News
Legacy auto needs a ‘Tesla Approach’ on EVs because it’s quality, not quantity, that buyers want
Amidst the automotive segment’s ongoing shift to electric cars, it is almost common to see a carmaker announcing dozens of EVs coming in the coming years. Yet while such announcements are great for headlines, it appears that the time is nigh for legacy auto to shift to a “Tesla Approach” when it comes to their EV strategy. Carmakers can do this by focusing not on quantity, but on the quality of their electric cars.
Quantity Doesn’t Necessarily Mean Quality
Just recently, South Korean automaker Hyundai announced that it will have 23 global electric vehicles by 2025. This announcement is impressive, and it echoes the same theme as American automaker General Motors’ plan, which calls for 30 EVs by 2025. Even premium carmakers like BMW and Daimler seem to be taking the same approach, with the former pledging nine EVs by 2025 and the latter working on six electric vehicles today.
Yet inasmuch as these announcements warrant a lot of praise, it is pertinent to note that not all of the EVs coming out of legacy auto will necessarily be on the level of Tesla’s electric cars. Take GM’s best-selling electric car today, for example, the Wuling Hongguang Mini EV, which is sold in China. The vehicle outsold the domestically-produced Model 3 in China several times this year, but it’s important to highlight that the Mini EV is a bare-bones electric car that doesn’t even have airbags installed.
The Tesla Approach
Tesla’s approach to its electric cars is not unlike what tech giant Apple adopts. That is, the company releases only a few products, but each is extremely competitive in its respective segment. This could be seen in Tesla’s S3XY lineup, all of which could be described as premium electric vehicles in their own right. Critics could point out that the build quality and interior materials of Tesla’s electric cars are not yet in the level of veterans like Mercedes-Benz, but there’s no doubt that the Model S, Model 3, Model X, and Model Y are a cut above in terms of tech, performance, and features.
Apart from releasing just a few good electric cars, Tesla also focuses heavily on software and vertical integration. Tesla’s vehicles are not the only ones that can receive over-the-air updates today, but they are arguably the ones that receive them most frequently. The vertical integration that Tesla applies to its operations is pretty insane as well, with the company now looking to produce its own batteries and hardware.
One Good Electric Car
What seems to be lost among some legacy automakers today is the fact that the EV market is growing, and as it grows, it probably will not require dozens upon dozens of EVs being offered to customers. This is especially true if some of those electric cars are substandard or underwhelming at best. Instead, it may be a better idea for veteran carmakers to focus on creating only a few electric cars, with each one being good enough to stand against leaders like the Model S, or upstarts like the Lucid Air and the Rivian R1T. Even one good electric car will be better than dozens of uninspired EVs, after all.
Fortunately, this concept seems to be making its way to some carmakers now, albeit slowly. Porsche does not seem to be in a hurry to release a bunch of EVs, with the company focusing on the Taycan, the Taycan Cross Turismo, and the Macan EV. Ford seems to be focusing right now on the Mach-E and the F-150 Electric. These vehicles so far are being received pretty well by the electric vehicle community, with the Taycan and the Mach-E even receiving a personal welcome from Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
The Tesla Model Y L is arguably the most hyped trim of the all-electric crossover, other than the Performance configuration that comes with white-knuckle speed and sports car-level handling.
However, it is not all perfect. Tesla owners in China who took delivery of the Model Y L, denoted with an L to highlight its longer wheelbase, are experiencing what they are referring to as “collapsing” of the rear wheels, as suspension issues appear to be an issue with some of the builds.
🚨 Model Y L owners in China report rear suspension sag
• Six-seat long-wheelbase Y. Shanghai. On sale since August 2025
• Owners say the rear tire-to-arch gap shrinks after mileage or a full load. Some cases after about 9,000 km loaded. Others near 30,000 km
• Tesla service… pic.twitter.com/Lr6i5Tbi07— Joe Hansen (@joehansen) September 1, 2026
The gap between the wheel arch and tire has narrowed to the point that “not even a single finger” could fit, according to a report from Car News China. The failures are not tied to a specific mileage, as one owner said that after just 9,000 kilometers (5,600 miles), they noticed the suspension issue when their car was fully loaded.
Another one had the issue at 30,000 kilometers (18,640 miles) and noticed that the wheel gap shrank to two fingers, so not as drastic as the person who reported a similar issue at 9,000 km.
Tesla Model Y L is gaining momentum in China’s premium segment
Along with the visual recognition of the issue, others are saying the sagging is causing abnormal wear on the inside of the tires. Extra weight and instant torque already provide additional stress on the tires in electric vehicles during normal operation, so it is no surprise that this is another complaint.
There has been no recall issued by Tesla, and the company has not yet publicly acknowledged the issue.
Some are suggesting that owners use a “finger test” to self-diagnose whether there is an issue with the suspension. There should be four fingers between the tire and the wheel well; anything less than that starts to get dicey.
Tesla is starting to truly tease and hype its groundbreaking Cybercab event, which takes place tomorrow in Austin, Texas. It will be the first time members of the public will be able to ride in a Cybercab, a vehicle without any manual controls, on public roads.
Tesla has been dropping some hype on X over the past several days, but this morning, the excitement has truly started to build up for the event. Although Cybercab has been unveiled before, this is truly Tesla’s announcement that it is ready to start offering autonomous rides for public passengers in its new ride-hailing-geared vehicle for the first time.
The hype has started with a variety of different social media posts that are a true indication that Tesla is preparing for something big. Teasing so much of the potential of Cybercab, including its ability to truly revolutionize how people hail rides for local travel, is what the big idea for the event entails. The time that many Tesla owners, fans, and investors have been waiting for is potentially here:
— Tesla (@Tesla) September 2, 2026
The event has remained slim on details. Even invitees are still awaiting true details about what the event will entail, where they’ll go, and what is in store for the evening. This is pretty typical for an event run by Tesla; they keep things under wraps for the most part until the very last minute.
However, there is no secret about what the real intention of Tesla is for this event: it is going to be a huge reveal party for a vehicle that has no steering wheel and no pedals. It is a truly massive step for the company moving forward.
No steering wheel, no pedals
— Tesla Robotaxi (@robotaxi) September 2, 2026
Speculation persists as to whether this is going to be an event that simply announces that rides will begin with the Cybercab, or it will be something more substantial. Tesla has said in the past that they plan to sell the Cybercab to the general public in what could become a great way to earn passive income by adding it to a more global fleet of Robotaxi-geared vehicles.
Tomorrow, the show begins in Austin, and the Cybercab goes live at some capacity; we just don’t know exactly how quite yet.
News
SpaceX tells the FCC that Starship Flight 14 is going to orbit
SpaceX filed with the FCC for Starship Flight 14, its first true orbital launch attempt.
SpaceX has asked the Federal Communications Commission for permission to fly Starlink terminals during Starship’s fourteenth flight test, and the filing lays out a genuine trip to orbit, something the program has never attempted.
Every Starship flight so far, including Flight 13’s successful splashdown in the Indian Ocean on July 24, has flown a suborbital arc that ends with the ship reentering the atmosphere within the same hour it launches. The FCC paperwork describes a mission profile built around an actual orbital insertion instead.
The payload is the other half of the story. Flight 13 carried 20 production Starlink V3 satellites, but because that mission never reached orbit, the satellites reentered along with the ship rather than joining the constellation, something Teslarati covered in detail after SpaceX released footage shot from one of those satellites as it drifted away from Starship in space. Flight 14 is designed to close that gap. If the orbital insertion holds, the roughly 20 V3 satellites onboard would separate into an operational orbit and could eventually go into service, each one rated for about 1 terabit per second of downlink capacity by SpaceX’s own account.
SpaceX announces new Starbase for ‘thousands of Starship launches annually’
Elon Musk first flagged the orbital attempt during SpaceX’s August 4 earnings call, the company’s first as a public entity following its June IPO under the ticker SPCX. He also floated catching the ship with the Starbase tower on the same flight, an idea he walked back on August 20, saying the catch attempt would more likely come “in a few months,” as Teslarati reported at the time. Flight 14 will instead target a splashdown for the ship in the Indian Ocean, the same recovery method used since Flight 12.
Hardware has been catching up to the ambition. Booster 21 completed a full 33-engine static fire on August 28, and Ship 41 finished its own six-engine test the week before. An airspace briefing circulated to pilots on August 20 listed September 15 as the target date, later than the end of August window Musk mentioned on the earnings call, though SpaceX has not confirmed a launch date publicly and Starship schedules routinely slip while hardware and FAA paperwork line up.
The FCC filing itself does not guarantee a launch date. It covers communications authority, and not flight readiness, considering SpaceX still needs Ship 41 fully stacked and cleared by the FAA before Flight 14 can fly. But the filing is a real marker of intent and it puts a specific regulatory process behind what had so far only been Musk’s word on the earnings call.
Tesla Model Y L gets suspension complaints in over odd issue China
Tesla Cybercab event gains steam ahead of massive launch
