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Tesla China registrations listed at 6,000 for Q2 2024’s second week

Credit: Tesla Asia/X

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Tesla China opened the second quarter of 2024 with a batch of exports and ~1,900 domestic registrations. In the second week of April 2024, Tesla China saw more insurance registrations, though they still presented a decline compared to the figures from the same period in 2023. 

Industry watchers have noted that Tesla China saw 6,000 new vehicle registrations during the week of April 8-14, 2024. This represents a 214% increase week-over-week from the ~1,900 vehicles that were registered in the week of April 1-7, but it also represents a 25.7% decrease quarter-over-quarter. Year-to-date, Tesla China’s insurance registrations are down over 9%.

Tesla China does not report its weekly domestic sales numbers, but a general idea of its overall performance in the local automotive sector can be inferred though new vehicle registrations. Fortunately, Tesla China’s new vehicle registrations are tracked by industry insiders. Some automakers like Li Auto have even taken it upon themselves to post insurance registration results on a relatively regular basis.  

Tesla is seeing quite a lot of competition in China, especially from home-grown New Energy Vehicle (NEV) makers like BYD. The arrival of upstart vehicles like the Xiaomi SU7 has also made the domestic Chinese auto market even more competitive. To attract customers, Tesla China seems to be leaning into its vehicles’ affordability. This was hinted at in a program launched earlier this month, which offered low down payments and zero-interest loans for qualified customers. 

“Can you believe that you can drive away a new Tesla with RMB 80,000 without any interest? The best-selling Model 3/Y has a daily payment of only RMB 154 at most, which is equivalent to the price of a hot pot meal. Change the car into a Tesla. The gas money can be spent on the monthly payment,” Tesla China wrote in its promotional post in Chinese social media platform Weibo. 

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Industry watchers in China have suggested that domestic customers have responded fairly positively to Tesla’s current promotions, with some claiming that the electric vehicle maker saw about 12,000 to 13,000 new orders for vehicles from April 8 to April 15. Whether these estimates are accurate or not would be evident in the coming weeks as the domestic customers who ordered their Teslas take delivery of their cars. 

Don’t hesitate to contact us with news tips. Just send a message to simon@teslarati.com to give us a heads up.

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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Elon Musk

Elon Musk teases crazy new Tesla FSD model: here’s when it’s coming

Tesla CEO Elon Musk continues to tease some big improvements to Full Self-Driving.

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Credit: Arash Malek/X

Tesla CEO Elon Musk teased a crazy new model of the Full Self-Driving (FSD) suite that could be a major improvement over current models.

Tesla’s Full Self-Driving suite has seen increases in performance over the past few years, with the latest versions being the most robust in company history. There is also an unreleased version, which is operating in the Robotaxi platform in Austin, which does not require supervision from the driver.

The Austin Robotaxi program does use a Safety Monitor who sits in the passenger’s seat.

However, Musk has been teasing improvements to the public version for some time. The CEO said that the new model, which is currently being trained, has roughly ten times the parameters of what is out there now.

He said something similar during the company’s Q2 Earnings Call in July:

“On the full self-driving front, we continue to make significant improvements just with the software. We are expecting to increase the parameter count to what we think can probably tenfold the parameter count. This is a tricky thing to do because as you increase the parameter count, you get to choke on memory bandwidth. But we currently think we can tenfold the parameter count from what people are currently experiencing.”

He reaffirmed these thoughts last night in a post on the social media platform X. Musk believes the version could be released at the end of next month if testing goes smoothly:

Increasing parameters will help improve the capabilities of the FSD suite, but as Musk mentioned during the Q2 Earnings dialogue, an increase in parameters can limit memory bandwidth.

Increasing the parameters could lead to unsupervised FSD, or even an expansion of the suite into other regions across the world. Tesla has been hoping to expand into Europe, Asia, and other areas, but regulatory hurdles are the real bottleneck, not FSD’s capability.

Even still, getting more data will make FSD safer and more robust, increasing its usefulness in real-world scenarios and helping Tesla get to a point where autonomous travel is within reach.

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Elon Musk

Tesla gives Cybertruck clever new towing feature that increases safety

Tesla is making towing upgrades to Cybertruck through a new update.

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Credit: Greg Coleman

Tesla has given the Cybertruck a great new towing feature that will not only increase safety but could help avert damage and help with longevity.

While Tesla has boasted some impressive examples of towing with its vehicle lineup, until the Cybertruck was released in late 2023, the company did not have a car or pickup that was overly capable.

Tesla Cybertruck towing goes on display in new sighting

Its Dual Motor and Tri Motor All-Wheel-Drive configurations have 11,000 pounds of payload capacity. There are times when owners might push the limit, and previously, there was no true way that the vehicle would advise the owner that it was coming close to, or potentially exceeding, the capacity.

In a new update for the pickup, Tesla has added a new feature that will help identify when this is happening.

According to Not a Tesla App, Tesla, in software update 2025.26, added an undocumented feature that is referred to as the “Smart Warning System.” This will detect an overloaded rear axle and will provide a warning to the driver to prevent damage:

“Rear axle load exceeds recommended limit. Remove cargo or rebalance trailer to prevent damage.”

These two suggestions will help advise owners to take one of two solutions: they can either remove weight or rebalance their load to prevent damage.

Tesla hasn’t yet revealed how the vehicle can recognize this, but it likely uses its air suspension data to recognize the additional stress placed on the rear axle.

This is one distinct advantage that vehicles with software updates have over ones without the ability to get better through OTA downloads. These features are added through an internet connection and downloaded to the vehicle.

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Tesla Model Y L spotted testing in China as pricing estimates emerge

The Tesla Model Y L prototype’s front and rear were covered up during the sighting.

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Credit: @tcmesla/X

The Tesla Model Y L’s details have not been fully released yet, but the vehicle is already sparking a lot of interest in the EV sector. Despite being just an extended wheelbase version of Tesla’s best-selling car, after all, the Model Y L has the potential to become the company’s first true mass market family hauler.

Recent Model Y L Sightings

Sightings of the upcoming extended wheelbase Model Y variant were shared on social media platforms such as X. As noted by X user @tcmesla, one of Tesla’s Model Y L prototypes was recently photographed as it was undergoing road tests in Xinjiang, China. Similar to Tesla’s other yet-to-be-released vehicles, the Model Y L’s front and rear were covered up during the sighting.

One big sign that the vehicle was a Model Y L was its wheels, which were identical to the wheels in the vehicle shown in the China Ministry of Industry and Information Technology’s (MIIT) new regulatory catalog. The new wheels are quite eye-catching, with their apparent star-inspired pattern.

Tesla has not indicated when the Model Y L will be released, though speculations are high that the vehicle will be rolled out in China sometime this Q3 2025. After this, the Model Y L is also speculated to be released in other territories.

Pricing Speculations

Tesla has been very quiet about the Model Y L’s price, though estimates from industry watchers have pointed to a potential price of about RMB 400,000 (about $56,000). If this price were to be accurate, it would suggest that the Model Y L could be about 28% more expensive than the regular Model Y. 

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This could mean that the vehicle may be priced at about $62,000 in the United States, and about €67,000 in Europe. This is quite steep, and it would likely position the Model Y L against more premium rivals in the same price range. Provided that Tesla prices the vehicle competitively, however, the Model Y may have a real shot at becoming a strong seller for the EV maker. 

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