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Tesla ‘Model 2,’ mobile phone, and Tom Zhu ‘2nd-in-command’ rumors debunked by China exec
Tesla doesn’t have a PR team, and even on the off chance that the company responds to a media outlet, its responses tend to be short and succinct. This came to a head last month when rumors about a production shutdown in Giga Shanghai during December’s last week due to weakening demand were reported by several mainstream news media outlets. In response to the wave of reports, Tesla China simply commented that the reports were “untrue.”
As it turned out, what Tesla China really meant was that the reports were not entirely accurate. Giga Shanghai was indeed pausing its production in the last week of December, but it would be due to maintenance for the plant’s lines, not a demand issue. While one could argue that Tesla China’s response could have been better — and it definitely could have been better — it was already far more of a response than what Tesla typically puts out.
Tesla China Exec Interview
In the United States, Tesla usually doesn’t even issue official responses. Elon Musk posts about Tesla frequently and he clarifies issues on Twitter, but outside of that, there is very little that the company does to respond to rumors or reports. This was why it was quite a welcome development when Tesla VP Grace Tao had an interview with Chinese media. In it, she discussed a number of pertinent topics, such as Tesla’s vehicle pricing strategy in China, as well as some rumors surrounding the company.
Rumors about Tesla are abounding, and among the most notable are arguably the “Model 2,” the vehicle believed to be the cheaper successor to the Model 3 and Model Y; the “Pi Phone,” a mobile phone that’s been spamming a number of YouTube channels for some time now; and the promotion of Tesla China’s Tom Zhu as “second-in-command” in the company. Grace Tao’s response was quick and direct, and she noted that the “rumors are not true.”
Now, if you could see a parallel between the denial that the VP recently gave to Tesla China’s response to last month’s reports of Giga Shanghai’s shutdown, you are not alone. With this in mind — and if one could speculate to a point — then perhaps Tao’s denial could also be read as the rumors not being entirely accurate. Emphasis on the “entirely.”
Model 2, Mobile Phone, and Tom Zhu
Tesla, for one, has been working on a smaller vehicle platform for some time now. Elon Musk has been pretty dismissive of the vehicle for some time, favoring a dedicated, futuristic Robotaxi with no steering wheels instead, but he has shared some details about the upcoming car in the past. Musk has, for example, noted that Tesla’s affordable car would exceed the Model 3 and Model Y’s production output. Its platform would also be roughly the cost of the Model 3 and Model Y’s. It’s undeniable that Tesla is working on an affordable car, so the VP’s recent denial can also simply mean that the “not true” part of the rumor was the speculated name of the EV, “Model 2.”
As for the Tesla “Pi Phone,” Elon Musk has noted in the past that he is not closed to the idea of making a mobile phone if Apple or Google end up blocking Twitter, but that’s about it. Unlike what’s suggested in spam videos on YouTube, the “Tesla Phone” is simply a fun idea, nothing more. Tom Zhu’s promotion has not been confirmed by Tesla, but signs are pointing to the executive taking a larger role in the company. That being said, Zhu’s position does not necessarily have to be “second-in-command” to Elon Musk. His position, if speculations do prove accurate, could simply be created to accurately describe his larger responsibilities in the company.
Tesla VP Grace Tao’s interview with local Chinese media can be viewed here.
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News
SpaceX just launched its secret Starfall saucer again
SpaceX launched its Starfall capsule again on Bandwagon-5, this time listed openly beside rideshare customers.
SpaceX launched its Starfall reentry capsule for the second time on Tuesday morning, flying it as the payload of the Bandwagon-5 rideshare mission. Falcon 9 lifted off from Space Launch Complex 40 in Florida at 7:04 a.m. ET with 32 payloads, and the first stage booster, on its 19th flight, landed on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas about nine minutes later.
Starfall was scheduled to separate last, 2 hours and 48 minutes after liftoff. The final customer satellite on SpaceX’s mission timeline comes off the upper stage about an hour and nine minutes in, which left a long gap before the capsule was due to be released alone. SpaceX later posted that the payload deployment sequence is complete. At liftoff, the company said Starfall “enables affordable, routine access to a microgravity environment, providing unique opportunities for on-orbit manufacturing, scientific research, and testing.”
Starfall enables affordable, routine access to a microgravity environment, providing unique opportunities for on-orbit manufacturing, scientific research, and testing https://t.co/y8kJg3QDor
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) October 20, 2026
As Teslarati reported before the first Starfall flight, SpaceX made no public announcement about the vehicle then, and nearly everything known came from FAA and FCC filings. This time Starfall is an item name on the official mission page, listed beside paying rideshare customers. SpaceX has still not said what, if anything, is aboard this Starfall, Spaceflight Now noted.
The FAA’s environmental assessment from May describes a disk about 10.2 feet wide and 2.5 feet tall that weighs roughly 4,600 pounds and can bring 2,200 pounds of payload back to Earth.
Interestingly, the same rocket also carries a competitor’s hardware. Varda Space Industries launched its W-Series 7 capsule on Bandwagon-5, a spacecraft about three times smaller than Starfall that will test whether microgravity can improve the solubility of a cancer drug called Protac. It is Varda’s ninth reentry capsule, and W-8 and W-9 launched earlier this month on Transporter-18. SpaceX has been Varda’s launch provider since the company’s first Falcon 9 rideshare contract in 2021.
SpaceX has not published where or how this Starfall will come down. The preview we ran in June described a recovery from the Pacific Ocean, and the company has not said whether this flight follows the same plan. The launch also arrives hours before SpaceX posts its third quarter results after the market closes, a report we previewed earlier this week.
Elon Musk
The Boring Company’s latest Tesla tunnel truck mod “fits like a glove”
The Boring Company has modified a Tesla powered tunnel truck to carry freight containers underground.
The Boring Company has found a second job for the Tesla hardware it already runs underground. In a post on X, Elon Musk’s tunneling company showed its latest Prufrock Liner Truck modified to carry a standard 20 foot shipping container. “Using TBC tunnels to transport freight,” the company wrote. “The latest Prufrock Liner Truck (using Tesla Model 3 batteries and drive units) has been modified to carry a standard 20′ shipping container. Fits like a glove!”
The photo shows a red container sitting on a long, low white chassis parked outside, with drive hardware visible at one end. The Boring Company did not say where or when freight hauling would start, which customers it has in mind, or how many trucks it is converting.
Using TBC tunnels to transport freight.
The latest Prufrock Liner Truck (using Tesla Model 3 batteries and drive units) has been modified to carry a standard 20’ shipping container.
Fits like a glove! https://t.co/VV0phWK4fc
— The Boring Company (@boringcompany) October 19, 2026
Until now, the liner trucks have hauled concrete. Teslarati reported in August on Liner Truck 3, which uses Model 3 battery packs and drive units to move more than 22,000 pounds of precast tunnel segments to the boring machine. It has 28 miles of range, tops out at 12 mph, and is piloted remotely from the company’s operations center in Texas. The freight version appears to be the same platform with a different bed, and The Boring Company has not said whether it will also be remotely piloted.
Freight has been on the company’s menu for years. When TBC updated its product lineup in 2021, its freight tunnel was described as sized to fit a standard shipping container, “barely.” The company later used the idea at Tesla’s own factory, where Prufrock 3 dug a tunnel to Giga Texas that now moves finished Cybertrucks away from the production line.
The Boring Company closed a $3 billion Series D in September at a $23 billion valuation, and Teslarati has covered how that money is tied to a UAE tunneling push and a faster Nashville build. In Nashville, Prufrock MB1 and MB2 are mining at the same time, and a third machine is expected to launch in late October. Each machine needs a steady supply of liner trucks, so any design that works for segments and containers alike gives the company more use out of the same Tesla parts.
The Vegas Loop remains the only Boring Company system open to the public, and it moves passengers in Tesla vehicles. A freight service would be a separate product, and the post gave no indication that one is close to launch. For now, it is a truck, a container and a short caption saying they fit together.
Elon Musk said he is planning to give “every one of his SpaceX shares to every kid in America” in 2027, stating that “this will be the first of many.”
SpaceX went public earlier this year, and its stock price has been relatively stable since leveling off shortly after its IPO. Based on its current price, it’s a gift of just over $10 billion to children across the United States.
It appears to be closely related to President Donald Trump’s bank accounts for children, which were set up earlier this year as Trump Accounts.
Just hours earlier, Anthropic had announced the establishment of its Anthropic Public Benefit Fund, “a new wholly-owned entity dedicated entirely to public benefit.” Musk responded by stating he recommended “giving the shares directly to the public,” and that he would be doing it that way.
Just a little bit later, Musk said children across the U.S. would be getting a share from him:
Next year, I will give one of my SpaceX shares to every kid in America.
This will be the first of many.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 19, 2026
There are roughly 70 million children, meaning someone under the age of 18, in the United States, according to the Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics. Musk’s ownership of SpaceX stock shows he has around 849 million Class A shares of SpaceX stock, according to filings with the SEC.
SpaceX just launched its secret Starfall saucer again
The Boring Company’s latest Tesla tunnel truck mod “fits like a glove”
Elon Musk will give ‘every kid in America’ a SpaceX share in 2027
SpaceX reveals how its 1 Million AI satellite network will work and prevent space collisions
Tesla Roadster: Three configs, one can fly, 0-60 in 0.8 seconds
