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Tesla’s resilience is forcing veteran automakers to draw the battle lines on diesel
There are probably very few companies in the market that have attracted the same amount of skepticism as Tesla. Since it started producing its first vehicle, the original Tesla Roadster, more than a decade ago, the “impending” death of the company has been foretold. Despite this, the small, disruptive electric car maker has stubbornly refused to die, and it continues to grow despite the noise. Today, Tesla is bigger than ever before, and the impending completion of a third Gigafactory 3 in China could signal yet another period of incredible growth for the company.
The inevitable electric age
The rise of Tesla did not only prove that electric cars need not be boring, glorified golf carts. The rise of Tesla also showed that consumers from various walks of life are willing to pay top dollar for well-designed electric vehicles, simply because they are superior to internal combustion cars. By proving these points, Tesla was able to force the hand of veteran automakers, pushing them to come up with their own battery-powered vehicles. Today, most of the world’s most notable carmakers are looking into electrification. Some brands such as Porsche have even decided to abandon diesel altogether, aiming instead to push the development of both all-electric and hybrid cars.
It’s not just Porsche either. Other automakers such as Jaguar even beat the German automaker’s Taycan to market with its I-PACE, which it started delivering last year. Daimler rushed to join the fray with the EQC, and Audi, not to be left behind in the emerging EV race, brought out the rather unfortunately-named e-tron, which was received warmly nonetheless. Even mass-market automakers such as Kia and Hyundai have come up with their own bang-for-your-buck electric cars in the form of the Niro EV and Kona Electric. Volkswagen recently made a splash with the debut of the ID.3 as well. Even British-bred MG, which has been reborn as a Chinese-owned hyper-budget brand, is preparing to attack the lower end of the market with the MG ZS EV.
Learning from Tesla
Amidst this transition, it is starting to become evident which carmakers are dead serious about their transition to the electric age. This became notable in Germany, when Volkswagen, Daimler, and BMW came together last March to call for the widespread adoption of EVs. Volkswagen CEO Herbert Diess was at the helm of the radical stance, at one point practically butting heads with BMW CEO Harald Krüger and the industry lobby group Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA) due to his push for widespread electric car adoption. Audi boss Bran Schot, in a recent interview with Manager Magazin, reiterated this point, noting that “electric is the core” of the automaker’s “new strategy.”
Audi is currently attempting to ramp the production of the e-tron SUV, its first all-electric vehicle, but things have not exactly been easy. Due to factors such as reported battery constraints from supplier LG Chem, as well as other incidents such as a workers’ strike in one of its plants earlier this year, the e-tron has been delayed. Yet, Schot noted that the company remains focused on pushing more electric cars. During the interview, Schot candidly admitted that Audi is behind other automakers such as Tesla, not only “in the electric cars” themselves, “but also at the pace with which they solve some software issues.”
Schot noted that he was recently “driven once again a Tesla,” and he came away impressed by the experience. “That was fun,” he said, later admitting that “No question, we are learning from Tesla.” Learning from the leader in electric mobility is an excellent strategy for Audi, as it would allow the company to develop vehicles that mix the best of veteran auto’s experience and Tesla’s tech mastery. In a way, Audi has already taken steps towards this goal with its e-tron GT sedan, a vehicle built on the same platform as the Porsche Taycan. The Taycan stands apart from other EVs from veteran auto in the way that it’s built from the ground up to be an electric car, making it the last thing from a compliance vehicle.
Commitments to diesel and a denial of EVs
While companies like Porsche have found it easy to commit to electrification and abandon things like diesel, other carmakers are not having such an easy time relinquishing their ties with oil. The most recent source of this shock was Jaguar Land Rover CEO Ralf Speth, who recently spoke with Automotive News Europe sister publication Automobilwoche’s publisher in an interview. When asked about the company’s powertrain strategy amid a decline in demand for diesels and V8 gasoline engines, the CEO was candid.
“According to industry forecasters, a global share of 20 percent to 30 percent for electrified vehicles is expected by 2025. When you turn this around, it means that 70 percent to 80 percent of all vehicles around the world will have conventional engines. Let me add that today’s diesels, (which) are absolutely CO2-efficient and clean,” he said.
When asked by the publication why electric mobility is still not important to consumers, the CEO noted that “On one hand, the products are still too expensive. On the other hand, the infrastructure is still too inconvenient and unreliable, so electric cars tend to be for people with deep pockets.” These are rather surprising to hear from the Speth, whose company produced the I-PACE, which has pretty much swept awards left and right since its debut last year.
Explaining his conservative stance on electric vehicles further, the Jaguar CEO argued that “When it comes to electric vehicles, the question isn’t how many cars I can build but rather how many batteries I can buy. The demand for batteries is so great that there will be a limited ability to deliver them over the next few years. And, unlike some others, I expect continually rising battery prices – at least for the next two to three years.”
Quite interestingly, the Jaguar Land Rover CEO’s concerns about electric cars have long been addressed by Tesla. When it came to charging infrastructure, the California-based carmaker developed and aggressively rolled out its Supercharger Network, which currently have over 12,000 stations across the globe. The company has also ironed out the supply of its vehicles’ batteries, thanks to a massive investment in facilities such as Gigafactory 1 in Nevada.
The transition to the electric age will be difficult for carmakers, and it would require massive investments just to get well-designed all-electric cars ready for the market. If these developments are any indication, it appears that in the next few years, the battle lines will be drawn between veteran automakers that are willing to go all-in on electric mobility, and veteran carmakers who will steadfastly hold on to oil and the internal combustion engine.
News
Tesla plans for largest Australian Supercharger yet
The company has a 20-stall site in the city of Goulburn in New South Wales, which is an ideal location for trips between Sydney and Canberra, two major cities.
Tesla is planning to build its largest Supercharger in Australia yet, expanding on the infrastructure the company has built for electric vehicles.
The company has a 20-stall site in the city of Goulburn in New South Wales, which is an ideal location for trips between Sydney and Canberra, two major cities.
However, according to The Driven, a new Australian Supercharger is on the way, and it is going to be the biggest in the country, accounting for more than 25 stalls total. They will likely be V4 Superchargers, Tesla’s fastest piles that enable some serious range for cars that will plug in.
@LudicrousFeed Before I forget, one for tonight. Highway service centre near Mackay with 25+ charging stalls!
Website has a couple of video renders too.https://t.co/WkuklxE7tk pic.twitter.com/BxKQ8bDUZ7— ⚡chuqtas (@chuqtas) March 11, 2026
Tesla is operating 148 active Supercharger sites in Australia, with 80 of those being available to non-Tesla EVs as a part of the company’s initiative to make things accessible for all electric vehicle owners.
The expansion of Tesla Superchargers is welcome for all EV owners, especially as there are so many automakers that have access to the network. It is widely reliable and extremely dependable; it is tough to find a Supercharger location that is completely out of service.
The opening of the stalls will be welcome for the Tesla owners of Australia, especially as the Model Y continues to be a major contributor to the company’s prowess in the market.
Tesla’s sales performance in Australia showed a mixed but challenging picture in 2025, with the company delivering 28,856 new vehicles, marking a significant 24.8% decline from 38,347 units in 2024.
This represented the brand’s largest annual drop on record and the second consecutive year of decline, amid intensifying competition from Chinese EV makers like BYD and shifting buyer preferences toward SUVs. The Tesla Model Y remained a standout performer and Australia’s best-selling electric vehicle, with 22,239 deliveries, up 4.6percent year-over-year, accounting for about 77 percent of Tesla’s total sales.
The mid-year launch of the updated “Juniper” Model Y helped sustain momentum in the popular mid-size SUV segment.
In contrast, the Model 3 sedan struggled sharply, plummeting 61.3 percent to just 6,617 units, as consumers favored SUVs and faced growing options in the sedan category.
Despite the overall dip, Tesla held onto leadership in the EV segment, capturing roughly 28 percent of the BEV market. Australia’s EV market grew robustly, surpassing 156,000 sales and reaching 13 percent market share, up 38.7 percent from 2024, highlighting strong broader adoption even as Tesla faced headwinds.
Early 2026 data suggests a rebound, with EV sales nearly doubling year-over-year in February and the Model Y showing strong gains, positioning Tesla for potential recovery amid ongoing competition.
News
Tesla Model Y L gets new entertainment feature
Beyond audio quality, Immersive Sound X aligns with Tesla’s ecosystem of over-the-air updates, potentially allowing future refinements.
Tesla is including a new entertainment feature in the Model Y L, improving the vehicle even further and making it what appears to be the best configuration of the all-electric crossover globally.
Unfortunately, we in the U.S. do not yet have access to the vehicle, and the plans for it to enter the market remain up in the air, as CEO Elon Musk has said it could appear late this year. However, there is nothing concrete at this time.
Tesla’s latest enhancement to the Model Y L is a new Immersive Sound X feature, exclusive to the Model Y L.
Model YL has new sound system setting. Immersive Sound X. This is NOT on the new Y and 3 pic.twitter.com/7OpJuzyoGf
— Electric Future (@electricfuture5) March 16, 2026
It aims to transform the in-car listening experience into something truly cinematic. First introduced by Tesla China in October 2025, this advanced audio mode is now rolling out to deliveries in Australia and New Zealand, highlighting Tesla’s approach to region-specific premium upgrades.
At its core, Immersive Sound X leverages real-time sound extraction technology to create a customizable 3D soundstage. Using advanced algorithms, it analyzes audio tracks to separate direct sounds, such as vocals or lead instruments, from ambient elements like echoes and reverb.
The system then positions direct sounds front and center while diffusing ambient sounds to the side and rear speakers, simulating an expansive virtual environment. This results in a heightened sense of depth and spatial awareness, making listeners feel as if they’re in a concert hall or studio.
What sets Immersive Sound X apart from the standard Immersive Sound found in other Tesla models is its hardware dependency and enhanced processing. The Model Y L boasts an 18-speaker system with a subwoofer, compared to the 15-speaker setup, plus a subwoofer, in the Model Y Long Range’s previous premium audio configuration.
This upgrade provides more “kick” and precision, enabling finer control over the soundstage. Unlike traditional surround sound, which requires multi-channel mixes like Dolby Atmos, Immersive Sound X works with any stereo source from platforms like Spotify or Apple Music, so every owner will be able to use it.
Tesla Model Y lineup expansion signals an uncomfortable reality for consumers
You can fine-tune the experience via an adjustable immersion slider, scaling the “size” of the virtual space to personal preferences. This caters to a more custom sound.
An Auto mode intelligently adapts based on media type, whether it’s music, podcasts, or videos, ensuring optimal immersion without manual tweaks. This feature is unavailable on standard Model Y variants (with 7 or 15 speakers) or Model 3 trims, underscoring Tesla’s strategy to differentiate higher trims through superior hardware and software integration.
Beyond audio quality, Immersive Sound X aligns with Tesla’s ecosystem of over-the-air updates, potentially allowing future refinements.
For audiophiles and casual listeners alike, it elevates mundane commutes into immersive journeys, proving Tesla’s commitment to blending cutting-edge tech with user-centric design.
Elon Musk
Elon Musk teases crazy outlook for xAI against its competitors
Musk’s response was vintage hyperbole, designed to rally supporters and dismiss doubters, something his responses on social media often do.
Elon Musk has never been one to shy away from crazy timelines, massive expectations, and outrageous outlooks. However, his recent plans for xAI and where he believes it will end up compared to its competitors are sure to stimulate conversation.
In a bold and characteristic response on X, Elon Musk fired back at a recent analysis that positioned his AI venture, xAI, as lagging behind industry frontrunners.
The post, from March 14, came as a direct reply to forecaster Peter Wildeford’s assessment, which drew from benchmarks and reporting to rank AI developers.
xAI will catch up this year and then exceed them all by such a long distance in 3 years that you will need the James Webb telescope to see who is in second place
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 14, 2026
Wildeford placed Anthropic, Google, and OpenAI in a virtual tie at the top, with xAI and Meta trailing by about seven months. Chinese players like Moonshot, Deepseek, zAI, and Alibaba were estimated to be nine months behind, while France’s Mistral lagged by about a year and a half.
Musk’s response was vintage hyperbole, designed to rally supporters and dismiss doubters, something his responses on social media often do.
He claimed xAI would “catch up this year,” meaning by the end of 2026, erasing that seven-month deficit against the leaders. But he didn’t stop there.
Musk escalated his vision to 2029, predicting xAI would “exceed them all by such a long distance” that observers would need the James Webb Space Telescope, NASA’s orbiting observatory stationed about 930,000 miles from Earth, to spot whoever lands in second place. This analogy underscores Musk’s confidence in xAI’s trajectory, implying an astronomical lead that could redefine the AI landscape.
Breaking down these claims reveals Musk’s strategic optimism. First, the short-term catch-up: xAI, launched in 2023, has already released models like Grok, but recent benchmarks, including those for Grok 4.2, have shown it falling short in capabilities compared to rivals.
Anthropic’s Claude series, Google’s Gemini, and OpenAI’s GPT models dominate in areas like reasoning, coding, and multimodal tasks. Musk’s assertion suggests aggressive scaling in compute, talent, or architecture, perhaps leveraging xAI’s ties to Tesla’s Dojo supercomputers or Musk’s vast resources, to close the gap swiftly.
The longer-term dominance by 2029 paints an even more audacious picture. Musk envisions xAI not just parity but supremacy, outpacing competitors in innovation speed and model sophistication.
This could involve breakthroughs in energy-efficient training, real-world integration, like Tesla’s robotics, or ethical AI alignment, aligning with Musk’s stated goal of “understanding the universe.”
Critics, however, point to parallels with Tesla’s Full Self-Driving delays; one reply highlighted Musk’s 2023 promise of FSD readiness. Musk has made this promise for many years, and although the system has been strong and improving, it is still a ways off from the completely autonomous operation that was expected by now.
Tesla Full Self-Driving v14.2.2.5 might be the most confusing release ever
Musk’s comment highlights the intensifying U.S.-centric AI race, with xAI challenging the “three-way” dominance noted by Wharton professor Ethan Mollick, whom Wildeford quoted. As geopolitical tensions rise—evident in the Chinese firms’ lag—Musk’s tease could spur investment and talent wars.
Yet, it also invites scrutiny: Will xAI deliver, or is this another telescope-needed mirage? In an industry where timelines slip but stakes soar, Musk’s words keep the spotlight on xAI’s ambitious path forward.
Tesla plans for largest Australian Supercharger yet
Tesla Model Y L gets new entertainment feature
