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Tesla falls behind in J.D. Power owner satisfaction study

Credit: One Tire Fire | YouTube

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Tesla has fallen behind a few points on a recently published owner satisfaction study, with others such as Rivian, Porsche, and Jaguar landing some of the index’s top spots.

J.D. Power published its 2024 U.S. Automotive Performance, Execution and Layout (APEAL) Study last week, which measured owner satisfaction with their vehicles after 90 days of ownership. The index looked at responses from 99,144 owners of 2024 model year vehicles, noting that satisfaction for mainstream brands has increased from not resonating well with consumers in past years.

Tesla had an overall score of 870 in the evaluation, dropping from its 878 score in the 2023 APEAL Study. Meanwhile, OEMs like Porsche, BMW, Dodge, Ram, and several others saw their scores jump year over year.

Tesla is no longer just a luxury brand, says major auto outlet

“Traditional manufacturers have listened to the Voice of the Customer,” notes J.D. Power Senior Director of Auto Benchmarking Frank Hanley. “They’re launching enhanced vehicles that are more in line with what customers want, including improved interior storage and higher quality materials, as well as ensuring features have ease of use.

“For BEVs, recent launches from traditional manufacturers have surpassed perennial leader Tesla when it comes to owners’ level of emotional attachment and excitement with their new vehicle,” Hanley said.

J.D. Power also notes that the study took place from July 2023 through May 2024, based on vehicles registered from April 2023 through February 2024. The APEAL is now in its 29th year with the 2024 publication, requesting that vehicle owners consider their satisfaction with 37 separate vehicle factors.

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Infotainment systems were the lowest-ranking across all the categories evaluated with an average of 823, though the figure still marked a 5-point improvement from last year. Vehicles using Android Auto or Apple CarPlay generally ranked better, with averages of 832 and 840, respectively.

Despite Rivian and Tesla gaining high scores on the overall evaluation, these automakers and Polestar were not awarded, due to the brands not meeting study award criteria.

“Since J.D. Power is prohibited by Tesla, Polestar and Rivian from sampling owners in all states, we are not able to include their models with rank eligible models from other manufacturers.” explains Hanley.

J.D. Power’s top-ranked vehicle brands in the 2024 APEAL Study

Top 10 premium brands by owner satisfaction

  1. Rivian (900)*
  2. Porsche (891)
  3. Jaguar (886)
  4. Land Rover (882)
  5. BMW (881)
  6. Mercedes-Benz (876)
  7. Lincoln (874)
  8. Genesis (873)
  9. Tesla (870)*
    premium segment average (870)
  10. Cadillac (868)

Top 10 mass-market brands by owner satisfaction

  1. MINI (858)
  2. Ram (854)
  3. Kia (853)
  4. Hyundai (846)
  5. GMC (845)
  6. Volkswagen (844)
  7. Buick (842)
  8. Chevrolet (841)
    mass-market segment average (838)
  9. Dodge (837)
  10. Honda (836)

*These brands did not meet the criteria for the APEAL Study’s awards, meaning that they were not rank-eligible, according to J.D. Power.

Other recent assessments from J.D. Power

Last month, Tesla, Rivian, and Polestar were given low ranks in the J.D. Power Initial Quality Study for 2024, as many battery-electric vehicles (BEVs) were reportedly found to require more repairs, in part due to including newer technology.

In May, J.D. Power ranked Tesla’s mobile app the best among several automakers, just ahead of Mercedes, BMW, and Genesis. The firm also said earlier this year that Mercedes-Benz and Tesla have the best websites in the industry.

Updated 7/29/24: Added second quote from Frank Hanley detailing the exclusion of Tesla, Rivian, and Polestar from awards.

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RELATED:

Tesla urged to rethink unorthodox vehicle controls by traffic safety expert

What are your thoughts? Let me know at zach@teslarati.com, find me on X at @zacharyvisconti, or send us tips at tips@teslarati.com.

Zach is a renewable energy reporter who has been covering electric vehicles since 2020. He grew up in Fremont, California, and he currently lives in Colorado. His work has appeared in the Chicago Tribune, KRON4 San Francisco, FOX31 Denver, InsideEVs, CleanTechnica, and many other publications. When he isn't covering Tesla or other EV companies, you can find him writing and performing music, drinking a good cup of coffee, or hanging out with his cats, Banks and Freddie. Reach out at zach@teslarati.com, find him on X at @zacharyvisconti, or send us tips at tips@teslarati.com.

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Elon Musk

SpaceX’s biggest test yet arrives this week and it’s not a rocket launch

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SpaceX will report second quarter results after the market closes on Tuesday, August 4, marking the first time the company has opened its books to the public since its record IPO in June. Management will host a live audio only webcast at 4:30 p.m. ET, streamed on X, with no dial in option.

The debut carries more weight than a typical first quarter as a public company. Two trading days after the release, on August 6, the first tranche of SpaceX’s lockup expires, freeing roughly 911.5 million insider and employee shares, worth well over $100 billion at current prices and the largest such release in Wall Street history. A second, larger tranche tied to the stock trading 30 percent above its $135 IPO price never triggered, since shares have spent most of July trading below that price.

Wall Street’s models point to revenue near $6.9 billion for the quarter, up sharply from the $4.69 billion SpaceX reported in the first quarter, with a narrower per share loss than the $1.27 posted three months earlier, according to estimates compiled by Motley Fool. Those numbers will be the first look at how SpaceX’s three segments, Starlink, launch and AI, are performing independently.

SpaceX scores another massive Pentagon deal to support military satellites

Investors heading into the call have a specific list of questions. How many net new Starlink subscribers did SpaceX add after ending March with 10.3 million, and is average revenue per user holding up as the service expands into lower income markets. How much of the AI segment’s revenue reflects contract signings with Anthropic, Google and Reflection AI this year, deals that combined could annualize to nearly $28 billion if fully ramped. Whether capital expenditures, which nearly doubled in the AI segment alone between 2024 and 2025, are still accelerating or starting to plateau. And whether management offers any forward guidance at all, something SpaceX has never done publicly.

The report will also land days after Elon Musk publicly denied a Wall Street Journal report describing internal planning to separate Tesla’s China business ahead of a potential Tesla-SpaceX merger. Whether Musk or SpaceX executives address that speculation on the call, even indirectly, maybe something investors will be listening for on Tuesday.

As Teslarati reported after Musk’s own warning to short sellers last week, the CEO has made clear he expects skeptics to be proven wrong over time. Tuesday will be the first chance for the numbers themselves to make that case.

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Elon Musk

SpaceX’s Starship just got filmed by its own cargo

SpaceX released new footage of Starship in space captured by the Starlink satellites it deployed.

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SpaceX released a new video Friday evening showing Starship from an angle showcased by its own Starlink satellites, watching the rocket drift away in orbit.

The 65 second clip, posted on X, stitches together footage from four cameras mounted on a single Starlink V3 satellite. It opens with a close view of Starship’s 171 foot upper stage, still catching sunlight, then pulls back as the two spacecraft separate.

The footage comes from Starship’s 13th flight test, which launched July 24 from Starbase after a scrubbed attempt and an abort caused by an engine issue the week before. When Flight 13 finally flew, it carried the first batch of functional Starlink V3 satellites Starship has ever deployed, twenty of them, with six equipped with cameras meant to scan the ship’s heat shield during reentry.

Flight 13 checked most of its boxes. Starship deployed all 20 satellites, relit a Raptor engine in space, and splashed down softly in the Indian Ocean off Western Australia. Musk’s longer term plan calls for a Starlink V3 constellation of 100,000 satellites, according to a recent FCC filing, with Starship as the only vehicle capable of launching them at the volume that requires. Each Starship flight is designed to carry up to 60 V3 satellites once the vehicle reaches routine service, well beyond what Falcon 9 can carry in a single mission.

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Starship is next expected to fly with an attempt at catching the ship itself with the launch tower’s mechanical arms, a maneuver SpaceX has so far reserved for the Super Heavy booster.

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Tesla Model Y L’s new features flexed at unveiling event at Diner

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Tesla Model Y L in a field
Credit: Tesla

Tesla flexed the new features of the Model Y L with a dedicated media event at the company’s Diner on Santa Monica Boulevard in Los Angeles.

The Model Y L is the extended-wheelbase version of the all-electric crossover, which has been voted the best-selling car in the world on three occasions. The vehicle is already rolling off production lines at Gigafactory Texas, and first deliveries are slated to take place later this year.

Tesla brings Model Y L ‘Launch Series’ to the U.S. at $61,990

Teslarati was invited to the event, but due to some scheduling conflicts, we could not make it to Los Angeles. Instead, we will have our hands on a media unit sometime in August, so we’ll be able to spend some more extended time with the Model Y L.

However, plenty of those who made it to LA shared some cool features that set the Model Y L apart from the Model Y.

Multi-Row Climate Control

Tesla fitted the Model Y L with full climate control on all three rows on the front screen. It can be adjusted by selecting which row you’d like to modify on the right-hand side of the touch screen:

Better Rear Window Visibility

One of the strangest things about the Model Y, especially the Juniper iteration, is the rear window has extremely limited visibility when looking into the rearview mirror.

Tesla has improved upon this with the Model Y L:

PowerShare will be included

Model Y L will come with PowerShare in North America, with an 11.5kW output to your home. Tesla said it would require Powerwall 3 for operation.

Wireless Charging Pad

There has been some speculation that Tesla would upgrade the wireless charging pads in the United States, but this is not the case.

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Tesla owner fixes common feature complaint with crafty DIY retrofit

Tesla confirmed that it does not come with the cooled pads as the Y L in China does. This is because North America has not adopted Qi charging yet.

Thermal Management Improvements

These improvements in the Model Y L were seen with thermal management:

  • Up to 15% faster cabin cooling
  • +23% thermal efficiency gained in hot weather, 7 miles of real-world range gained
  • 8x more solar energy reflection off of glass roof
  • 30% reduction in solar energy entering the cabin

Demand

Tesla said the Model Y L is almost sold out in the U.S. It comes with

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  • 1 year of FSD Supervised
  • 1 year of Supercharging
  • 1 year of Premium Connectivity
  • Free exterior paint color, interior, and wheel option at no additional cost
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