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 (NASDAQ: TSLA) reported strong delivery figures that beat Wall Street guesses, and they were revealed alongside the company’s second-best quarter in terms of energy deployments ever.
Tesla announced this morning that it delivered 486,532 cars in Q3, while producing 464,391, exceeding analyst consensus, which sat around 462,000 units.
Meanwhile, Tesla reported 13.7 GWh of energy storage deployed for the quarter. That’s the second-best quarter Tesla has ever reported on that side of things.
🚨 Tesla delivered 486,532 vehicles in Q3, beating expectations at 464,391.
Big Q from the Tesla team, also 13.7 GWh of energy was deployed. pic.twitter.com/olioLWgG7a
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) October 2, 2026
Vehicle Deliveries
Deliveries were strong, and it was another quarter when Tesla had the opportunity to outshine the Wall Street pundits who are quick to criticize and slow to give credit. Tesla saw a slight decrease in deliveries compared to Q3 2025, but Tesla still had the $7,500 EV Tax Credit to use to help incentivize consumers to pick an EV.
A small decrease of 2.1 percent is pretty telling because it shows Tesla does not need massive federal credits to convince consumers to purchase its vehicles.
It was also the company’s third-best performance all-time in terms of deliveries, trailing that of Q3 2025 with 497,099 deliveries and Q4 2024, when the company handed over 495,570 cars.
We reported several days ago that Tesla Showrooms across the United States were completely bare of inventory or unclaimed units. Many locations also removed Demo Drive units, which had been bought by customers looking to take delivery sooner.
Tesla showrooms picked clean ahead of Q3 end as demand looks strong
Energy Generation
Tesla’s Energy Generation performance in Q3 was also very strong, as the company deployed 13.7 GWh of energy storage over the past three months. The only quarter when Tesla reported stronger energy deployment figures was Q4 2025, when 14.2 GWh of energy storage was deployed.
Tesla’s Q3 performance in energy generation has continued to grow each quarter, with the company increasing its deployments by ten-fold since Q3 2021, when just 1.3 GWh was deployed.
It is also nearly double what it was in Q3 2024, when the company reported 6.9 GWh. This is one of Tesla’s quickest-growing divisions, and it flies under the radar with fans and analysts, as many are focused on self-driving or the vehicles themselves.
Tesla Stock
Shares rose 5.07 percent to $372.06 at just after 10 a.m. on the East Coast. This is a rarity for Tesla after a strong delivery report, as positive news usually brings the stock down. Many quarters with extremely robust delivery reports have not been as kind to the Teslanaires of the world.
Elon Musk
Elon Musk and Trump are closer than ever, and Tesla could be the big winner
Elon Musk sat beside Trump as AI leaders signed a voluntary White House safety accord.
Elon Musk had the seat right next to President Donald Trump on Tuesday as the White House hosted the leaders of America’s biggest artificial intelligence companies for a lunch that ended with a voluntary industry accord on AI safety.
A seating chart Trump posted on Truth Social placed Musk at the president’s left in the East Room, with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang on his right, according to an Associated Press reporter. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, OpenAI President Greg Brockman, Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, Google’s Sundar Pichai, Microsoft’s Satya Nadella and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos also attended, along with Vice President JD Vance and House Speaker Mike Johnson.
🚨 Elon Musk is currently speaking to the media alongside President Trump after a meeting with AI Leaders in Washington today
Trump says AI is now being called “Super Intelligence” or SI pic.twitter.com/woJJqUVP9B
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) September 29, 2026
After the lunch, Trump told reporters outside the West Wing that the executives had signed “The White House Accord on Superintelligence: A Joint Commitment on Frontier SI Responsibilities.” Johnson described it as a voluntary statement of principles built on “robust internal controls and layers of internal and external review,” while Zuckerberg said company boards would independently review reports from outside auditors. Trump called the document “morally binding,” said he would name a new AI czar within days, and signed an executive order formally renaming artificial intelligence “super intelligence,” CNBC reported.
Musk was not in the room for Tesla alone. Since SpaceX absorbed xAI, he runs the company behind Grok and one of the largest AI training operations anywhere. On September 25, he said another 220,000 Nvidia GB300 chips would come online at Colossus 2 within a week, with more expected in November and December.
“I think it is worth highlighting the positive benefits of A.I. … S.I., pardon me.”
“Thank you.”@elonmusk catches his own slip after calling the technology “A.I.” while speaking alongside President Trump and other tech leaders, quickly correcting himself to “super… pic.twitter.com/fH7CFileNb
— Fox News (@FoxNews) September 29, 2026
SpaceX confirms third massive compute deal at Colossus data center
Musk also used the trip to restate his energy ambitions. “SpaceX is aiming together with Tesla to do 200 gigawatts of solar production per year,” he said at an event in Washington. It is the same combined target he laid out that feeds directly into Terafab, the Tesla and SpaceX chip venture that will need enormous amounts of power.
The showing between Musk and Trump has come a long way, since the two had the very public split in mid 2025 after Musk opposed the “Big Beautiful Bill” and left DOGE. They reconciled at Charlie Kirk’s memorial that September, and Trump later called their relationship “good”. Since then, Musk has joined Trump’s China delegation in May and attended last week’s White House state dinner for Chinese President Xi Jinping.
For Tesla, that access to government official could pay dividends. As Teslarati noted in January, federal autonomy rules, NHTSA oversight and a single national standard for driverless vehicles all run through an administration Musk can more easily reach directly as Tesla works to scale Robotaxi and Cybercab beyond Texas.
Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) showrooms have been picked clean ahead of the end of the third quarter of the year, as demand looks to be strong and delivery estimates for new vehicles are pushed into late 2026 and early 2027.
Tesla appears to have sold out of many of its Model 3 and Model Y trim levels in the United States, as only the Model Y RWD and Model Y All-Wheel-Drive are available for delivery before the end of the year.
Additionally, many showrooms are either completely empty or void of all but just one demo unit within the buildings themselves in an effort to bolster what could be one of Tesla’s best quarters in vehicle deliveries in recent memory.
I’m at Tesla right now and when I walked into their showroom I was shocked to see it basically empty.
I asked one of the people working there where all of the cars are “Gone – it’s the end of the quarter and we’ve sold out of everything… including the display vehicles”So… pic.twitter.com/rN7s3gE6sJ
— Devin Olsen (@DevinOlsenn) September 25, 2026
All the cars are gone from Tesla Century City!
All they have is Model Y L, a self-driving video playing on the background. I guess the best product is no product. Either that or they just sold the showroom cars. pic.twitter.com/mzCjWaXwww
— Whole Mars Catalog (@wholemars) September 26, 2026
Show room is empty. I asked and they have sold the demo cars too. Delivery numbers better be outstanding! pic.twitter.com/jq5N28Q6tZ
— Electric Brawl (@3lectricBrawl) September 22, 2026
Additionally, when I spoke to the guys at Tesla Mechanicsburg two weeks ago, when I returned the Model Y L, their third hauler of the week had just arrived, and every vehicle on it, along with every vehicle in their delivery lot, was accounted for and had a name attached to it for delivery.
Talking to the guys at the Mechanicsburg showroom on Friday, they couldn’t believe they had ANOTHER hauler coming in of cars for delivery—and each was accounted for
No car just sitting in inventory. They’re expecting a BIG quarter, and this is more than just the Y L https://t.co/ce801GkKVv
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) September 21, 2026
Tesla saw a 25 percent increase in deliveries in Q2 compared to the same quarter the year before. The vast majority of the 480,126 units it delivered, 467,762 vehicles to be exact, were the Model 3 and Model Y.
In Q3 2025, Tesla delivered 497,099 vehicles, once again a figure that was dominated by the company’s two mass-market vehicles. Analysts have unusually wide predictions for this quarter, likely because so many firms missed the Q2 delivery figure by such a substantial margin; Wall Street predicted 408,000 cars, while Tesla delivered 480,000.
Goldman Sachs has Tesla slotted for 435,000 deliveries in Q3, while JPMorgan said it anticipates 482,000. The median guess is about 449,000 deliveries for Q3.
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