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Tesla Model 3 makes it as one of Motortrend’s Car of the Year Top 3 finalists
The Tesla Model 3 has been named as one of three finalists in Motortrend‘s 2020 Car of the Year award rankings, alongside the Chevrolet Corvette and the Kia Soul.
Motortrend released the lists of finalists on November 12 and will evaluate each vehicle by six different criteria to determine the winner: Safety, Efficiency, Value, Advancement in Design, Engineering Excellence, and Performance of Intended Function.
Motortrend notes the 2020 Tesla Model 3 as the best sport sedan on the market. “The 2020 Model 3’s interior design continues to be modern and minimalistic, but it’s elegant in its simplicity. The 2020 Model 3’s seats offer more bolstering, and rear passengers now enjoy a more ergonomic position, as the bench has been raised for improved comfort. In terms of driving, the Model 3 offers impressive dynamic performance as well as battery-pack range that continues to be the benchmark for electric vehicles,” the publication wrote.
In terms of the six criteria, the Model 3 will be extremely competitive with both the Chevy Corvette and Kia Soul. The Model 3 was given a five-star safety rating from the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) and was given the “Top Safety Pick+” award by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS). The conjunction of these two awards could allow Motortrend to recognize the Model 3 as the safest vehicle on the road today.
The Model 3 is one of the most efficient vehicles on the road today as well. The Long Range All-Wheel Drive variant offers drivers 322 miles of range on a single charge, while the Performance trim offers 310 miles. Not to mention, the Model 3’s environmental efficiency is top-ranked due to the car’s zero-emissions nature.
Advancement in Design is another one of the Model 3’s most impressive features. The car, along with the rest of Tesla’s released models is able to improve through the company’s frequent updates, like the most recent V10 software. Not only does Tesla improve upon the entertainment and accessibility features, but the updates can also affect performance features. The Model 3 is constantly improving with these updates, thanks to Elon Musk and his team at Tesla.
Recognized as having an “excellent design” by former General Motors car designer Robert Cumberford, the Model 3 is competitive to the Corvette and Soul in engineering excellence. Cumberford stated that the “function is embodied in a minimalist manner, providing elegant simplicity” compared to other vehicles, and compared its “deceptive” simpleness to Apple products.
The Performance trim of the Model 3 is one of the highest quality vehicles on the market with a 0-60 MPH time of 3.2 seconds. The Model 3 has outperformed vehicles like the Ferrari F12, the 2020 Toyota Supra, and a 2020 Ford Mustang GT on drag races, proving you do not need a loud, gas-powered motor to win 1/8 and 1/4-mile races. In fact, electric vehicles are more likely to outperform their petrol-based counterparts, as they utilize instant torque for quick acceleration.
The Model 3 has been given multiple awards since its initial deliveries in July 2017. Most recently, Tesla CEO Elon Musk was given the Golden Steering Wheel Award for the Model 3 in Berlin, Germany, the future home of Gigafactory 4. The list of the Model 3’s recognition as one of the best vehicles in the world is lengthy, and the vehicle makes a strong case that it could be the recipient of Motortrend‘s 2020 Car of the Year award.
Elon Musk
Elon Musk will give ‘every kid in America’ a SpaceX share in 2027
Elon Musk said he is planning to give “every one of his SpaceX shares to every kid in America” in 2027, stating that “this will be the first of many.”
SpaceX went public earlier this year, and its stock price has been relatively stable since leveling off shortly after its IPO. Based on its current price, it’s a gift of just over $10 billion to children across the United States.
It appears to be closely related to President Donald Trump’s bank accounts for children, which were set up earlier this year as Trump Accounts.
Just hours earlier, Anthropic had announced the establishment of its Anthropic Public Benefit Fund, “a new wholly-owned entity dedicated entirely to public benefit.” Musk responded by stating he recommended “giving the shares directly to the public,” and that he would be doing it that way.
Just a little bit later, Musk said children across the U.S. would be getting a share from him:
Next year, I will give one of my SpaceX shares to every kid in America.
This will be the first of many.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 19, 2026
There are roughly 70 million children, meaning someone under the age of 18, in the United States, according to the Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics. Musk’s ownership of SpaceX stock shows he has around 849 million Class A shares of SpaceX stock, according to filings with the SEC.
Elon Musk
Tesla CEO Elon Musk reminds everyone about Roadster’s true meaning
Tesla CEO Elon Musk took to his social media platform X on Sunday to remind everyone that the Roadster’s true meaning is not about company growth or adding dollars to shareholders’ pockets. Sometimes, you just do things because you can.
Following the Roadster’s epic unveiling event last Thursday, skeptics and critics of the company or the project itself came out to say that the vehicle is a pointless project because it is not geared toward growing the company, delivering supreme margins for profitability, nor does it contribute to the big picture of Artificial/Super Intelligence.
But that’s just the thing: Roadster is not meant to be some shareholder dream; it’s meant to be a vehicle that people buy just because it is something awesome, unique, and the first of its kind.
Tesla Roadster: Three configs, one can fly, 0-60 in 0.8 seconds
Musk had to remind those who are skeptical about the Roadster’s importance to the company mission that while it is not a major contributor to Tesla’s long-term goals, it is something that is being built just because it can be:
“Optimus and Cybercab will be the vast majority of Tesla’s value. The only things that will scale to incredible size (K2 and beyond) economically are super intelligence, robots, solar power, and mass to space. And, of course, if you have the first two, the rest will follow. But Roadster is super cool, so we’re doing it anyway.”
Musk has said on many occasions that Optimus would be the project that would make up the vast majority of Tesla’s value in the coming years.
Robotics will be a major focus of Tesla over the coming years, especially as Musk believes Optimus will enable work to be optional for humans and will enable what he calls “High Universal Income.”
Optimus and Cybercab will be the vast majority of Tesla’s value.
The only things that will scale to incredible size (K2 and beyond) economically are super intelligence, robots, solar power and mass to space.
And, of course, if you have the first two, the rest will follow.
But Roadster is super cool, so we’re doing it anyway.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 18, 2026
Cybercab will be a passive income opportunity for owners, Musk and Tesla have said for a very long time, as a fleet of self-driving vehicles will operate within a ride-hailing Robotaxi service that won’t require a human driver to be present.
Tesla investors are more than enthusiastic about the company’s future projects, at least from a general consensus perspective. However, it is important to note that the Roadster is a fun and cool project that pushes the boundaries of what people thought was possible for an automobile.
What we saw last week was the first true example of a flying car, and despite the backlash about how it might not contribute to Tesla’s grand ambitions, it’s okay to have fun sometimes, too.
Investor's Corner
SpaceX’s biggest earnings test yet lands Tuesday, and Tesla shareholders should be watching
SpaceX reports earnings Tuesday as Wall Street watches AI spending, Starlink growth and Tesla merger
SpaceX reports third quarter results after the market closes Tuesday, with a webcast at 4:30 p.m. ET streamed on X, and Tesla follows a day later. Bloomberg consensus, cited by Pepperstone, calls for revenue of $12.89 billion, adjusted EBITDA of $6.62 billion and adjusted EPS near $0.15. That would be about 65% growth from the second quarter and SpaceX’s first profitable quarter since its IPO. Analysts expect roughly $6.4 billion from AI and $4.9 billion from Starlink, which is projected to reach 14.3 million consumer subscribers. Capital spending is forecast at $19.6 billion, leaving free cash flow near negative $11.6 billion.
The numbers matter because SpaceX has spent months trying to win over a skeptical market. It priced its record IPO at $135, spiked to $225.64, then sank near $105 in early August. Friday’s close of $146.03 sits about 28% below the June high. The Q2 report beat on revenue at $7.8 billion and put Starlink at 12 million subscribers, but $18.4 billion of capex hurt the stock. Since then SpaceX reached orbit on Starship Flight 14 with 26 Starlink V3 satellites, agreed to buy 800 MHz spectrum for about $8 billion as part of its Starlink Mobile push, and signed a fourth compute hosting deal in four months worth roughly $13 billion a year from December. Management is targeting more than 2 gigawatts of compute by year end and a $100 billion annualized revenue run rate. Evercore ISI, which raised its target to $275, said the quarter may be judged more on those targets than the reported figures
All of this sits under the Tesla merger question. Barclays analyst Dan Levy expects an all stock deal in which SpaceX buys Tesla at a premium, using reference values of $2.1 trillion and $1.5 trillion, and said an announcement would need to come by late October or early November to be voted on at Tesla’s December 6 annual meeting. Barclays estimates Musk would hold about 37% of the combined company and 56% of the votes. Musk said in July that combining companies cannot be discussed on an earnings call, but an investor question asking when SpaceX will merge with Tesla is sitting on SpaceX’s Q&A platform, and Teslarati has tracked how the Roadster demo revived the talk.
If a deal happens, Tuesday’s result would effectively set the price Tesla holders would receive. Their shares would convert into SpaceX stock, along with exposure to a company with a heavy investment on AI, while Tesla itself expects 2026 capex above $25 billion. A strong quarter and calmer spending would make that exchange easier to sell. Another round of heavy capex and a falling stock would make it harder.