A car’s reliability could easily determine whether a customer’s ownership experience is excellent or poor. Even simple cars could be great to own if they are reliable, and even high-performance vehicles could be a headache if they experience intermittent problems during their ownership period. This is why reliability is arguably one of the most important things that car buyers look for when purchasing an automobile.
Motoring publication What Car? Recently conducted its annual What Car? Reliability Survey, which reveals the best and worst vehicles in the UK market today when it comes to reliability. This year’s study included nearly 13,000 car owners who were asked about how dependable their vehicles have been over the previous 12 months. For this year, What Car? also decided to ask owners how much they had to pay to get their vehicles’ problems fixed, and how long the repair process took.
“In most cases, these two factors are more important than what actually went wrong with the car, because they determine how long you could be without your car and how much of a dent a fault could put in your wallet. So we used a combination of the answers to these questions to create a unique Reliability Rating – expressed as a percentage – for each model,” the publication noted.
In what could be dubbed as a pleasant surprise, the Tesla Model 3 was deemed as the most reliable executive car today in Britain, electric or otherwise. Only 5% of the Tesla Model 3 owners who participated in the survey reported having issues with their vehicle, and even then, the problems were only connected to the car’s interior trim. Despite these faults, the Model 3 owners noted that the cars could still be driven without any problems. Even better, the issues, once reported, were fixed in a day or less and at zero cost.
Highlighting this point, a Tesla Model 3 owner told the publication that “Everything about this car is superb, and I’ve had none of the build quality issues of the earlier models.” Thanks to customers’ positive response to the Model 3, the vehicle earned a stellar 99.4% Reliability Rating from What Car?’s survey, placing the vehicle ahead of all electric cars and executive vehicles, regardless of the type of propulsion.
Interestingly enough, the Model 3’s rival from Mercedes-Benz, the C-Class, was deemed by owners as the least reliable executive car. According to the motoring publication, roughly a third of C-Classes had issues, and the faults covered several aspects of the vehicle such as its electronics, exhaust, fuel system, battery, bodywork, infotainment, breaks, steering, and interior trim, to name a few. These complaints resulted in the C-Class receiving a rather low Reliability Rating of just 87.3%, far beneath the Tesla Model 3’s stellar scores.
“A third of C-Classes went wrong, according to owners, who reported a wide range of issues. Faults rendered more than a third of cars undriveable, and one in four was off the road for more than a week. Although 81% of cars were fixed for free, a small percentage of owners paid out more than £1500 in repair bills,” the publication wrote.
The full results of What Car?’s 2020 Reliability Survey could be accessed here.
Investor's Corner
Tesla investor Calpers opposes Elon Musk’s 2025 performance award
Musk’s 2025 pay plan will be decided at Tesla’s 2025 Annual Shareholder Meeting, which will be held on November 6 in Giga Texas.
One of the United States’ largest pension funds, the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (Calpers), has stated that it will be voting against Elon Musk’s 2025 Tesla CEO performance award.
Musk’s 2025 pay plan will be decided at Tesla’s 2025 Annual Shareholder Meeting, which will be held on November 6 in Giga Texas. Company executives have stated that the upcoming vote will decide Tesla’s fate in the years to come.
Why Calpers opposes Musk’s 2025 performance award
In a statement shared with Bloomberg News, a Calpers spokesperson criticized the scale of Musk’s proposed deal. Calpers currently holds about 5 million Tesla shares, giving its stance meaningful influence among institutional investors.
“The CEO pay package proposed by Tesla is larger than pay packages for CEOs in comparable companies by many orders of magnitude. It would also further concentrate power in a single shareholder,” the spokesperson stated.
This is not the first time Calpers has opposed a major Musk pay deal. The fund previously voted against a $56 billion package proposed for Musk and criticized the CEO’s 2018 performance-based plan, which was perceived as unrealistic due to its ambitious nature at the time. Musk’s 2018 pay plan was later struck down by a Delaware court, though Tesla is currently appealing the decision.
Musk’s 2025 CEO Performance Award
While Elon Musk’s 2025 performance award will result in him becoming a trillionaire, he would not be able to receive any compensation from Tesla unless aggressive operational and financial targets are met. For Musk to receive his full compensation, for example, he would have to grow Tesla’s market cap from today’s $1.1 trillion to $8.5 trillion, effectively making it the world’s most valuable company by a mile.
Musk has also maintained that his 2025 performance award is not about compensation. It’s about his controlling stake at Tesla. “If I can just get kicked out in the future by activist shareholder advisory firms who don’t even own Tesla shares themselves, I’m not comfortable with that future,” Musk wrote in a post on X.
News
Tesla Cybercab is heading to China’s import expo
The event will take place from November 5–10 at Shanghai’s National Exhibition and Convention Center.
Tesla will make its return to the China International Import Expo (CIIE) this November, marking its first appearance at the event since 2022. The U.S. electric vehicle maker confirmed it will showcase its highly anticipated Cybercab, which will make its Asia-Pacific debut during the event.
The expo will take place from November 5–10 at Shanghai’s National Exhibition and Convention Center.
Tesla Cybercab in China
Tesla announced its participation in the event on its official Weibo account. As per the electric vehicle maker, it would be occupying Booth A3-03 in Hall 2.1 at the National Exhibition and Convention Center. As noted in a CNEV Post report, the Cybercab, the company’s dedicated autonomous two-seater Robotaxi, will be making its Asia-Pacific debut at the CIIE as well.
The company shared a graphic on Chinese social media which showed an image featuring several Tesla products, such as the Cybercab, Optimus, and Megapack batteries. The graphic also featured a building that read “Master Plan Part IV.”
Tesla’s momentum in China
Tesla’s return comes after skipping the event last year. Interestingly enough, Tesla attended the event from 2018 all the way to 2023. Tesla’s return to the CIIE then aligns with the company’s efforts to attract consumer interest in the world’s most competitive electric vehicle market.
The Cybercab’s presence in the event could suggest that Tesla might be interested in bringing its Robotaxi to the country. This is quite interesting as China is already home to several autonomous ride-hailing services, though Tesla’s pure vision approach, which focuses on artificial intelligence and cameras, is quite unique. So far, Tesla has only rolled out its autonomous ride-hailing services in Austin, Texas, and the Bay Area, California.
News
Tesla Semi factory looks nearly complete
Based on recent images taken of the facility, it appears that the Semi’s initial production might be right on schedule.
The Tesla Semi factory looks like it is nearing completion. Based on recent images taken of the facility, it appears that the Semi’s initial production might be right on schedule.
This was, at least, as per recent observations from a veteran Tesla watcher who has long been chronicling the progress of the facility.
Tesla Semi factory today
As per longtime Tesla Semi advocate @HinrichsZane, the Class 8 all-electric truck’s factory in Nevada looks almost completed. The facility’s exterior looks finished, which suggests that much of the work being done today is likely focused on the factory’s interior and equipment.
This was highlighted in recent photos taken by the drone operator, which show that the facility’s parking lots are now filled with vehicles. A photo taken before dawn also highlighted just how refined the factory has become over the past months. Needless to say, it appears that the factory is all but ready to start the initial production of the Tesla Semi.
Deliveries and targets
Tesla has stated that the Semi factory will start producing the Class 8 all-electric truck by 2026. This was stressed by Elon Musk in a previous comment on X, when he stated that “Tesla Semi will be in volume production next year.” Once ramped, the facility will be capable of producing about 50,000 Tesla Semi units annually. This should help the Semi disrupt and potentially saturate the United States’ transport sector.
Progress in the Tesla Semi factory has been notable in the past months. Just a few months ago, drone footage of the site revealed that Tesla was shipping extremely large production equipment into the facility. These included what appeared to be a gigantic stamping machine that was so large and heavy that it was shipped to the Semi factory using two diesel trucks and a triple trailer.
Tesla investor Calpers opposes Elon Musk’s 2025 performance award
Tesla Cybercab is heading to China’s import expo
Tesla Semi factory looks nearly complete
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