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Tesla’s marketing strategies in China could address the negative narrative in the US
Over the course of the massive roller coaster ride that was Tesla’s first and second quarters this year, it has become particularly evident that the electric car maker is dealing with a lot of misinformation. After the first quarter’s lower-than-expected results, for example, Tesla faced multiple narratives suggesting that the demand for the company’s vehicles was fast declining, and that its growth story was dead. It was not until Tesla revealed its higher-than-expected delivery and production numbers in the second quarter that the narrative surrounding the company shifted a little bit for the better.
Being one of the most shorted companies in the market, Tesla is no stranger to misinformation campaigns. The company’s vehicles consistently rank high with safety agencies, yet the idea that the Model 3, S, and X are dangerous and catch fire all the time continues to persist. Tesla’s quarterly safety reports have consistently shown that fewer accidents happen when Autopilot is activated, but the driver-assist system is perceived as dangerous by a notable demographic of would-be car buyers nonetheless — and these are but the tip of the iceberg.
One of the most striking portions of Tesla’s 2019 Annual Shareholder Meeting last month involved a number of retail investors brainstorming solutions to address the alarming amount of misinformation surrounding the company. Responding to the concerned shareholders, Elon Musk admitted that he is at a little bit of a loss when it comes to battling the negativity surrounding Tesla, though he expressed his dislike for advertising campaigns that are deceptive to consumers. Nevertheless, considering that the Tesla Model 3 is now breaking into a market that is larger than it has ever dealt with before, it would be wise for the electric car maker to find a solid, subtle strategy that allows it to reach a wider audience, while shifting the narrative to a more positive direction in the process.
What is pretty remarkable is that Tesla does not need to look far to find a marketing strategy that works without being deceptive. Over in China, there is a company that has shown a notable degree of cleverness with its marketing efforts, utilizing creative campaigns that help improve the perception of the public to its brand. That company is Tesla.
Tesla has been around in China since 2014, when it started delivering the Model S to the region. For the most part, Tesla has competed much like a niche carmaker in the country, with the Model S and Model X being high-priced premium vehicles that are, in some way, considered as status symbols for the wealthy. This is changing with the arrival of the Model 3, as the electric sedan’s lower price opens up the Tesla ecosystem to a far broader demographic. The buildout of Gigafactory 3 in Shanghai, which will be producing locally-made Model 3 and Model Y, will make Tesla’s vehicles even more accessible to the mainstream market in the near future.
With Model 3 deliveries already underway and with Gigafactory 3’s buildout progressing faster than expected, it is pertinent for Tesla to ensure that the company is well marketed for Chinese consumers. This is where things get particularly interesting, since Tesla has been conducting a subtle, clever, and likely effective marketing campaign for the Chinese market as of late. Immediately noticeable is the care that the company has taken to respect the country’s culture and traditions, as shown in the tastefully-designed cards Tesla sent out during last month’s Dragon Boat Festival, and the reviewers that the electric car maker released for high school students in the days leading up to the national college examination. These were simple gestures, but they showed that Tesla is a company that is respectful and grounded.
Other marketing campaigns that have raised Tesla’s visibility in the Chinese market have been equally tasteful. Just recently, Tesla and QQ Music, a popular music streaming service in the country, held a series of “Music Parties” in key cities. These were hip events that were aimed at the younger demographic, many of whom are or will be looking to buy their first vehicle in the near future. The company has also launched a Tesla Performance Driving School, which involves the company hiring professional drivers to teach Model 3 owners how to get the most fun out of their vehicles. This program promotes the capabilities of the Model 3 Performance, while giving the impression that Tesla is a responsible company that encourages high-speed driving in safe, regulated environments.
Also notable were Tesla-organized road trips, which are extended journeys over scenic routes that are aimed at promoting the company’s vehicles and the convenience of the Supercharger Network. Online, Tesla’s active marketing strategies in China are quite impressive as well, as evidenced by the spread of tutorials featuring its vehicles and their features. These pages, one which could be accessed here, feature clear guidelines about Autopilot’s proper utilization, its features, its limitations, and the responsibilities of the driver while the system is in use.
When it comes to battling misinformation, the best strategy is always to provide the right information. To shift a subjectively negative narrative, it is best to foster an objectively positive narrative. Contrary to Elon Musk’s statements during the Annual Shareholder Meeting, it appears that Tesla already has a pretty good strategy that has the potential to address, at least to some degree, the misconceptions and misinformation surrounding the company in the United States. Granted, Tesla currently enjoys widespread support from the Chinese government, and the United States is a far more challenging market than China, but considering what’s at stake, these marketing efforts might very well be worth a try.
Elon Musk
Elon Musk follows Trump’s lead, says a SpaceX name change is coming
Elon Musk says SpaceXAI will become SpaceXSI, marking its second rebrand in under three months.
Elon Musk wants to rename his artificial intelligence company again, less than three months after its last rebrand.
In a string of posts on X early Sunday morning, Musk wrote “No more AI,” followed by “SI” and “It’s better.” He then added, “SpaceX is a super intelligence company.” When a user asked whether SpaceXAI could become SpaceXSI, Musk replied, “Yes, we will make that change.”
The posts extend a terminology push that began at the White House last week. On September 29, President Donald Trump signed an executive order directing federal agencies to replace “artificial intelligence” and “AI” with “Super Intelligence” and “SI” on government websites, policy documents and press releases. The same day, Musk sat beside Trump as the heads of the largest AI companies signed a voluntary safety accord, as Teslarati reported. Speaking to reporters afterward, Musk caught himself mid sentence: “I think it is worth highlighting the positive benefits of A.I. … S.I., pardon me.”
Elon Musk and Trump are closer than ever, and Tesla could be the big winner
SpaceXSI would be the third name for the business since February. SpaceX acquired xAI on February 2 in a deal that valued the combined company at $1.25 trillion. In May, Musk said xAI would be dissolved as a separate company, and on July 6 the division adopted the SpaceXAI name and a new logo that placed the xAI letters inside the SpaceX identity.
Musk gave no timeline. He did not say whether SpaceXSI would be a legal name change or a branding update, whether the @SpaceXAI handle on X would change, or how the shift would apply to products like Grok. The company had not issued a formal announcement as of Sunday morning.
The change would reach well beyond a chatbot. SpaceXAI now houses Grok, the X platform, the Colossus training clusters in Memphis and the coding tool Cursor, which SpaceX acquired in August. It also runs the orbital compute effort SpaceX is building around Nvidia hardware, which Musk said during the company’s first earnings call would be exclusive to Nvidia.
It’s unclear if rivals like Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, Meta and Nvidia have plans to also rename their companies or products. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has continued to say “AI” in public, while Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has gone partway, describing data centers as “super intelligence factories.”
The rename would also line up SpaceX’s AI branding with the federal government’s language as Musk takes on a new advisory role at the Pentagon, where he is helping lead the Project Meridian study on the future of warfare.
Starlink is launching a new beta path for ordinary property owners and local operators to turn a single Starlink kit into a small shared-access business for passive income.
Under the Starlink for Communities program, a host installs one dish and router setup in a location with nearby demand: an apartment complex, campground, rural crossroads, or event site. Neighbors or local users can buy short-term passes rather than full individual subscriptions, giving the Starlink provider a potential path to passive income.
Hour, day, and week passes cover one device. A month pass covers up to four. Starlink handles account creation, payments, access controls, and the satellite link itself. The host’s role is mainly placement, power, and basic upkeep, with earnings tied to each paid connection.
Big news! SpaceX is introducing a new @Starlink for Communities program that lets you earn money by providing Starlink internet to your neighbors or people nearby, who can pay for access by the hour, day, week, or month.
Neighbors pay for the access they need, while the person… pic.twitter.com/DtOUs0Ekvt
— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) October 1, 2026
The model echoes the passive-income vision long attached to Tesla’s Robotaxi plans, and it seems like it’s something Musk has hinted toward in the past as he believes AI will make the need to work relatively optional. In both cases, the platform owns the hard parts of matching, billing, and network management, while an individual supplies a physical asset that sits idle much of the time.
A Starlink host’s dish can serve multiple nearby users without each household buying and installing its own terminal. A Tesla owner, under the stated Robotaxi concept, would leave a vehicle enrolled in the fleet during unused hours so the car generates rides while the owner is at work or asleep.
Both arrangements convert under-utilized hardware into a revenue stream. They also let the company scale coverage or capacity without owning every endpoint.
Differences are practical. A Starlink kit is a fixed, relatively low-cost terminal whose main constraint is local congestion and line-of-sight. A Tesla Robotaxi is a mobile, high-value vehicle whose earnings depend on demand density, utilization rates, insurance, cleaning, and charging.
Starlink’s program is already accepting host applications in multiple countries and describes the revenue split as ongoing. Tesla’s owner-network version remains more aspirational.
The company currently operates a limited company-controlled robotaxi service in select areas and has solicited interest from fleet buyers for Cybercab vehicles, while private Full Self-Driving owners have not yet been able to dispatch their own cars for paid rides at scale.
Tesla primes Cybercabs for 4K streaming and high bandwidth gaming with Starlink integration
Starlink is a satellite broadband service operated by SpaceX that uses a constellation of low-Earth-orbit satellites to deliver internet to locations where terrestrial broadband is slow, expensive, or absent. It has grown to millions of subscribers worldwide by selling direct residential, mobile, and enterprise terminals, and have become widely available at a wide array at retail locations like Target and Best Buy.
The Communities program extends that reach by letting hosts resell short bursts of capacity to people nearby, while also providing high-speed internet access to those who are simply around a Starlink user.
Tesla just upgraded its headlights through a software update, making them even better without any physical or hardware upgrade.
Tesla’s latest software update is quietly improving nighttime driving for a small number of owners. Version 2026.38 includes a new capability called Dynamic Headlight Leveling.
The feature automatically adjusts the aim of the low beams in response to driving conditions and nearby traffic, with the goal of giving the driver more usable light on the road while reducing glare for oncoming vehicles and traffic ahead.
2026.38 just dropped.
Model 3 gets Dynamic Headlight Leveling — low beams auto-aim around traffic for max visibility, less glare. Model 3 / Y (AMD HW3) also pick up sharper Tesla visuals + an enhanced park scene on the center display.
Legacy Intel cars get Supercharger Site… pic.twitter.com/45ac4AH6Vs
— Frunk To Trunk (@FrunkToTrunk) September 30, 2026
Unlike Tesla’s matrix high-beam system, which selectively dims individual LED segments to create shadows around other cars, Dynamic Headlight Leveling physically tilts the low-beam projectors. Internal motors respond to changes in vehicle pitch.
When the car accelerates hard, climbs a steep grade, or carries extra weight in the rear, the headlights can otherwise point higher than intended. The software counters that movement in real time so the beam stays aimed at the road surface rather than into the eyes of other drivers.
Early indications reveal the update is reaching a limited set of vehicles, including certain Model 3 and Cybertruck examples in the United States and the United Arab Emirates. The rollout does not appear tied to a single hardware revision, and Tesla has not published a broader schedule. It is simply a common waiting game until your car receives it.
The change arrives against a backdrop of wider complaints about headlight glare. Some earlier Model 3 and Model Y vehicles were the subject of an NHTSA recall related to excessive low-beam glare; the software adjustment offers a potential mitigation for cars equipped with the necessary leveling hardware. It does not replace adaptive high beams where those are already available, nor does it alter the basic low-beam pattern itself.
Instead, it keeps an existing beam pointed where it is most useful.
For drivers who have received the update, the system requires no new settings or user input. The headlights simply respond as road conditions and traffic change. As the feature reaches more vehicles, it adds another example of Tesla using over-the-air software to refine existing hardware rather than waiting for a new model year. Nighttime visibility and reduced glare for others are the practical results owners are expected to notice first.
Elon Musk follows Trump’s lead, says a SpaceX name change is coming
Starlink launches Communities Program for passive income through internet sharing
