Investor's Corner
Tesla Model 3 headlights gain the IIHS’ elusive ‘Good’ rating after design update
Earlier this year, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), a nonprofit organization dedicated to reducing the number of accidents and injuries on the road, awarded the Tesla Model 3’s headlights with an “Acceptable” rating. While the IIHS’ tests gave a “Superior” rating for the vehicle’s front crash avoidance features then, the safety organization only listed the vehicle’s headlights as “Acceptable,” due to glaring issues from the Model 3’s low beams.
In a recent Twitter announcement, though, the IIHS noted that the Tesla Model 3 now earns a “Good” rating for its standard LED reflector headlights. The IIHS stated that the vehicle’s improved, updated score reflects the headlights of Model 3 that were produced after June 2018, a time when Tesla was starting to hit its stride with the production of the electric sedan.
The IIHS’ updated results could be seen in the Model 3’s page on the nonprofit’s website. So far, though, the IIHS has not released the Model 3’s official full safety ratings, which include metrics such as “Roof Strength” and “LATCH ease of use.”
That said, the Model 3’s “Good” rating for its headlights says a lot about Tesla’s focus on designing an incredibly safe electric car. The IIHS, after all, utilizes one of the strictest metrics for testing headlights. The headlights of the Tesla Model S, for one, were given a “Poor” rating by the IIHS. The Chevy Bolt EV’s headlights, which are incredibly bright, were also rated as “Poor.”
The IIHS evaluates headlights based on the lamps’ reach as the vehicle travels on straight and curved lines. Low beams are measured on five approaches — straightaways, left and right curves on an 800-foot radius, and sharp left and right curves on a 500-foot radius. The IIHS weighs low beams more heavily than high beams since they are used more often when driving. During the Model 3’s initial tests earlier this year, the vehicle’s low beams exhibited a 15.2% glare during straightways, preventing the Model 3 from earning the IIHS’ “Good” rating. As noted by the IIHS, this particular issue was addressed in Model 3 produced after Q2 2018.
The updated score of the Model 3’s headlights highlights Tesla’s unique tendency to update its vehicles as soon as improvements are available. This was pointed out by Elon Musk on Twitter, when he stated that when it comes to Tesla’s electric cars, there is “no such thing as a full refresh” since all vehicles are “partially upgraded every month as soon as a new subsystem is ready for production.” This practice was also mentioned by Tesla President of Automotive Jerome Guillen in an interview with CNBC, when he noted that the company’s technology is always in a process of evolution.
The 2018 Tesla Model 3 now earns a good rating for its standard LED reflector headlights for models built after June 2018. Previous models earn an acceptable rating. https://t.co/EUWXFLBnkm pic.twitter.com/TOctSTGaAl
— IIHS (@IIHS_autosafety) December 26, 2018
In a statement to CNET, IIHS senior vice president for communications Russ Rader explained the organization’s focus on headlights as a metric for vehicle safety. Rader also noted that headlights must be seen not just as a decorative component of a vehicle. Instead, they should be perceived as safety equipment.
“When one vehicle’s low beams only illuminate the right side of a straightaway for 148 feet, and another vehicle’s low beams allow a driver to see more than twice as far, there’s a problem. IIHS has incorporated headlight performance into our Top Safety Pick awards. We’re already seeing manufacturers make improvements, especially tightening up aim at the factory. Headlights shouldn’t just be about what looks cool. They’re important safety equipment. When they perform well, they can help drivers spot trouble sooner and avoid a crash.”
Apart from the IIHS, the Model 3 is also gaining accolades from other safety organizations. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), for one, has given the Model 3 a flawless 5-Star Safety Rating. The organization tested the Model 3 on frontal crash, side crash, and rollover safety; and in all categories and subcategories, the electric car displayed a level of industry-leading driver and passenger safety. As highlighted by Tesla in a following blog post, the scores of the Model 3 from the NHTSA’s tests place the electric car as the vehicle with the “lowest probability of injury” among all cars tested by the NHTSA to date.
Tesla short sellers won big following the company’s massive fall on Wall Street after it reported subpar Earnings on Wednesday.
Tesla short sellers collected about $4.12 billion in single-day profits on Thursday, according to Bloomberg. Shares fell as much as 15 percent during Thursday’s session. It closed as one of the worst days for Tesla on Wall Street in the past three years.
Investors sold off the stock after Tesla said it would aggressively direct its spending toward AI and its Optimus robot project. The company had record revenues, which were driven by one of the strongest quarters in terms of vehicle deliveries in company history.
However, it missed EPS estimates by reporting just $0.33, a far cry from the $0.53 analysts expected.
S3 Partners reported that about 3 percent of Tesla’s outstanding stock is sold short. Managing Director at S3, Ihor Dusaniwsky, provided the short seller’s potential profit, as well as another figure: shorts have likely had paper gains of $8.92 billion this year, as Tesla shares are down 30 percent in 2026.
Tesla (TSLA) Q2 2026 earnings results: miss on EPS, beat on revenue
Tesla has burned short sellers many times in the past, but the company’s latest Earnings Call was a chance for those skeptics to taste some payback. Although the company gave some very transparent information regarding future projects, the rollout of Robotaxi, Optimus, and Semi, many investors took their profits on Thursday.
Notable short sellers like Michael Burry have been transparent about their skepticism around Tesla shares. Burry just revealed three weeks ago that he had opened up a new short on the stock, stating he shorted Tesla shares at $416.22. “Happy it jumped back to this level,” he said in a blog post.
At the time of publication, Tesla shares were down about 3 percent and the stock was trading at $309.92.
Tesla stock (NASDAQ: TSLA) endured one of its sharpest single-day declines in years on July 23, tumbling approximately 14.5 percent and closing near $320 after opening the session around $374. The drop erased more than $140 billion in market value amid heavy trading volume and left the shares at multi-week lows.
The sell-off followed the company’s second-quarter 2026 results, released the previous evening. Tesla reported record revenue of $28.2 billion, up 26 percent year over year, driven by a Q2-record 480,126 vehicle deliveries. Energy storage deployments also rose strongly.
Tesla (TSLA) Q2 2026 earnings results: miss on EPS, beat on revenue
Yet profitability disappointed sharply. Operating income fell 57 percent to $398 million, compressing the operating margin to just 1.4 percent. Non-GAAP earnings per share came in at $0.33, well below the roughly $0.53 analysts had expected. Free cash flow turned negative by $1.1 billion as capital expenditures surged 142 percent to $5.8 billion, largely tied to accelerated spending on artificial intelligence, robotics, and autonomous systems.
The losses on capex were expected, as Tesla said it would be spending heavily in 2026.
Investors also reacted to lingering uncertainty surrounding key product timelines. During the Earnings Call, management reiterated ambitions for Robotaxi deployment and the Optimus humanoid robot, but offered limited new concrete milestones, renewing questions about execution pace that have long accompanied Tesla’s ambitious roadmap.
The magnitude of the decline places it among Tesla’s more severe one-day percentage losses since its 2010 initial public offering. Historically, the two largest single-day drops (split-adjusted) remain September 8, 2020, when shares fell 21.1 percent amid broader market volatility and valuation concerns, and January 13, 2012, with a 19.3 percent plunge during the company’s early growth struggles.
Other notable declines include an 18.6 percent drop on March 16, 2020, at the onset of pandemic-related market turmoil. Thursday’s move ranks roughly ninth on the all-time list but stands out as the steepest in more than a year.
Despite the short-term pain, Tesla’s long-term trajectory has repeatedly recovered from such volatility. The latest results underscore both the strength of its core automotive and energy businesses and the near-term costs of heavy investment in next-generation technologies.
In a striking revelation that underscores the lucrative crossover between Big Tech and space exploration, Alphabet Inc., Google’s parent company, disclosed a massive $94.1 billion equity stake in SpaceX following the rocket company’s blockbuster initial public offering earlier this year.
The disclosure came in Alphabet’s quarterly filing, marking the first time the long-held private investment has been publicly valued at market prices. Google was an early backer, investing alongside Fidelity in 2015 with roughly $500-900 million at a time when SpaceX was valued around $12 billion.
That bet has delivered extraordinary returns, roughly a hundredfold, transforming a strategic play on satellite internet and launch capabilities into one of Alphabet’s largest assets.
Google, $GOOGL, has said they hold $94 billion in SpaceX, $SPCX, shares after IPO.
— unusual_whales (@unusual_whales) July 23, 2026
Of the total holding, approximately $80 billion remains subject to short-term post-IPO lockup restrictions, preventing near-term sales. An additional $14.1 billion faces longer-term restrictions, extending into the third quarter of 2027. This structure limits immediate liquidity but protects against market volatility as SpaceX transitions into public trading.
The SpaceX position contributed significantly to gains in Alphabet’s broader investment portfolio, which also includes a major stake in AI leader Anthropic. Combined, these holdings helped drive nearly $100 billion in investment gains during the second quarter, providing a substantial boost to net income amid ongoing AI spending pressures.
Analysts view the disclosure as validation of Alphabet’s venture strategy beyond its core search and cloud businesses. The investment aligns with deeper ties, including reported multi-billion-dollar deals for AI computing capacity on SpaceX infrastructure. As SpaceX advances Starship flights, Starlink expansion, and ambitious Mars goals under Elon Musk, Google’s stake positions it to benefit from the commercialization of space.
For Alphabet, the windfall highlights how patient, forward-looking bets in transformative sectors can yield outsized rewards. While lockups temper short-term impact, the holding cements SpaceX as a cornerstone of Alphabet’s diversified portfolio in an era where aerospace, AI, and connectivity increasingly intersect. Investors will watch closely as restrictions lift and SpaceX’s public performance unfolds.
Tesla short sellers win big after shares fall after earnings
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