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Tesla Investor Day: Five things we’d love to hear (but probably won’t)
Tesla Investor Day is set to kick off later today, and there will surely be plenty of massive developments that CEO Elon Musk and other executives could give us details on. However, there are still some things that Tesla fans and investors would love to know about, but we might not get the opportunity, at least not yet.
Here are five things we’d love to hear about at Tesla Investor Day, but probably won’t:
1. New Paint Colors
It’s already been rumored that the Midnight Cherry Red and Quicksilver paint schemes will make an appearance at Gigafactory Texas for Investor Day. These colors are exclusive to the Giga Berlin operation, and there has not been too much of an update in terms of paint colors in the North American market for years.
Although Chief Designer Franz von Holzhausen hinted toward new paint colors for the U.S. earlier this year on the Ride the Lightning podcast, there are a few bottlenecks keeping Tesla from actually doing so. First off, Tesla’s Fremont Factory would have to have its paint facility updated. While the company has taken steps to do this in the past, it was more for ventilation and fire protection than improvements that would improve quality and make way for new colors.
Credit: Photo Credit: @thirionremi / Twitter
Fremont still builds all four Tesla models, while Gigafactory Texas only builds Model Y units. With Tesla’s order log getting longer and longer every day, the company simply cannot afford to shut down Fremont to update the paint shop, but there could be other options in the future that allow the company to do so. Tesla is expanding Fremont and could build an entirely new paint shop, updating the old one upon completion.
2. Tesla’s Strategy for non-Tesla Superchargers
This one is probably the most reasonable to expect details on, but even still, it seems like what Tesla will talk about today will be geared toward more macro topics.
Credit: Branden Flasch | Twitter / Tesla
Tesla hasn’t formally released a specific plan for which Superchargers it will open to all EVs. While it did release a detailed video on how other EV brands can utilize the open Superchargers equipped with the “Magic Dock” last night, it has not detailed how it will determine which chargers it will choose to be open to all brands.
There must be a method to the madness, and owners will likely want to know which chargers are going to be geared toward being open to other EV brands.
3. Plans for Tesla after Elon Musk
Tesla wouldn’t be what it is today without Elon Musk, but unfortunately, nothing lasts forever.
There will be a day when Musk will ultimately step away from his responsibilities as Tesla CEO, and it will be understandable. It’s been a long and stressful tenure as CEO that many of us could never even dream of handling. One day, Musk will need to step aside, and even though it might not be all that soon, it would still be nice to know who could potentially take the reigns.
Whoever takes over the position will have a massive set of shoes to fill, but it won’t be impossible, just an extreme challenge. Musk will likely handpick his replacement, as he is likely the only person who could determine who is fit to run Tesla’s day-to-day operations.
4. Any sort of plan for Tesla’s Public Relations
While notable Tesla bull and recent Board of Directors hopeful Ross Gerber has always talked about Tesla’s need for a PR Department. Tesla abolished the use of one several years ago, which has made it difficult for the company to fend off negativity from media outlets when drastic and challenging stories about the company are published. Elon Musk has usually taken it upon himself to publicly announce what stories are real and which are false, but even still, a dedicated PR department might not be a bad idea to discuss today.
Tesla has utilized a series of posts on its company blog to respond to some negative reports. Most recently, the company responded to allegations that it fired numerous employees who were attempting to unionize at Gigafactory New York in Buffalo.
A PR Department would undoubtedly be a great way for Tesla to deal with negativity in the media, giving journalists and writers people to reach out to directly for anything they might need. Granted, media members still reach out to the company but are met with no response most of the time.
5. Improvements to Tesla Service
Service is still arguably Tesla’s biggest weakness. When I wrote a story about a Model S Plaid owner who had their vehicle totaled by a Service Center employee, people reached out with horror stories regarding issues with getting their vehicles fixed.
The stories still continue to come in, not as regularly, but likely because there has not been a story on it, and people don’t know where to reach out.
Credit: Tesla
Service and Showroom locations grew 19 percent in 2022 compared to 2021, while the Tesla Mobile Service fleet expanded by 24 percent in the same time frame. Unfortunately, there are still many people who complain about the shortcomings of service. Tesla has tried to push a more efficient service strategy using an “F1” method, but with that, they phased out Uber Credits and Loaners in some circumstances.
If anything, this is Tesla’s biggest weakness, and if the company can fix it, it could likely be monumental.
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News
Tesla counters Norway’s VAT hike with dedicated consumer bonus
The move follows Tesla Norway’s stunning finish in 2025, where the company saw substantial sales during the final weeks of the year.
Tesla has rolled out a price incentive in Norway, effectively offsetting a notable VAT increase that hit electric vehicle buyers at the start of 2026.
The move follows Tesla Norway’s stunning finish in 2025, where the company saw substantial sales during the final weeks of the year.
A “Tesla bonus”
Once the VAT increase kicked in at the start of 2026, Tesla Norway’s sales cooled almost immediately, as noted in a CarUp report. Tesla’s response was swift, with the electric vehicle maker rolling out what it calls a “Tesla bonus.”
This bonus effectively cuts prices by up to 50,000 kronor across eight model variants. All versions of the Tesla Model Y qualify for the incentive, along with most Tesla Model 3 trims, save for the base entry-level model.
This means that for Tesla Norway’s best-selling vehicles, the bonus effectively restores pricing to pre-VAT levels. This blunts the impact of the new tax and makes Tesla’s vehicle offerings competitive again in Europe’s most EV-saturated market.
Stabilizing demand
In addition to the “Tesla bonus,” the electric car maker is also offering a promotional interest rate for up to three years, with terms varying by model. The incentive applies to orders placed between January 9 and March 31, 2026, with delivery required by the end of the first quarter.
The stakes are high in Norway, where electric vehicles dominate new-car registrations. From the vehicles that were sold in 2025, 96% of new cars sold were fully electric. And from this number, Tesla and its Model Y made their dominance felt. This was highlighted by Geir Inge Stokke, director of OFV, who noted that Tesla was able to achieve its stellar results despite its small vehicle lineup.
“Taking almost 20% market share during a year with record-high new car sales is remarkable in itself. When a brand also achieves such volumes with so few models, it says a lot about both demand and Tesla’s impact on the Norwegian market,” Stokke stated.
Elon Musk
SpaceX gains favor as Pentagon embraces Musk-style defense reform
The remarks highlighted Musk’s improving relationship with the White House, as well as SpaceX’s growing role in U.S. defense.
SpaceX emerged as a clear beneficiary of the Trump administration’s renewed push to accelerate military innovation, as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth openly praised Elon Musk’s private space enterprise during a visit to the company’s Starbase launch site in Texas.
The remarks highlighted Musk’s improving relationship with the White House, as well as SpaceX’s growing role in U.S. defense.
Hegseth embraces Elon Musk’s pace
Speaking at SpaceX’s Starbase facility in Brownsville, Texas, Hegseth criticized what he described as a “risk-averse culture” among traditional defense contractors and called for faster innovation modeled after Musk’s approach. He confirmed that the Department of Defense plans to integrate Musk’s Grok AI platform into Pentagon systems, which is part of the administration’s efforts to make the U.S. military an “AI-first warfighting force.”
Hegseth stated that the Pentagon intends to deploy AI models across both classified and unclassified networks, signaling a willingness to push past earlier efforts to limit military use of artificial intelligence. His comments aligned closely with President Donald Trump’s recent call for a $500 billion increase in defense spending, Bloomberg News noted. Trump has also warned major contractors that slower production and shareholder-focused practices could put future contracts at risk.
While Hegseth criticized legacy defense firms, SpaceX was held up as an example of how aggressive timelines, vertical integration, and iterative development could reshape defense strategies. “We need to be blunt here; we can no longer afford to wait a decade for our legacy prime contractors to deliver a perfect system. Winning requires a new playbook. Elon wrote it with his algorithm: question every requirement, delete the dumb ones and accelerate like hell,” Hegseth said.
SpaceX’s expanding defense role comes into focus
SpaceX has become one of the U.S. government’s most important aerospace partners. The company holds roughly $4 billion in NASA contracts to develop Starship into a lunar lander, while also serving as a key launch provider for sensitive national security payloads using its Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets.
During the visit, Musk highlighted that his ambitions extend beyond defense contracts, reiterating long-term goals of interplanetary travel and eventual exploration beyond the solar system. Still, the optics of the event reinforced how closely SpaceX’s capabilities now align with U.S. strategic priorities.
The appearance also marked another step in Musk’s political rehabilitation after a public falling-out with the White House last year. Since leaving his role leading the Department of Government Efficiency, Musk has gradually reengaged with the administration, reconnecting with U.S. President Donald Trump during slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s tribute and attending events at the White House. Trump’s also recently suggested that Starlink could help restore internet access in Iran.
Tesla has launched a new Model Y configuration in the “Premium” trim, and it comes with three highly requested features that have launched in markets outside of the U.S. and in other trims.
Tesla announced on Monday night that it has officially launched the Model Y Premium in a seven-seat configuration, which also comes standard with a 16″ touchscreen and black headliner, both of which are featured in the Model Y Performance trim.
The seven-seat configuration is highly requested by consumers and helps fill out the more spacious SUV offering that the lineup has missed outside of the Model X, which prices out many consumers. This new upgrade only costs $2,500 extra for all three features, bringing the cash price to $48,990.
This also comes with the larger 16” touchscreen! pic.twitter.com/aiAxWUTKZa
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) January 13, 2026
The move to add the seven-seat configuration with the black headliner and additional screen size is a welcome addition, as many Tesla fans have asked the company to come out with an SUV with more seating capacity. Although it is not a full-size SUV, the additional seating will certainly attract some buyers with bigger families.
It appears the third row is slightly more spacious than the past iteration of the seven-seat Model Y, which was available in the previous design pre-Juniper:
Credit: Tesla
However, it definitely still appears to be pretty cramped in terms of legroom. It will definitely be a seating arrangement for smaller passengers, mostly reserved for children.
The other two upgrades are the black headliner, which was launched in other markets and in the Model Y Performance. Many owners have wanted this change, and Tesla listened, but is only offering it with the seven-seat configuration. It also has a larger 16″ touchscreen, also present in the Model Y Performance exclusively:
Credit: Tesla
It is a nice touch to add these highly requested features to the all-electric crossover, which was the best-selling vehicle in the world for the third consecutive year.
Tesla counters Norway’s VAT hike with dedicated consumer bonus
SpaceX gains favor as Pentagon embraces Musk-style defense reform
