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Is Tesla chipping away at dealership resistance?
After Arizona, then Texas, and finally New Jersey forbidding Tesla Motors from selling its electric vehicle (EV) Model S directly to consumers, was it one too many that will push the company to bulldoze over discarded business models standing in its way?
Tesla we love you, let us count the ways…
There are many reasons why people love Tesla Motors, and particularly Elon Musk’s business strategy acumen. There are also many reasons why many hate it. It is both disruptive and paves the way to a future that frightens those reluctant to change their old business models. Tesla Motors has strong entrepreneuralship DNA, and what entrepreneurs do best is to ask simple questions: “What do we need” or what is needed now. Unfortunately, established corporations don’t do that because their products, or services, aren’t really that needed anymore and people still flock to them. Entrepreneurs and startups are not encumbered by this. They see the bigger picture, and the bigger picture is you, consumer. So what is it you need, and why is Tesla so darn appealing?
One, two, but three is enough!
Elon Musk knows how to work with a company up until the point where it either doesn’t deliver, or asks for too much. At that point, he uses Tesla to make it better. If the first setbacks in Arizona and Texas were a learning curve, was New Jersey the endurance limit for trail blazing Tesla and its mission? The latest Ohio Automobile Dealers Association compromise to allow the electric-car company to operate three stores in the state seem to show that it is. Get the trend here?
The Ohio deal sheds a little more light as to how Tesla will handle the farcical opposition to something everyone wants, choice in how you buy your car. The Ohio deal was negotiated quickly yesterday, voted by an Ohio Senate panel with little to no opposition. What’s next? Elon Musk and Tesla won’t stand idly waiting for the Dealership association to make up its mind how to play with this very disruptive incumbent. It knows it needs to boost its sagging image. Tesla is showing the way, and the problem is that it cuts into its revenue model. The Ohio turn of event shows that politicians and the dealership association are finally taking Tesla seriously, enough to invite them to the table. And that is only the beginning of the precipitation.
Tesla can have its stores at Easton and Cincinnati, and can open a store in Cleveland. However, it cannot open any additional stores. According to Diarmuid O’Connell, Tesla’s vice president for business development: “This is a very good compromise,”… for now.
Does this mean Tesla is softening its approach and becoming diplomatic, or that the Dealership association sees the painting on the wall? Watch out how the next states decide whether a carmaker can sell its cars directly, or not. Make no mistakes, politicians and carmakers are now taking the Tesla Motors’ business models very seriously, at last. NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the state’s car dealers show that by bringing Tesla to the table. No matter what, Tesla Motors and Elon Musk will always be the person and company that forced dealerships to review their business models. This serves as a reminder how any startup, in our case Tesla, can remind what America was once associated with, entrepreneurship that answers a dire need.
Tesla Cybercab is using a unique strategy for picking up the correct rider, which is a crucial part of ride-hailing to ensure people end up in the right place and are charged the correct price.
Cybercab will utilize an RGB strip in its front light bar that will illuminate in a variety of different colors to mark itself.
This identifying mark will also appear in the Robotaxi app, giving riders in the same location a notable distinction in an effort to avoid any confusion regarding who should get in each vehicle.
🚨 Tesla is using different light bar colors to help riders understand which vehicle is theirs
Pretty cool strategy pic.twitter.com/eGMpEMeRpc
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) August 27, 2026
Other ride-hailing services use similar strategies: Lyft and Uber rides are recognizable through driver identity, vehicle type and color, as well as license plate. Waymo will display the rider’s initials on top of the vehicle, letting them know that the specific vehicle for them has arrived.
Tesla’s strategy is unique and interesting, but there are some flaws. Cybercab’s main purpose is aimed toward being an autonomous ride for all, including those who have disabilities like being blind or even color blind.
Tesla will likely have something in the pipeline for those who cannot see colors or have limited vision. There will definitely be multiple ways to identify which vehicle is the one that “you” specifically ordered.
Cybercab is set to start giving public rides next Thursday, September 3, in Austin, as it announced a dedicated event last week and invited many members of the Tesla community.
Additionally, members of the public will be invited as well. Tesla has been offering employee rides in Cybercab for nearly two months.
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Tesla has said goodbye to one customization option for its vehicles: the wrap service it launched several years ago.
After launching an in-house wrap service in August 2020 for the first time in China. In the U.S., it launched in October 2023. Tesla continued to expand the program and adjust it with better pricing and fewer options for the Cybertruck.
By December 2023, it was giving owners of the Model 3, Model Y, and the Cybertruck the opportunity to give their vehicle a fresh look with a vinyl wrap.
Tesla revamps in-house vinyl wrap service with better pricing
It was only available in five locations: Costa Mesa, Oceanside, Santa Clara, West Covina, all in California, and Seattle, Washington.
However, Tesla made some big adjustments to its shop, and the wrap service is officially gone:
Tesla has made a LOT of changes to its online shop recently — price increases, price cuts, new options, and several products being removed entirely.
Some of the biggest increases are wheel covers. 👀
📈 PRICE INCREASES
• 2017-2023 | Model 3 Aero Wheel Cover — Style: Refresh…— Phoenix Self-Driving 🐦🔥 (@PhoenixFSD) August 25, 2026
Wraps are very popular across the Tesla lineup, especially since the company offers relatively few colors. Many choose to wrap their Teslas with interesting colors, patterns, or even finishes, turning their cars from glossy to satin or matte.
However, Tesla’s wrap service was so limited geographically that it never really had a chance to get off the ground or compete with local shops. Every area in the United States is now overflowing with detailing shops, mobile detailers, and other automotive specialists, many of whom perform wrap services.
Tesla’s service was confined to the Pacific time zone and only spanned across two states. It was never going to be something Tesla was a major competitor in, nor was it going to disrupt the wrapping industry. Now that the program has ended, it seems pretty ideal to believe it was always going to be a short-term thing.
Along with the wrap service, Tesla removed several other products, but nothing too crazy. The Model 3 Door Pocket and Cupholder Liners, the Model S 19″ Magnetite Wheel and Winter Tire Package, Model X/Y Ski/Snowboard Carrier for Hitch Rack, Tesla’s Electric Summer Party Tee, and the Electric Summer Tee were the other items the company totally eliminated from its online shop.
News
Tesla Robotaxi fleet gets a brain upgrade ahead of Cybercab launch event
Tesla’s Robotaxi service now runs longer hours nationwide as its unsupervised fleet quietly grows larger.
Tesla’s Robotaxi service just got easier to catch, with the company’s official Robotaxi account noting that rides are now available from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., seven days a week, across its operating footprint. The account also said its unsupervised fleet is “a lot bigger” than before, though without specifics. The bigger change is what Tesla says upgraded intelligence in vehicle distribution and routing is what’s actually cutting wait times, not a new Full Self-Driving version.
While Tesla did not name the team behind the upgrade, the language points to its AI and fleet software group rather than the driving stack itself. Vehicle distribution and routing in Robotaxi has functioned mostly as a dispatch problem with the software deciding which idle car goes to which rider, and how far it has to travel to get there. “Upgraded intelligence” suggests a smarter version of that dispatch logic, likely using demand forecasting to position idle cars near where riders are about to request them rather than reacting once a request comes in. Tesla’s AI division has built similar prediction systems for other parts of the business, including the neural networks that power FSD itself, so applying that same approach to fleet logistics would be a natural extension rather than a new discipline for the team.
Robotaxi now runs 6am to 10pm, 7 days/week
Unsupervised fleet is a lot bigger
Also, upgraded intelligence in vehicle distribution & routing means you wait less pic.twitter.com/UFZ4bqg2dZ
— Tesla Robotaxi (@robotaxi) August 26, 2026
Tesla is also about a week away from a separate robotaxi milestone. The company plans to launch Cybercab, its purpose built two seat robotaxi with no steering wheel or pedals, in Austin on September 3. Cybercab has been giving employees rides on public and private roads for weeks, and the September event is expected to fold those vehicles into the existing Robotaxi fleet within days of the launch.
Thank you so much @Tesla for inviting us to the Cybercab launch in Austin! 🤠 pic.twitter.com/F1rAR8zd5O
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) August 22, 2026
Austin previously ran Robotaxi from 6 a.m. to 2 a.m. as of last September, a schedule set before the service expanded into Dallas, Houston, Miami, Tampa, Orlando and the Bay Area. Wednesday’s post did not specify whether that extended overnight window still applies in Austin specifically or whether 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. is now the standard across every market. Tesla’s post, visible on its official Robotaxi account, framed the change simply as fewer riders waiting around for a car.
Whether the wider hours hold once Cybercab enters the fleet next week is the next thing worth watching. Tesla has tended to expand Robotaxi in increments, first geofence, then hours, then fleet size, and each step so far has arrived without much advance notice.
Police sergeant recounts his Neuralink journey with Elon Musk’s brain chip
Tesla Cybercab uses a unique strategy for picking up the right rider
