News
Ford Europe CEO trolls Tesla’s 7,000 vehicles/week production milestone
Ford Europe CEO Steven Armstrong took to Twitter recently to pour some cold water on Tesla’s production milestone for Q2 2018. Responding to Elon Musk’s tweet congratulating the Tesla team for producing 7,000 vehicles (comprised of 5000 Model 3 and 2,000 Model S & X) in a single week, Armstrong issued a sharp retort, mocking the electric car and energy company by stating that Ford could accomplish the same manufacturing feat in just 4 hours.
7000 cars, circa 4 hours. ❤️Ford Team❤️ https://t.co/FZSclsFoS0
— Steven Armstrong (@StevenArmstrong) July 1, 2018
Armstrong’s trolling of Elon Musk’s announcement comes as the latest development in Ford and Tesla’s ongoing Twitter feud. Just recently, Elon Musk incited another sharp retort from the American legacy automaker after he likened Ford’s energy to a “morgue” in a statement to the Wall Street Journal. Considering that Musk expressed his criticism of Ford’s energy during a time when it was uncertain if Tesla could achieve its 5,000/week target for the Model 3, Ford’s VP of Communications Mark Turby quipped back at the serial tech entrepreneur, citing Ford’s capability to roll off a new F-150 truck every 53 seconds from its production line.
Ford’s latest response to Tesla’s production milestone received a notable reaction from thousands of Twitter users. While some found the tweet to be humorous, others noted that Armstrong’s statement might prove to be Ford’s Steve Ballmer moment. Steve Ballmer is a former CEO of Microsoft who infamously laughed off the potential of the Apple iPhone when it was unveiled back in 2007. Just like Armstrong’s response to Musk’s tweet, Ballmer noted in a now-meme-worthy interview in 2007 that Apple was selling zero devices (the iPhone was not yet available for purchase during the interview) while Microsoft was already selling millions of phones every year. As tech history would ultimately prove, however, it would take Apple a very short time before the iPhone helped the Cupertino-based tech company overtake Microsoft in market capitalization. Considering that the Model 3 has been dubbed the “iPhone of cars,” Armstrong’s most recent diss at Tesla’s capability to produce the compact electric car does invoke a lot of Ballmer’s reaction from his interview 11 years ago.
While the Ford Europe CEO’s comment seems to be designed to incite a strong reaction from the Tesla community (it did), the legacy automaker’s retort does come from a place of authority. Ford, after all, is the company that literally started the utilization of an automobile assembly line, with founder Henry Ford introducing it for the Model T back in December 1913. As history would later prove, the assembly line would be Ford’s magic bullet in the automotive industry, allowing the company to dominate American car sales with sheer production numbers and accessibility to the masses alone. This expertise has carried over to the company’s current operations, as reflected by Turby’s mention of the F-150 line rolling off trucks every 53 seconds.
With Tesla attaining a pace of 7,000 Model 3, Model S, and Model X per week, however, Ford would be wise to not underestimate the upstart electric car maker. Tesla, after all, has proven that it is unafraid to innovate outside the industry norm, as demonstrated by the company setting up GA4 in the Fremont factory’s grounds and air-freighting six airplanes worth of robots from Europe to the United States. On top of this, Ford is also dealing with a number of challenges as well, including its recent decision to stop the production of all its cars except the Mustang and the upcoming Focus Active Crossover, which is set to be released next year. Ford is also lagging in terms of EV adoption, with the company yet to release an electric car comparable to offerings from fellow legacy automakers such as GM and Nissan.
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
