Tesla Model 3
Tesla secures official regulatory approval to sell Model 3 in Europe
In a recent letter to Tesla employees, Elon Musk noted that the first quarter of 2019 would see Model 3 deliveries starting in international markets. Musk said that Tesla is adopting a similar strategy in Q1 2019 as it did in Q3 2018, with the company pushing the Model 3’s higher-cost versions in Europe and China. If successful, and with some degree of luck, Musk stated that Tesla could “target a tiny profit” this first quarter.
Recent updates from European regulators suggest that Tesla’s Model 3 ramp in the region would face no issues from regulators. In an update on its official website, Dutch vehicle authority RDW cleared the electric car maker to start delivering the Model 3 across Europe. On Friday, Los Angeles Times reporter Russ Mitchell also posted a tweet attributed to a Tesla spokesperson, who stated that the company had received European approval for the electric sedan.
https://twitter.com/russ1mitchell/status/1086377186041331713
With the Model 3 gaining homologation approval, there is very little that can get in the way of Tesla saturating Europe with the electic sedan. While the Model S and Model X both gained homologation without any problems, after all, any issues with the Model 3’s approval could have compromised Tesla’s plans for the vehicle’s European push, which reportedly involves shipping 3,000 units of the electric sedan to the region per week starting in February.
This is precisely what happened to legacy automaker Audi and its e-tron all-electric SUV, which reportedly failed homologation due to issues with the vehicle’s software. While the e-tron garnered a notable amount of interest from potential buyers in the region, Audi ultimately stated that its first all-electric SUV would not be released by the end of 2018 as initially planned. Fortunately for the veteran automaker, Audi has since informed auto publication Electrive that the e-tron actually made it through homologation mid-December.
With the Model 3 successfully passing homologation, Tesla would be able to avoid the delays and difficulties faced by Audi and its first all-electric SUV. Tesla could now focus on the most important matter at hand — delivering the Model 3 to reservation holders and potential buyers in the region.
Day 2- no sign of it slowing down. I estimate 8 trucks an hour arrive, times 9 cars per = 72 cars hr. The whole lot looks less full than yesterday. Probably running 24 hrs. Mostly 3's, more X than S. Some wrapped in film, some not. pic.twitter.com/9HKhJVzwGP
— Whit Fletcher (@whitfletcher) January 18, 2019
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Deliveries for the electric sedan are yet to start, but Tesla is already moving full throttle in its European push for the Model 3. In a previous report, Belgian news agency Focus-WTV has noted that the electric sedans will be arriving every week at the port of Zeebrugge, located on the coast of Belgium. To bring the Model 3 to Europe, Tesla is reportedly partnering with transportation firm International Car Operators (ICO), which uses RoRo (roll-on, roll-off) ships capable of loading and unloading cargo quickly.
Tesla is also ramping its Supercharger Network in the region to support the upcoming influx of Model 3 sedans. For now, Tesla is in the process of installing “Model 3 Priority” Superchargers that are equipped with dual charge cables, which feature a Type 2 and CCS plug. To further augment its charging infrastrcuture in Europe, Tesla also plans to retrofit its existing Supercharger stations with CCS plugs to accommodate the Model 3.
Tesla has noted that Europe presents a lucrative opportunity for the Model 3 since the midsize sedan segment in the region is roughly twice as large as that of the United States. If the Model 3 can see as much success in Europe as it did in America, then a good part of Tesla’s international push for the electric sedan could very well be a resounding success.
Cybertruck
Tesla Mobile App gets a new feature that wrap fans are going to love
Tesla’s Summer Update removes the USB drive step from customizing your car’s digital wrap design.
Tesla’s latest 2026 Summer Update quietly closes out one of the more tedious steps in personalizing a Tesla’s digital appearance. Uploading a custom wrap design used to require a USB drive. Now it doesn’t.
The feature is listed in Tesla’s release notes as “Send Custom Wraps from Mobile App.” The company described it plainly: “Skip the USB drive and upload a custom wrap of your car from the mobile app. Instructions for creating a custom wrap here: github.com/teslamotors/custom-wraps.”
The digital wrap tool has been around since Tesla’s 2024 Holiday Update, when it launched for Cybertruck owners first, as Teslarati reported at the time. Getting a design onto the car meant formatting a USB drive, creating a folder named exactly “Wraps,” dropping in PNG files sized between 512×512 and 1024×1024 pixels and under 1 MB each, then plugging the drive in and applying the wrap through Toybox. Tesla expanded the tool to other models and renamed it from “Colorizer” to “Paint Shop” with the 2025 Holiday Update, while also adding license plate and window tint customization alongside the wraps.
Custom wraps via mobile app https://t.co/5OydZ26g9p pic.twitter.com/uexU0ZePxu
— Tesla (@Tesla) July 22, 2026
The latest Summer Update removes the USB step from that process. Owners will be able to pull a design from wherever they saved it, whether that’s a download from social media or something built from Tesla’s own GitHub templates, and push it to the car directly through the app.
Tesla reveals 2026 Summer Update with crazy fixes to Nav and more
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It’s a small fix relative to the rest of this latest release, which also included expanded Grok voice commands, automatic navigation that learns regular routes, and self-driving stats inside the mobile app, all detailed in our rundown of the full Summer Update. The USB requirement was one of the more common complaints about Paint Shop since it launched. Tesla did not say when the wrap upload change would reach individual vehicles, only that the broader update is rolling out now in waves.
News
Tesla’s AI Chief just hinted at something big for FSD v14 lite owners
Tesla’s AI chief suggests the newest FSD v14 Lite build may finally go wide release.
Tesla’s head of AI, Ashok Elluswamy, noted on Sunday that the newest FSD v14 Lite build rolling out to Hardware 3 cars is likely the version that goes to wide release, the strongest signal yet that Tesla is near to closing out an early access phase that Hardware 3 owners have waited more than a year for.
Elluswamy made the comment in response to an extensive review from Tesla owner Zack, known on X as @BLKMDL3, who tested software version 2026.20.6.10 and detailed the changes in a lengthy post. “FSD v14 Lite (for Tesla AI3 hardware vehicles) review.
The update restarts a rollout that had stalled after its initial release. Tesla began pushing FSD v14 Lite to Hardware 3 early access drivers on June 29, bringing driving behavior learned on the newer Hardware 4 computer down to the more limited chip that has powered Tesla vehicles built between 2019 and early 2023. That release, as we covered in detail, gave roughly 4 million HW3 vehicles their first meaningful update since being frozen on version 12.6 in early 2025.
Tesla Full Self-Driving v14 ‘Lite’ Release Notes: new capabilities and features
The latest build adds features that bring Hardware 3 closer in line with what Hardware 4 owners already have. FSD can now start directly from park without a brake pedal confirmation, a change Zack called a small but meaningful quality of life improvement. The interface also picks up the blue “P” park icon, approaching destination alerts, and a dedicated Self-Driving app with streak tracking, all details previously exclusive to the AI4 branch of v14, as outlined in Tesla’s original release notes.
The stakes around Hardware 3 go beyond software polish. Tesla sold the Full Self-Driving package for years on the promise that every vehicle equipped with it had the hardware needed to eventually drive itself without supervision. That promise broke down during Tesla’s Q1 2026 earnings call, when Musk acknowledged HW3 cars could not run unsupervised FSD, prompting Tesla to offer trade-in discounts and hardware retrofits alongside the Lite software track.
Tesla confirmed HW3 can’t do Unsupervised FSD but there’s more to the story
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Tesla has continued to frame v14 Lite as the primary path forward for the HW3 fleet, telling owners in April that international markets would follow the U.S. rollout once regulatory approvals came through. For now, HW3 owners in the early access group are the only ones running the new build. A broader rollout would mark the second major software delivery to the legacy fleet since Tesla first released FSD v14 to Hardware 4 vehicles, and the first sign since June that the Lite program is still moving rather than stuck in early access limbo.
Tesla had a petition protesting a recall to fix a potential issue with 2017-2023 Model Y and Model 3 vehicles’ headlights was denied, as the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) disagreed with the company’s opinion of things.
The recall covers approximately 19,917 Model Y and Model 3 vehicles built from 2017 to 2023. Tesla initially submitted a noncompliance report for the headlights on these vehicles on March 15, 2024. Tesla then petitioned for an exemption from the fix, which violated FMVSS No. 108 (40 CFR 571.108), arguing that the “noncompliance is inconsequential as it relates to motor vehicle safety.
🚨 Tesla was denied a petition by the NHTSA to avoid a recall of 19,900 2017-2023 Model 3 and Model Y vehicles.
The NHTSA found that the vehicles’ headlights may exceed maximum lighting levels. Tesla argued it was inconsequential and did not require a recall. pic.twitter.com/m8Jmm1teLL
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) July 16, 2026
The NHTSA disagreed, stating that Tesla’s conclusion that the headlights do not increase any risk was not an opinion it shared. The agency said it disagreed with Tesla’s assumption that glare is not increased to surrounding traffic. This issue could be highlighted even more in certain weather conditions.
Tesla will be required to remedy the issue, the NHTSA ruled:
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“In consideration of the foregoing, NHTSA has decided that Tesla has not met its burden of persuasion that the subject FMVSS No. 108 noncompliance is inconsequential to motor vehicle safety. Accordingly, Tesla’s petition is hereby denied, and Tesla is consequently obligated to provide notification of and free remedy for that noncompliance under 49 U.S.C. 30118 and 30120.”
The issue here appears to be the angle of the headlights and the brightness they emit during operation. The NHTSA report states that:
“Tesla’s headlamp supplier, Marelli Automotive Lighting, tested 25 right-hand and 25 left-hand lamps, and for this sample, found the maximum photometric intensity measured in the 10°U to 90°U and 90°L to 90°R zone was between 136.2 cd and 230.1 cd for the right-hand lamps and between 117.5 cd and 160.3 cd for the left-hand lamps. According to Tesla, these tests revealed that the photometric intensity of the right-hand and left-hand headlamp lower beam on the subject vehicles may measure as much as 230.1 cd in the 10°U to 90°U and 90°L to 90°R zone, exceeding the maximum photometric intensity by 105.1 cd. Additionally, Tesla states that a left-hand lamp tested by a Transport Canada recognized laboratory measured a maximum of 171.27 cd in the 10°U to 90°U and 90°L to 90°R zone. Despite these measurements exceeding the allowed photometric maximum of 125 cd, Tesla believes that the subject noncompliance is inconsequential to motor vehicle safety.”
Tesla also argued at some points that the headlights had not been deemed responsible for any complaints, accidents, or injuries related to the noncompliance.
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