Connect with us

Investor's Corner

Tesla pushes Model 3 European ramp with test drive events in multiple countries

Published

on

As Tesla starts shipping the Model 3 to Europe, the electric car maker has begun to increase its efforts to promote its disruptive midsize electric sedan. As noted by reports from several members of the Tesla community today, the Silicon Valley-based electric car maker has started sending out invites reservation holders and potential customers for Model 3 test drive events.

Reports about the European test drive events were noted by the Tesla community on Wednesday. On the r/TeslaMotors subreddit, for one, u/josmaus shared a screenshot of an invitation for a Model 3 test drive event in Finland. As noted in the invitation, the test drives would be conducted in select Tesla locations from January 25 to February 9.

Advertisement

In social media platforms such as Twitter, Tesla community members from other parts of the European regions — such as those residing in Sweden, Austria, and Germany — stated that they received the same invitation as well. Overall, Tesla’s test drive invites come amidst sightings of Model 3 being transported to Europe, as well as the electric sedan being spotted in areas such as Denmark.

Tesla’s European ramp for the Model 3 is key to the company’s success in the region. In an email to employees earlier this month, Elon Musk noted that Tesla would be starting its international Model 3 ramp with the vehicle’s two higher-end variants — the Long Range AWD version and the Model 3 Performance. Tesla is shipping the Model 3 to Europe and China, and in both regions, the Long Range AWD and Performance variants are leading the charge.

Tesla’s decision to start the international ramp of the Model 3 with Europe and China bodes well for the company, considering that both regions are perfect for the electric sedan. Europe, for one, has a midsize sedan market that is twice as large as that of the United States. China, on the other hand, is simply the world’s largest EV market. In the case of the latter, the shipments of the Model 3 Performance and Long Range AWD Model 3 could give Tesla time to saturate the country before Gigafactory 3 starts producing affordable versions of the electric sedan locally.

For now, though, European Model 3 reservation holders and potential customers look forward to experiencing the high-performance electric car firsthand. With test drives soon offered in multiple European territories, the upcoming saturation of the Model 3 in the region is all but inevitable. Test drives in a Tesla, after all, are among the most effective ways to demonstrate the advantages and features of the company’s electric cars to potential buyers.

Tesla’s European ramp for the Model 3 is about to get fully underway. Apart from the recent test drive invites and confirmation of homologation approval for the Model 3, Tesla has also been busy expanding its Supercharger Network in the region with the installations of dual charge stations fitted with both a Type 2 and CCS plug, the latter being the standard used by the Model 3. Tesla’s newly installed CCS Superchargers, which are marked “Model 3 Priority,” continue to grow in number by the day.  

Advertisement

Simon is an experienced automotive reporter with a passion for electric cars and clean energy. Fascinated by the world envisioned by Elon Musk, he hopes to make it to Mars (at least as a tourist) someday. For stories or tips--or even to just say a simple hello--send a message to his email, simon@teslarati.com or his handle on X, @ResidentSponge.

Advertisement
Comments

Investor's Corner

Lucid denies rumors of bankruptcy after over 40% stock drop

Published

on

Credit: Lucid

Electric vehicle maker Lucid Group has denied rumors of an imminent bankruptcy after a report from this morning sent the stock on a dramatic drop on Wall Street, seeing losses of more than 40 percent during trading hours.

Lucid’s Director of Communications, Nick Twork, responded to the report from Eletric-Vehicles.com, which stated the company’s restructuring advisor, AlixPartners, was asked to review two decisions: taking Lucid shares private or filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

The report also claims AlixPartners told the Lucid board to “concentrate on Gravity production while improving its quality, and to temporarily hold back the Lucid Air, the sedan that has defined the company since its launch.”

Twork said:

Advertisement

Shares rebounded after the response to the report, halving its losses as the trading day neared 3 p.m. Eastern.

Lucid has struggled to get its sales off the ground and into more respectable numbers, but the company is in its early years, when things are hard to begin with. It is also backed by several notable investors, including the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF), which has nearly limitless money and likely would not ditch an investment of this size so soon.

Advertisement

Lucid shares were down just 14 percent at the time of publication, a far cry from the 55 percent its losses topped out at during the day.

Continue Reading

Investor's Corner

Tesla gets price target upgrade on heels of crazy successful auto quarter

Published

on

(Credit: Tesla)

Tesla received a price target upgrade just on the heels of what was a crazy successful quarter for its automotive business, as the company reported a delivery beat of over 15 percent for Q2.

Jefferies analysts are upping Tesla’s price target (NASDAQ: TSLA) to $400 from $375, while maintaining their “Hold” rating on shares, and the strong automotive deliveries from Q2 is a big reason. However, there are some other catalysts that Jefferies believes position Tesla for a strong position in the second half of the year.

Strong Deliveries

Tesla reported 480,000 deliveries for Q2, while Wall Street was between 395,000 and 405,000, as an overall consensus. It was an incredibly strong quarter from a delivery perspective, and Tesla sold well more than it produced during the three months.

Tesla crushes Wall Street expectations, beats delivery estimates by over 15 percent

Advertisement

While vehicle deliveries are not necessarily looked at in the light that they used to be, Tesla still maintains a lot of advantages for keeping deliveries strong. With the loss of the $7,500 EV Tax Credit last year, Tesla still maintains a strong demand case for its EVs.

Robotaxi Performance

Tesla has been operating Robotaxi for over a year now, as it launched in Austin in mid-2025. That program has expanded to Houston and Dallas, the San Francisco Bay Area, and, most recently, Miami, Florida, the suite’s first appearance in the Sunshine State.

While the Robotaxi suite is still in its early phases and Tesla is working through things like fleet size and wait times, the company has been able to undercut the pricing of its competitors and has a great safety record.

Merger Speculation with Tesla and SpaceX

This is perhaps the biggest topic that many are speaking about with Tesla and SpaceX, and it is the one thing that seems to be on the mind of every investor.

Advertisement

Jefferies warns that growing talk of a Tesla-SpaceX merger could cause Tesla stock to trade more like a SpaceX proxy, which may disconnect it from underlying automotive fundamentals. SpaceX has a lot going for it, especially its compute deals that have been widely publicized as of late.

Profitability in New Projects Could Take Some Time

Tesla has a few long-term ventures in the pipeline, most notably the Optimus project and Robotaxi, which is launched but will take several years to expand to a meaningful level that resonates with everyday people.

This is something that investors need to be careful of. Tesla’s projects could take some time to round out, so Jefferies advises that these may carry initial losses, rather than immediate profit. Seasoned Tesla investors have echoed something like this for a long time; they knew going in it would not be an open-and-shut strategy. It was going to take time.

These new projects are no different.

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Investor's Corner

NASA taps SpaceX to launch the telescope that could unlock new worlds

NASA’s Roman Space Telescope heads to orbit this August aboard SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy with massive scientific ambitions.

Published

on

By

SpaceX is set to play a central role in one of NASA’s most anticipated science missions in years. The company’s Falcon Heavy rocket, currently the most powerful operational launch vehicle in the world, will carry the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope into orbit on August 30 from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Roman is now in final preparations inside the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility, where on June 26 technicians used a crane to lift the observatory into a specialized stand for fueling and pre-launch testing.

Roman is named after Nancy Grace Roman, NASA’s first chief of astronomy, whose career helped shape how the agency approaches space science.

NASA chose SpaceX Falcon Heavy because of Roman’s needs to reach a specific orbit far from Earth, well beyond where a standard Falcon 9 can deliver it. The Falcon Heavy, which first flew in 2018, has since become NASA’s go-to option for missions that need serious muscle without the cost and complexity of older launch systems.

Celebrating SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy Tesla Roadster launch, seven years later (Op-Ed)

Advertisement

Roman will carry a field of view at least 100 times wider than the Hubble Space Telescope, meaning it can photograph enormous swaths of the universe in a single shot rather than the narrow slices Hubble captures. That difference in scale is significant. While Hubble reshaped our understanding of the cosmos over 30 years, Roman is built to work faster and wider, surveying hundreds of millions of galaxies at once.

One of Roman’s most compelling capabilities is its potential to discover and photograph planets orbiting stars outside our solar system, and with enough precision to directly image planets that would otherwise be lost. That means scientists could study the atmosphere and surface characteristics of distant worlds rather than simply confirming they exist. Combined with Roman’s sweeping field of view, the telescope could detect thousands of exoplanets, and some of those planets may be in habitable zones where liquid water could exist. No telescope currently in operation has this level of power and capability. That capability alone could change what we know about other worlds, and perhaps finally answer the question: are we the only intelligent lifeforms in existence? 

What Roman actually finds once it reaches orbit is an open question, and that is exactly what makes this launch worth watching.

Advertisement
Continue Reading