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Tesla’s manufacturing advantage lies in legacy auto’s stranded assets

Tesla Model 3 production line in Gigafactory 3, Shanghai, China. (Credit: Tesla)

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5 years ago

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Tesla’s focus on manufacturing has solved a vast number of issues that the electric automaker has encountered in its first few years of mass-scale vehicle production. With only two operational vehicle production facilities and several more on the way, Tesla’s biggest advantage in production doesn’t necessarily come down to efficiencies and solving bottlenecks. Instead, it has to do with something completely out of its control: Legacy Auto’s stranded assets.

Large vehicle manufacturers have pumped out millions of vehicles per year in sometimes between 50 and 100, sometimes more, global facilities. Volkswagen, for example, has 136 production plants across the world. This massive production operation lead to 9.3 million VW cars being delivered in 2020, a slight decrease from the nearly 11 million in 2019. However, the COVID-19 pandemic surely wiped away some of its productivity and sales.

But Volkswagen is also in limbo, much like many other automakers. Despite being one of the world’s top brands, a decline is on the way if the German company can’t figure out its electric car software issues. Even if it does, it still has 136 production plants and only a few of them build electric cars. However, all of the company’s plants will need to be transitioned into EV production facilities, a far cry away from the current gas-powered powertrains it currently builds at 98% of its properties.

It’s not just Volkswagen

Mercedes-Benz has 93 locations in 17 countries. BMW has 31 facilities in 15 countries. Ford has 65 plants all across the world.

These plants have been everything to the world’s largest car brands for decades. While the automotive industry has been powered on petrol for 99% of the auto industry’s history, EVs are slowly but surely making their way into the picture. Eventually, with so many plants for the legacy automakers, they will all build electric powertrains. But unfortunately, what has been a strength for so many car companies in the past will soon become a burden as EVs take over market share, become more appealing and more sought after by consumers, and gas cars are few and far between because electrification has taken over. The biggest, most successful, most popular badges on vehicles worldwide will soon have a serious problem on their hands if they do not think about a plan to transition these facilities into EV manufacturing plants.

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Time is of the essence

Volkswagen did complete ICE production at its Zwickau plant in Mosel, Germany, in June 2020. After the company announced that the final gas-powered engine had rolled off production lines at the plant, it then came down to training all technicians, assembly workers, and production engineers on how to deal with electric powertrains.

The company stated that 20,500 total days of training time would be given to those who hold jobs at Zwickau, giving the employees no reservations about the direction the German automaker was headed toward. The entire process of transitioning the plant took six to eight months.

This is great, but when a company has 136 plants, that’s a lot of time, many people to train, and a lot of money to spend. Eventually, the plants that have pumped out billions of dollars worth of ICE cars will be rendered useless unless companies begin to update their hardware, train the employees, and prepare for an electric future.

Is delaying EV projects a result of stranded assets?

Companies are smart; there are plenty of reasons why these car companies have long been at the top of the industry. Knowing that the trillions of dollars that they have pumped into building a global powerhouse of production facilities could all be a waste as ICE cars are slowly being phased out is alarming, but perhaps this is why so many companies have avoided focusing on EVs: the thought of modifying so many plants is terrifying.

Nevertheless, it will need to be done eventually. But right now, especially in such a trying economic time, manufacturers are trying to save their faces and their balance sheets by keeping this narrative that EVs are not that important, that gas cars will still dominate, and that consumers should continue to buy petrol-powered machines. Manufacturers continue to push consumers in a direction, even if they know it doesn’t align with climate issues or sustainability because they know that their plants will need major updating. This takes time and money, and car companies don’t have a lot of that.

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Tesla Model Y loses another rival after BMW cancels iX3’s US launch

For these legacy automakers, it makes more sense to push gas cars onto consumers and set aside any notions of an EV being a better option, simply because they haven’t made one that is worth a damn…yet.

How is this Tesla’s Advantage?

Tesla is sitting in a prime position to dominate the EV sector for years to come. It is no secret that the company’s vehicles are the highest quality electric cars on the planet; range and performance and contributed to this for several years. However, EVs are the way of the future, and while Tesla has to build new plants to build EVs, it isn’t building them at the massive scale that ICE manufacturers are building their cars. EVs are still a relatively small portion of the worldwide automotive market, and Tesla’s growth is on par with the industry as a whole, mostly because they are controlling it for the time being.

Tesla won’t have to build 136 plants. It won’t have to transition old factories that are pumping out useless powertrains. It will have to build more, but that won’t halt production altogether, especially considering the two factories it has now are handling demand without much of an issue.

Tesla’s plants are going to be assets for centuries to come. Meanwhile, other automakers have focused on the global scaling of their vehicle fleets, only realizing that their strategically placed production plants will all be useless in a few years unless companies begin transitioning their once high-powered manufacturing facilities to EV-based production lines.

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What do you think? Leave a comment down below. Got a tip? Email us at tips@teslarati.com or reach out to me at joey@teslarati.com. 

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Joey has been a journalist covering electric mobility at TESLARATI since August 2019. In his spare time, Joey is playing golf, watching MMA, or cheering on any of his favorite sports teams, including the Baltimore Ravens and Orioles, Miami Heat, Washington Capitals, and Penn State Nittany Lions. You can get in touch with joey at joey@teslarati.com. He is also on X @KlenderJoey. If you're looking for great Tesla accessories, check out shop.teslarati.com

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Tesla will let you bring back this removed Model 3 part for a price

It will cost $595 and is available on Tesla’s website. You will have to have a Model 3 on your Tesla account to purchase the stalk retrofit kit.

Published

31 minutes ago

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October 8, 2025

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Credit: Tesla Asia/X

Tesla is now letting Model 3 owners in the United States bring back one part that the company decided to remove after it refreshed the all-electric sedan last year. Of course, you can do it for a price.

With the Model 3 “Highland” refresh that Tesla launched last year, one of the most monumental changes the company made was to ditch the turn signal stalk altogether. Instead, Tesla opted for turn signal buttons, which have been met with mixed reviews.

I drove the new Tesla Model 3, here’s what got better

The change was widely regarded as Tesla preparing for more autonomous driving in its vehicles, especially as its interiors have gotten even more minimalistic.

The lack of a stalk in the new Model 3 was just another move the company made to adjust drivers and passengers to seeing less at the steering wheel column.

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However, many drivers did not prefer the use of buttons and wanted the stalk reinstalled. Tesla allowed it in several regions, launching a retrofit kit. It has now made its way to the United States:

It will cost $595 and is available on Tesla’s website. You will have to have a Model 3 on your Tesla account to purchase the stalk retrofit kit.

It is interesting to note that despite Tesla’s strategy to remove the stalk with the new Model 3, which was released in early 2024, the company did not choose to make the same move with the new Model Y.

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The new Model Y launched in the United States in early 2025, and Tesla chose to install a stalk in this vehicle.

It seemed as if the turn signal buttons were too much of a polarizing feature, and although the company technically could have given orderers an option, it would not have been the most efficient thing for manufacturing.

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Tesla Full Self-Driving v14.1 first impressions: Robotaxi-like features arrive

Tesla Full Self-Driving v14.1 is here, and we got to experience it for ourselves.

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1 hour ago

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October 8, 2025

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Tesla rolled out its Full Self-Driving v14.1 yesterday, its first public launch of its most robust and accurate FSD iteration yet. Luckily, I was able to get my hands on it through the Early Access Program.

The major changes in FSD v14.1 were revealed in the release notes, which outline several notable improvements in areas such as driving styles, parking, and overall navigation. Here’s what Tesla outlined fully in its release notes:

  • Added Arrival Options for you to select where FSD should park: in a Parking Lot, on the Street, in a Driveway, in a Parking Garage, or at the Curbside.
  • Added handling to pull over or yield for emergency vehicles (e.g. police cars, fire trucks, ambulances).
  • Added navigation and routing into the vision-based neural network for real-time handling of blocked roads and detours.
  • Added additional Speed Profile to further customize driving style preference.
  • Improved handling for static and dynamic gates.
  • Improved offsetting for road debris (e.g. tires, tree branches, boxes).
  • Improve handling of several scenarios including: unprotected turns, lane changes, vehicle cut-ins, and school busses.
  • Improved FSD’s ability to manage system faults and recover smoothly from degraded operation for enhanced reliability.
  • Added alerting for residue build-up on interior windshield that may impact front camera visibility. If affected, visit Service for cleaning!

I wanted to try it for myself. My big must-dos were my complaints with v13.2.9, which included parking when arriving at a destination, Navigation when leaving a destination, and definitely a general improvement in the car traveling at an acceptable rate of speed, even when using the “Hurry” driving style.

Here’s what I noticed with the new Full Self-Driving v14.1:

Speed Profiles are More Realistic

I am driving on “Hurry” about 95% of the time when utilizing Full Self-Driving. In past versions, most notably v13.2.9, my Tesla would slowly reach the speed limit, and it would tend to hang out at about 1-2 MPH either above or below it.

My first observation with v14.1 was the vehicle’s tendency to get right up to speed and, since I was still on Hurry, drive slightly above the speed limit. It never got out of line; it traveled at speeds I would typically drive at manually.

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I think this is a big improvement on its own, because I felt that I was pressing the accelerator too frequently in past FSD versions. Oftentimes, it just wasn’t going fast enough to justify the “Hurry” label; it felt more conservative and more like a student driver than anything.

Check it out:

This was among my favorite improvements, and it was the first thing I noticed as the car navigated me to the Supercharger, where my next positive is.

Navigating into parking lots, self-parking at Supercharger

One of the changes noted in the Release Notes was the addition of Arrival Options, which allows the car to select the appropriate parking situation. Since I was going to charge, the car had already chosen “Charger” as the parking option.

Pulling into a gas station or convenience store, especially during work days, can be stressful, as they are usually congested and full of foot and vehicle traffic. In past FSD versions, I have noticed the car being slightly “jumpy” and even hesitant to proceed through the lot.

Driving through parking lots was a noticeable improvement. It seems as if the car is much more confident in making its way through, while still being aware and cautious enough to safely navigate to the Supercharger.

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It then backed straight into a Supercharger stall, which was recently repaired and is once again active. I was actually upset it chose this specific stall because it had been inactive for a while. However, Tesla got this stall back up and running, the car chose it, and backed into the spot flawlessly:

This was super cool to experience, and I think it is a testament to how hard the Tesla AI team has worked. CEO Elon Musk recently stated that FSD would enable automatic parking at Superchargers, which was really awesome to experience firsthand.

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I decided to leave the Supercharger and go to an auto parts store to pick up some interior cleaner and some microfiber towels. I love keeping my Tesla clean!

I also thought it would be a great opportunity to see how it would react to another parking lot, how it would navigate it, and let it choose a parking spot. It did it all flawlessly:

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I had zero complaints about everything here. All of it was done really well.

Making a choice after being caught in the middle of an intersection

I arrived at a tight intersection in Dallastown, PA, and what my car did next has catalyzed quite a conversation on X.

It proceeded out into the middle of the intersection as the light was green. It had to yield to oncoming traffic, and while waiting, the light turned yellow, then red.

Most people, including myself, would have turned right and proceeded through the intersection since the car was already past the line. However, FSD chose to back up and wait for the next light cycle, which I felt was also a more than acceptable option:

There are some conflicting perspectives on what it chose to do here. Some said they would have proceeded and would want FSD to also proceed. I can agree with that perspective, but I also think it is not the worst thing in the world to back up. In Pennsylvania, I couldn’t find the exact law that says what is right or wrong. Instead, I did see that a left turn on red is only feasible when you’re going from a One-Way street to another One-Way.

I’m not totally sure what is “correct” here, but I think either option is fine. I have personally done both, and I’ve seen other drivers do both. I was more than fine with the car doing this, and I was honestly impressed that it did.

Navigated a busy grocery store lot, found suitable parking

This is not the busiest my local grocery store gets, but it was still congested enough for me to be impressed.

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FSD decided to do one loop in the parking lot before it found a spot that it felt was good enough for me. I was perfectly fine with where it chose to park, and I thought it did a really great job. I was impressed with how stress-free I felt, as I have noted in the past that parking lots are definitely an area where Tesla needs to improve.

I was happy with its performance:

Strange right turn signal as if it saw an emergency vehicle

This was the first bug I noticed with FSD v14.1. While traveling on a local road, it put the right turn signal on and approached the curb as if it was pulling over for an emergency vehicle or as if it was going to park on the street.

It then realized its mistake and proceeded:

I’m not super sure what caused this, but I was a tad bit confused. There were no police cars, ambulances, or anyone with flashing lights to my rear. There was a dump truck on the other side of the road, and I almost felt like the way it navigated “around” that was probably what triggered it.

Navigation is still making strange decisions

I’ve written about navigation and my discontent with some of its decisions. It seems v14.1 didn’t resolve much of anything with navigation, and it did a couple of things wrong.

The first was that it tried to take the illogical and pointless path out of the Supercharger. I wrote about this a few days ago, as FSD tried to take my car the wrong way.

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It did it again, but I overrode the decision, and it was all okay:

This is a minor issue, but it is still pretty frustrating. Hopefully, the navigation will learn after performing this adjustment after enough times.

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The next navigation issue was more frustrating than the Supercharger one, especially considering it completely ignored the route. The navigation had the vehicle very clearly heading straight, but out of nowhere, the right turn signal went on. I overrode it, but the car still turned right, ignoring the navigation completely:

I ended up taking over here and driving until I could get to a stop sign.

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Final Thoughts

I am really impressed with all of the changes Tesla made with FSD v14.1, and while there were a handful of bugs, things were tremendously better than v13.2.9.

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Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang regrets not investing more in Elon Musk’s xAI

The CEO stated that Nvidia is already an investor in xAI, but he wished he had given the artificial intelligence startup more money.

Published

5 hours ago

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October 8, 2025

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Credit: Elon Musk/X

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang revealed that one of his investment regrets is not putting more money into Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence startup, xAI. 

Speaking in a CNBC interview, Huang said Nvidia is already an investor in xAI but wished he had given the artificial intelligence startup more money. This was due to Musk’s record of building transformative companies such as Tesla and SpaceX.

A new wave of transformative AI firms

Huang said he’s very excited about xAI’s latest financing round. He described Musk’s company as part of a powerful new generation of AI developers, alongside OpenAI and Anthropic. that are reshaping the computing landscape.

“I’m super excited about the financing opportunity they’re doing. The only regret I have about xAI, we’re an investor already, is that I didn’t give him more money. You know almost everything that Elon’s pat of, you really want to be part of as well,” the Nvidia CEO stated.

The CEO also clarified Nvidia’s investment in xAI, revealing that Elon Musk had offered the investment opportunity to the chipmaker. “He (Musk) gave us the opportunity to invest in xAI. I’m just delighted by that,” Huang stated.

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AI investment boom

Huang contrasted today’s AI-driven economy with the early days of the internet. “Back then, all the internet companies combined were maybe $30 or $40 billion in size,” he said. “If you look at the hyperscalers now, that’s about $2.5 trillion of business already operating today.”

He also stated that the ongoing shift from CPU-based computing to GPU-powered generative AI represents a “multi-trillion-dollar buildout” that Nvidia is looking to support. Huang added that every Nvidia engineer now works with AI coding assistants such as Cursor, which he called his “favorite enterprise AI service,” and it has led to a major productivity boost across the company.

Watch Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s CNBC interview in the video below.

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