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Tesla starts Model 3 customer deliveries in China, formally launches Model Y program

Tesla CEO Elon Musk at Model Y program launch at Gigafactory 3 China (Source: @JaysoninShanghai | Twitter)

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Tesla officially opened the floodgates in China as it made its first mass delivery of locally-made Model 3 on Tuesday during an event at Gigafactory 3 in Shanghai. The electric car maker also announced the kick-off of its Model Y program in the country.

CEO Elon Musk flew in from the United States to personally hand over Made-in-China Model 3s to the first local customers. This is a big milestone for Tesla as the MIC Model 3s are the first units delivered by Tesla’s first factory outside of the United States.

“Ultimately Model Y will have more demand than probably all of the other Tesla cars combined. Model Y will also have advanced manufacturing technologies that we will reveal in the future,” Musk said.

Musk also expressed his gratitude to the Chinese government, the Tesla China team, and all of the customers in the country.  At one point during the ceremonies, Musk even showed some dance moves and emphasized how the company knows how to have fun despite all the work that needs to be done. Musk also did not forget to thank the early adopters who paid a premium to own their Teslas.

During a speech at the event, the Tesla chief also disclosed plans to have a Tesla engineering center in China that will design vehicles for the local market and the rest of the globe.

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With the kick-off of the Model Y program in China, Tesla now has a powerful one-two punch combination that can potentially deal heavy blows to other automotive giants operating in the country. The Model 3 sedans will attract those looking for an entry-level electric vehicle while the Model Y will appeal to those looking for an all-electric crossover that offers more space at a practical price.

Tesla will be facing no pushovers in the local market. Daimler has released the Mercedes-Benz EQC in China and sells it for about $83,100 while Audi has rolled out the e-tron in late 2019 and plans to introduce more green vehicles in the next 24 months. BMW is also planning to join the EV rumble with its iX3 crossover next year.

The first public MIC Model delivery event happened exactly one year after the first wholly-owned car factory by a foreigner in China broke ground. Gigafactory 3 achieved the amazing feat of producing its first vehicles in just 10 months and making a symbolic delivery to local Tesla employees before the end of 2019.

Meanwhile, the production of the Model Y alongside the Model 3 will not be an issue for Tesla since these vehicles share 75% of their parts. Tesla also started accepting Model Y orders a few days ago, an early indication that the electric car maker is ready for this move.

Earlier this week, Tesla confirmed that Gigafactory 3 has achieved a run-rate of 3,000 vehicles per week to meet Model 3 demand in China. The government has also been very supportive and has exempted the locally-made sedan from a 10% purchase tax as announced recently.

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Shanghai-based analysts are optimistic with their forecast for Tesla in China. Managing director of consultancy firm AutoForesight Yale Zhang sees the Palo Alto, California-based electric vehicle manufacturer selling around 100,000 MIC Model 3s while China International Capital’s Wang Lei sees around 120,000 combined sales of Model 3 and Model Y.

With the Model 3 and Model Y entering the largest automotive market in the globe, Tesla can become a strong foothold for the brand as it aims to achieve sustained profitability.

Here’s are some snapshots from the event:

A curious soul who keeps wondering how Elon Musk, Tesla, electric cars, and clean energy technologies will shape the future, or do we really need to escape to Mars.

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Tesla board reveals reasoning for CEO Elon Musk’s new $1 trillion pay package

“Yes, you read that correctly: in 2018, Elon had to grow Tesla by billions; in 2025, he has to grow Tesla by trillions — to be exact, he must create nearly $7.5 trillion in value for shareholders for him to receive the full award.”

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(Credit: Tesla)

Tesla’s Board of Directors has proposed a new pay package for company CEO Elon Musk that would result in $1 trillion in stock offerings if he is able to meet several lofty performance targets.

Musk, who has not been meaningfully compensated since 2017, completed his last pay package by delivering billions in shareholder value through a variety of performance-based “tranches,” which were met and resulted in the award of billions in stock.

Elon Musk’s new pay plan ties trillionaire status to Tesla’s $8.5 trillion valuation

However, Musk was unable to claim this award due to a ruling by the Delaware Chancery Court, which deemed the payout an “unfathomable sum.”

Now, the company is taking steps to ensure Musk gets paid, as the Board feels that it is crucial to retain its CEO, who has been responsible for much of the company’s success.

This is not a statement to undermine the work of all of Tesla’s terrific employees, but a ship needs to be captained by someone, and Musk has proven he is the right person for the job.

The Board also believes that, based on a statement made by the company in its proxy, various issues will be discussed during the upcoming Shareholder Meeting.

Robyn Denholm and Kathleen Wilson-Thompson recognized Musk’s contributions in a statement, which encouraged shareholders to vote to approve the payout:

“We’re asking you to approve the 2025 CEO Performance Award. In designing the new performance award, we explored numerous alternatives. Ultimately, the new award aims to build upon the success of the 2018 CEO Performance Award framework, which ensure that Elon was only paid for the performance delivered and incentivized to guide Tesla through a period of meteoric growth. The 2025 CEO Performance Award similarly challegnes Elon to again meet a series of even more aspirational goals, including operational milestones focused on reaching Adjusted EBITDA targets (thresholds that are up to 28 times higher than the 2108 CEO Performance Award’s top Adjusted EBITDA milestone) and rolling out new or expanded product offerings (including 1 million Robotaxis in commercial operation and delivery of 1 million AI Bots), all while growing the company’s market capitalization by trillions of dollars.

Yes, you read that correctly: in 2018, Elon had to grow Tesla by billions; in 2025, he has to grow Tesla by trillions — to be exact, he must create nearly $7.5 trillion in value for shareholders for him to receive the full award.

In addition to these unprecedented performance milestones, the 2025 CEO Performance Award also includes innovative structural features, born out of the special committee’s considered analysis and extensive shareholder feedback. These features include supercharged retention (at least seven and a half years and up to 10 years to vest in the full award), structural protections to minimize stock price volatility due to administration of this award and, thereafter, incentives for Elon to participate in the Board’s continued development of a framework for long-term CEO Succession. If Elon achieves all the performance milestones under this principle-based 2025 CEO Performance Award, his leadership will propel Tesla to become the most valuable company in history.”

Musk will have a lot of things to accomplish to receive the 423,743,904 shares, which are divided into 12 tranches.

However, the Board feels he is the right person for the job, and they want him to remain the CEO. This package should ensure that he stays with Tesla, as long as shareholders feel the same way.

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Tesla Robotaxi app download rate demolishes Uber, Waymo all-time highs

After two and a half months of testing with a group of hand-picked Tesla influencers and some media, the company has officially launched Robotaxi rides in both Austin, Texas, and the California Bay Area to the public.

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Credit: @BLKMDL3 | X

Tesla launched its Robotaxi app to the general public yesterday, and the number of downloads is a testament to the platform’s high demand for testing.

After two and a half months of testing with a group of hand-picked Tesla influencers and some media, the company has officially launched Robotaxi rides in both Austin, Texas, and the California Bay Area to the public.

Tesla Robotaxi makes major expansion with official public app launch

Downloading the app is available to iOS users, so if you have an iPhone, you can get it and join the waitlist. Tesla has not yet launched the Robotaxi app for the Android platform, but did hint that it would be coming soon.

The testing phase with the group Tesla selected has gone well. In Austin, the City has only listed one “Safety Concern” with Robotaxi during the testing phase. For the most part, things have gone extremely well, and riders have had good things to say.

Tesla is still operating with some safeguards in place, such as Safety Monitors and Safety Drivers, but these are precautionary and temporary; CEO Elon Musk has said they should be removed by the end of the year.

Elon Musk says Tesla will take Safety Drivers out of Robotaxi: here’s when

Even still, Tesla Robotaxi is something that many people want to experience, and the app downloads prove it.

The Tesla Robotaxi app was downloaded at a rate that exceeded all rolling 30-day periods of both Uber and Waymo, according to Brett Winton of ARK Invest. Tesla’s Robotaxi’s first day on the App Store exceeded Uber’s by 40 percent and Waymo’s best download day ever by six times:

The surge in downloads is a good indication of how in demand the Robotaxi suite was, as many people within the community had vocalized their requests to try the platform, but Tesla was not ready to expand it beyond its handpicked group.

The expansion of the program will result in more rides, provided Tesla continues to expand its fleet of vehicles. It has already admitted many of those who were initially placed on the waitlist.

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Elon Musk’s xAI expands to Seattle with salaries up to $440,000

The move was announced by the artificial intelligence startup and Elon Musk on social media platform X.

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(Credit: xAI)

Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence startup xAI is opening a new office in Seattle as it accelerates its global expansion. 

The move was announced by the artificial intelligence startup and Elon Musk on social media platform X. xAI is also hiring for its first positions in the new site.

New Seattle office

As could be seen on xAI’s Careers webpage, the Seattle office is currently hiring for three engineering roles. Each of the three technical roles tied to the new site carry salaries ranging from $180,000 to $440,000. 

The new office adds to xAI’s growing presence, which now spans San Francisco, Austin, London, Dublin, New York, and Memphis. The Seattle-based roles focus on video and image generation systems, signaling Musk’s intent to challenge rivals like OpenAI and Meta in generative AI.

Pressures and challenges

Seattle also places xAI within reach of Microsoft’s headquarters in Redmond. Microsoft has emerged as a central player in the AI race through its multibillion-dollar partnership with OpenAI, making xAI’s move into the region notable. The competition for AI specialists has pushed salaries higher across the industry, with filings showing OpenAI staff earning up to $530,000 and Anthropic engineers as much as $690,000 annually, as noted by Insider.

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The startup has also seen some high-profile departures in recent months, including cofounder Igor Babuschkin and general counsel Robert Keele. Still, xAI continues to grow aggressively, and its Grok large language model has been gaining momentum among mainstream users. Work also continues to be underway to further build out the company’s Colossus supercomputer cluster. Reports have also suggested that xAI has moved into San Francisco offices in the Mission District, a site Musk initially leased during OpenAI’s early years.

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