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Tesla dominates ‘Luxury Brand’ segment in Kelley Blue Book’s Image Awards
Tesla’s domination is getting felt even more in the luxury vehicle sector, with automotive research and valuation publication Kelley Blue Book (KBB) recently awarding the electric car maker five of its six luxury vehicle awards. Tesla’s performance in the awards indicates that the electric car company’s short but rich history is disrupting some of the most notable brands in the world.
KBB released its 2020 Brand Image Awards on April 7. The award is aimed at recognizing the automakers who “excel in creating and maintaining brand attributes that create excitement about their products.” The results come from over 12,000 new-vehicle shoppers who contribute to the company’s decisions on its awards for carmakers.
Tesla dominated the “Best Luxury Brands” portion of the awards, taking home the titles of Best Overall Luxury Brand, Best Value Luxury Brand, Most Refined Luxury Brand, Best Performance Luxury Brand, and Best Styling Luxury Brand. It fell just short of the Most Trusted award, which was given to Toyota-owned luxury carmaker Lexus.
The latest KBB awards marks the first time Tesla has won the Best Overall Luxury Brand title from the publication. While the automotive firm acknowledges Tesla’s presence as it has been knocking at the door for years, the company has demonstrated that it is “here to stay as a force in the new vehicle market.” Tesla has shown that its products appeal to all car buyers: The Model 3 for the mass-market, Model S for luxury and performance, and Model X for “people-moving.”
Tesla’s ability to offer vehicles with low operating costs is pivotal to KBB’s decision to award the company with its “Best Luxury Value” title. Tesla’s mass-market Model 3 has allowed more people to be able to afford its vehicles, as the Model S and Model X were costly for some. However, the Model 3 sedan and newly-released Model Y crossover have offered performance and spaciousness while offering some degree of affordability at the same time.
The company’s refinement in its vehicle design has deemed it the winner of another award. Tesla’s “clean, minimalist approach to interior design” has made it stand out amongst its competitors. “Tesla’s pioneering approach to consolidate virtually all controls and systems into a single, portrait-oriented center display screen is being copied by mass-market and luxury brands alike,” KBB wrote.
Since Tesla’s introduction into the automotive sector in 2008 with the release of its original Roadster, the company’s electric cars have been known for their raw performance. While continuing its mission of sustainability and unmistakable design, its vehicles’ acceleration and speed puts the electric car maker at the top of the “Best Performing Luxury Brand” list. This is surprisingly the first time Tesla has won the award, despite its vehicles having a reputation for having straight-line performance that rivals that of supercars.
Finally, the “Best Styling Luxury Brand” was Tesla’s final award from KBB this year. Even though their vehicle’s designs have not changed much since their initial launches, KBB said the Model S and Model 3’s “timeless shapes” are sure to catch the attention of car buyers. Not to mention, the Model X’s falcon-wing doors are sure to turn heads, giving the electric car maker its fifth title out of six in 2020.
Tesla’s five out of six “Luxury” awards from KBB this year could mean that the widespread adaptation of electric cars from consumers is at. hand. As luxury brands like Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Lexus, and Infinity have dominated the sector for decades, it appears that a new sheriff may be in town. Tesla has established itself as a surefire competitor in this market by offering affordability, performance, versatility, and groundbreaking design within its vehicles.
Kelley Blue Book’s full list of winners could be accessed here here.
Tesla’s Supercharger Diner in Los Angeles dominated the company’s global usage rankings after just one year, proving the concept is more than just a one-off novelty location that will fade away.
The performance could incite the company to build more locations, something that CEO Elon Musk has hinted at for some time.
Tesla’s Supercharger Diner delivered 21.2 GWh of energy in its first year of operation, the company’s head of Charging, Max de Zegher, revealed on X. Of the top 10 most utilized Supercharger locations in Tesla’s global infrastructure, the Diner in Los Angeles was the most used by drivers, and it wasn’t particularly close:
Tesla Diner opened exactly 1 year ago. Inspiring that futuristic places like this exist.
It’s our highest usage Supercharger in the world: 21.2 GWh delivered in a year, 1.6k sessions/day.
Top 10 Superchargers by energy delivered: https://t.co/9YvJ8lw696 pic.twitter.com/koB3AUJHws
— Max (@MdeZegher) July 21, 2026
On its launch day one year ago, nobody was too sure what the Tesla Diner would be about. It seemed like an interesting concept, and considering it had been in the works for years, it was a highly anticipated launch that many were looking forward to.
Based on its success, we could see additional Diners with Superchargers built throughout the United States, and potentially beyond. Musk has said on several occasions that the company would be willing to bring the Diner idea to more markets.
Tesla makes major change at Supercharger Diner amid epic demand
Of the markets that Musk has mentioned, both Palo Alto and Austin have come to be perceived as ideal selections. However, there are no concrete plans as of now to build new Supercharger Diners anywhere; the location on Santa Monica Boulevard will remain the exclusive spot to pick up Tesla-inspired eats, at least for the time being.
Tesla short sellers won big following the company’s massive fall on Wall Street after it reported subpar Earnings on Wednesday.
Tesla short sellers collected about $4.12 billion in single-day profits on Thursday, according to Bloomberg. Shares fell as much as 15 percent during Thursday’s session. It closed as one of the worst days for Tesla on Wall Street in the past three years.
Investors sold off the stock after Tesla said it would aggressively direct its spending toward AI and its Optimus robot project. The company had record revenues, which were driven by one of the strongest quarters in terms of vehicle deliveries in company history.
However, it missed EPS estimates by reporting just $0.33, a far cry from the $0.53 analysts expected.
S3 Partners reported that about 3 percent of Tesla’s outstanding stock is sold short. Managing Director at S3, Ihor Dusaniwsky, provided the short seller’s potential profit, as well as another figure: shorts have likely had paper gains of $8.92 billion this year, as Tesla shares are down 30 percent in 2026.
Tesla (TSLA) Q2 2026 earnings results: miss on EPS, beat on revenue
Tesla has burned short sellers many times in the past, but the company’s latest Earnings Call was a chance for those skeptics to taste some payback. Although the company gave some very transparent information regarding future projects, the rollout of Robotaxi, Optimus, and Semi, many investors took their profits on Thursday.
Notable short sellers like Michael Burry have been transparent about their skepticism around Tesla shares. Burry just revealed three weeks ago that he had opened up a new short on the stock, stating he shorted Tesla shares at $416.22. “Happy it jumped back to this level,” he said in a blog post.
At the time of publication, Tesla shares were down about 3 percent and the stock was trading at $309.92.
Tesla’s long-standing saga regarding its door handles and a manual release has entered its latest chapter, and as a result, a big change is coming.
On Friday, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) denied Tesla’s petition that was seeking a defect investigation into roughly 180,000 Model 3 vehicles for an issue involving the emergency mechanical door release.
🚨 The NHTSA denied a petition from Tesla that would have thrown out concerns regarding its door handles.
NHTSA said Tesla’s petition did not present evidence of a safety-related defect warranting an investigation. The agency said a rulemaking process would be a better strategy. pic.twitter.com/j6PzUBM1mT
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) July 24, 2026
NHTSA said that Tesla’s petition did not present evidence of a safety-related defect in the door handles or their emergency releases. Instead, the agency determined that it would rather solve the issue of the lack of labeling or location of emergency mechanical door releases and the federal safety rules that govern them.
Essentially, the NHTSA wants to create and enforce rules that would require automakers to make emergency door latch releases more clearly labeled in a car. Despite a Tesla having manual door releases on all four passenger doors, many people do not know they exist or how they work.
Tesla addresses door handle complaints with simple engineering fix
In recent times, Tesla has faced some criticism involving its door handles, specifically because some occupants have reported that they are unable to exit their vehicles after losing power. The door handles on a Tesla are electronically operated, but in the event that the 12V battery dies, there is a manual release that can be used.
The NHTSA only identified a single complaint involving the mechanical door releases: a 2022 Model 3 owner said the release was concealed and unlabeled after the vehicle lost power after a front-end collision. It has also already started to create a separate rulemaking process to make emergency door-egress systems more obvious.
It should be noted that all Teslas have mechanical emergency door releases, but they are placed in various locations as the vehicles have aged and been redesigned from year to year. Refer to the safety manual for your vehicle if you have any confusion about where the emergency releases are and how they work.
Tesla’s Supercharger Diner probably just secured more locations
Tesla short sellers win big after shares fall after earnings
