video, Porsche even provided the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) transcription of its name (pɔɐ̯ʃə) to ensure that viewers could pronounce its name correctly.

Needless to say, a good number of Porsche fans still pronounce the company’s name as “Porsch” or even “Porch” today.  

As for the recent Taycan ad? Porsche notes that the correct pronunciation of the vehicle’s name is “Tie-con, and not “Tei-can” or “Tei-ken. This notably limits the amount of Liam Neeson references that can be related to the electric car, but it does help ensure that Porsche fans don’t embarrass themselves when speaking to German owners and enthusiasts about the sleek, zero-emissions high-performance EV.

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Inasmuch as Porsche’s latest Taycan ad is a bit amusing, it should be noted that the Taycan is actually one of the only vehicles in the company’s lineup with a name that’s a pain to pronounce. Other cars, such as the 911, the Macan, and the Cayenne, after all, are pretty much impossible to mispronounce. That said, Porsche did explain when it announced electric car’s official name that “Taycan” roughly translates to “lively young horse.” As such, the name is a significant nod to the rearing steed in the company’s iconic crest.

Porsche is arguably one of the legacy automakers that appears to be putting a lot of serious effort in the development of its electric car lineup. While fellow German carmakers Mercedes-Benz and Audi have beaten Porsche to the punch with electric car launches this year, the EQC and the e-tron could be described as EV conversions of existing ICE-powered vehicles. Porsche took a different approach with the Taycan, designing the car from the ground up, similar to how Tesla approached the industry-leading Model S.

The results of the Porsche’s efforts are evident in the vehicle’s performance figures and track-capability. Test mules of the car frequent the Nurburgring, where they could be seen stealthily attacking the iconic circuit’s corners. Camouflaged prototypes of the vehicle have also been spotted in regions outside Europe, including the United States. Performance-wise, the Taycan is a true Porsche, with its 0-60 mph time of 3.5 seconds, its top speed of 155 mph, and its range of 310 miles per charge.

Watch Porsche’s instructional ad for the Taycan in the video below.

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Simon is an experienced automotive reporter with a passion for electric cars and clean energy. Fascinated by the world envisioned by Elon Musk, he hopes to make it to Mars (at least as a tourist) someday. For stories or tips--or even to just say a simple hello--send a message to his email, simon@teslarati.com or his handle on X, @ResidentSponge.

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Tesla begins production of new Model Y trim at Giga Berlin

Tesla announced on Monday that its Model Y Standard configuration was officially being built at Giga Berlin, less than one month after the company officially announced the configuration early last month.

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla has begun production of the new Model Y trim at Gigafactory Berlin, the company’s production plant in Germany.

Tesla announced on Monday that its Model Y Standard configuration was officially being built at Giga Berlin, less than one month after the company officially announced the configuration early last month.

On October 7, Tesla announced the launch of the Model 3 and Model Y Standard trim levels, its answer to the call for affordable EVs within its lineup and its response to the loss of the $7,500 electric vehicle tax credit.

On October 3, Tesla started production of the vehicles in Germany:

The Standard iteration of the Model Y is void of many of the more premium features that are available in the Rear-Wheel-Drive, All-Wheel-Drive, and Performance trims of the vehicle are equipped with.

A few of the features of the Model Y Standard are:

  • Single Motor configuration
  • No rear touchscreen
  • Textile seats with vegan leather, instead of all vegan leather
  • 320-mile range
  • No glass roof

The launch of the Model Y Standard was truly a move to help Tesla get vehicles into the sub-$40,000 price point, and although many consumers were hoping to see the company get closer to $30,000 with these cars, this is a great starting point.

Deliveries in the United States have already started, and it seems it will be a vehicle that will do one of two things: either push some consumers to finally make the jump to Tesla, or it will give car buyers another reason to buy the Premium trims, as they may feel the lack of features is not a good enough deal.

This is something we saw with the Cybertruck’s Rear-Wheel-Drive configuration, which launched last year and ended up being more of the latter option listed above.

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The Tesla Model Y Standard is actually a great deal in Europe

It was only a $10,000 discount from the All-Wheel-Drive Cybertruck, but it also did not have adaptive air suspension, premium interiors, or the powered tonneau cover, which many people felt was too much of a sacrifice.

The Rear-Wheel-Drive Cybertruck was discontinued only a few months later.

It does not seem as if this is the case with the Model Y Standard, which already seems to be an attractive option to some buyers.

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Tesla begins wide rollout of Full Self-Driving v14 to Cybertruck

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Credit: Weibo (via YYDS on X)

Tesla has officially begun the wide rollout of Full Self-Driving (Supervised) v14 to the Cybertruck about a month after the company started rolling it out to other vehicles in the fleet.

On Monday, Tesla officially started rolling out v14.1.5 to Cybertruck owners, the first FSD v14 rollout for owners of the all-electric pickup.

Owners have been anxiously waiting for Tesla to begin the wide release of v14 to Cybertruck, as the company said it would refine the suite for the vehicle.

Tesla has finally started rolling out to many owners, who are reporting that their Cybertrucks are downloading Software Update 2025.38.8.5, which contains FSD v14.1.5:

Tesla has to be more cautious with rolling out FSD on the Cybertruck than on other vehicles for a few reasons. Initially, the Cybertruck utilizes an all-wheel steering system that turns differently than the S3XY lineup. This creates a challenge for the Tesla AI team as they have to cater to this specific maneuvering change.

Additionally, the Cybertruck is much larger, and the exterior cameras responsible for seeing the vehicle’s surroundings are placed differently than those of the other vehicles.

This requires additional calibration to ensure safety.

The full release notes for Full Self-Driving v14.1.5 are as follows:

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  • Added Arrival Options for you to select where FSD should park: in a Parking Lot, on the Street, in a Driveway, in a Parking Garage, or at the Curbside.
  • Added handling to pull over or yield for emergency vehicles (e.g. police cars, fire trucks, ambulances).
  • Added navigation and routing into the vision-based neural network for real-time handling of blocked roads and detours.
  • Added additional Speed Profile to further customize driving style preference.
  • Improved handling for static and dynamic gates.
  • Improved offsetting for road debris (e.g. tires, tree branches, boxes).
  • Improve handling of several scenarios including: unprotected turns, lane changes, vehicle cut-ins, and school buses.
  • Improved FSD’s ability to manage system faults and recover smoothly from degraded operation for enhanced reliability.
  • Added alerting for residue build-up on interior windshield that may impact front camera visibility. If affected, visit Service for cleaning!

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Elon Musk shuts down Tesla ‘AMG’ division speculation: ‘Focus is autonomy’

“I think it’s best to leave that to the custom shops. Tesla’s focus is autonomous cars, building futuristic autonomous cars. We want the future to look like the future.”

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Credit: Unplugged Performance

Tesla CEO Elon Musk was asked by Joe Rogan late last week whether the company would ever consider establishing an “AMG division” like Mercedes-Benz has established for powerful, race-inspired vehicles.

However, Musk turned down any talk of that, highlighting that the company is laser-focused on autonomous vehicles, seemingly hinting that any distraction from autonomy would be a detriment to the future.

Rogan drives a Tesla Model S himself, but it is not your run-of-the-mill all-electric sedan. Already outfitted with the Plaid powertrain that Tesla developed, Rogan took his vehicle to Unplugged Performance for a true performance outfitting.

The vehicle is completely overhauled with performance parts and seats. Known as the Model S-APEX, Rogan took delivery of it from Unplugged in January.

Rogan asked Musk on Friday during his most recent appearance on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast whether Tesla would ever establish an “AMG division” that would focus on catering Teslas to performance-based standards.

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Musk said:

“I think it’s best to leave that to the custom shops. Tesla’s focus is autonomous cars, building futuristic autonomous cars. We want the future to look like the future.”

Tesla fans have said for years that the company should consider acquiring Unplugged Performance and its Upfit Tesla division, which recently outfitted the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department’s fleet of Cybertruck cruisers.

However, it seems Tesla will keep things separate. Musk is primarily focused on autonomy, which will drive the technology forward and drive shareholder growth. Something like an outfitter for performance would be a cool thing for the owners who have the interest and the money.

It’s not a tremendous revenue driver or anything that would contribute to the financial state of the company. Mercedes-Benz, for example, is more accessible for consumers as it sold over 140,000 units from its AMG brand in 2024.

Tesla Model Y driver starts race in reverse, still wins against AMG SUV

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It helps with driving revenue higher by as much as 15 percent compared to similar models that are not AMGs. However, would Tesla see this much of a benefit? Likely not, because the Performance trim already caters to many owners.

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