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Tesla Model 3 Performance with Dual Motor badge and carbon spoiler spotted in the wild

Tesla Model 3 Performance with rear carbon fiber spoiler and Dual Motor badge. [Credit: TheHalfChubPrince/Reddit]

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If recent sightings are any indication, the Model 3 Performance will soon be in several key Tesla locations to be used as test drive vehicles. Last weekend, sightings of the Model 3 Performance were reported by the Tesla community in social media, with the electric car being spotted in facilities like the Buena Park, CA center. As could be seen in the sightings from last week, the Model 3 Performance units were still fresh off the factory, and some of their accents, such as their dual motor badge and their carbon fiber rear spoiler, have not been installed yet.

Thanks to a Tesla enthusiast, the first pictures of the Model 3 Performance with its rear accents have been uploaded online. In a post on the r/TeslaMotors subreddit, u/TheHalfChubPrince, who shared the MPGe ratings of the Model 3 last weekend, uploaded pictures of the vehicle with its rear accents fully installed. From what could be seen in the recent photos, the Model 3 Performance’s carbon fiber rear spoiler is stunning, but its dual motor badge is quite prominent.

The design of the Tesla Model 3 Performance was teased last month when the electric car company rolled out an adjustment in the vehicle’s price, varying its cost structure from the original $78,000 with all options except Autopilot to $64,000 before any options. In the configuration pages for the vehicle, it was revealed that the Model 3 Performance would have an underlined dual motor badge at the lower left side of the car’s rear. So far, the Tesla community has been quite polarized with the badge’s design, with some reservation holders stating that they would request Tesla not to place the badge on their Model 3 Performance. Based on the recently uploaded images, however, the dual motor badge actually blends quite well with the Model 3’s aesthetic.

Tesla is currently upselling the Model 3 Performance, with CEO Elon Musk encouraging reservation holders on Twitter to test drive the vehicle. According to Musk, the Model 3 Performance is “like having pure fun jacked straight into your brain whenever you want.”

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Considering that Tesla is aiming for profitability this Q3 2018, the company’s push to upsell the Model 3 Performance to reservation holders is strategic. Priced at $64,000 before options and as high as $80,000 with all upgrades including Autopilot and Full Self Driving, sales of the Model 3 Performance is set to give Tesla a boost in profit this quarter. After all, according to an analysis from Detroit veteran Sandy Munro, the Model 3 is profitable for Tesla, with the Long Range RWD variant set to give the company profits of 36%, and the $35,000 base variant set to give an 18% profit. The Model 3 Performance’s margins are likely even higher.

The Model 3 Performance is capable of sprinting from 0-60 mph in 3.5 seconds. The electric car, which Elon Musk states would be 15% faster on the track than a BMW M3, has a top speed of 155 mph. The Model 3 Performance can also travel 310 miles on a full charge.

Simon is an experienced automotive reporter with a passion for electric cars and clean energy. Fascinated by the world envisioned by Elon Musk, he hopes to make it to Mars (at least as a tourist) someday. For stories or tips--or even to just say a simple hello--send a message to his email, simon@teslarati.com or his handle on X, @ResidentSponge.

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Elon Musk

How to use Grok Bot to block spam calls and texts

Musk told users to ask Grok Bot to scrub their phone numbers from spam lists.

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Elon Musk has a new use case for Grok Bot, and it is the spam call. On Thursday he replied to an X user named Arash with a short instruction: “Ask your @Grok @Bot to remove your phone number from spam call & text lists!” Arash had said he got tired of the calls, had an AI bot find his number on listing sites and file removal requests, and packaged the process as a free skill for others.

The skill is called Spam-Call Scrubber, which is described to find a phone number on people search sites and data brokers, submits the opt outs, completes the confirmation emails those sites send back, and rechecks on a schedule the user picks. Using it requires the Grok Bot app. The pitch is time saved, since most broker opt outs sit behind separate forms on separate sites.



Musk said Grok Bot now gives each bot its own email address, and that it can detect scam emails. On Thursday he also said SpaceX would make users whole if the bot botches a purchase or leaks a card, then told users to shop away from Amazon after the retailer blocked the agent, as Teslarati reported. The terms of service we reviewed at the time put responsibility for what an agent does on the user.

For Tesla owners, Grok Bot is not just a phone app. Tesla brought Grok Bot into its vehicles on September 22, and we argued earlier this week that the Cybercab’s real advantage may be the errands it runs during a ride. Every Cybercab and the rest of the Model Y Robotaxi fleet has it enabled. The more routine tasks like this one become, the more a rider has reason to hand over something personal in the back seat.

The new Spam-Call Scrubber skill can be downloaded for free and works on sites that honor removal requests, while noting that listings can reappear, and illegal robocallers do not check any registry. Whether Spam-Call Scrubber cuts anyone’s call volume is something the first wave of users will find out, and Musk’s endorsement guarantees that wave is coming.

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Tesla Cybercab and Robotaxi’s real advantage won’t be the ride service

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Concept art of a Tesla Cybercab in Las Vegas Strip as rendered via Grok

For a century, the car has asked the same thing of its owner, which is basically to pay attention. Even the best ride-hailing app like Uber or Lyft only moved the problem into someone else’s hands. You stopped driving, but you still sat in a stranger’s car, while half listening, and wondering whether to take a phone call in the car without being rude. The Cybercab has no wheel, no pedals and no driver. With Grok @bot now live inside it, it becomes something else entirely, and I think that matters more than the fleet count that everyone is tracking.

Grok @bot is an agent, not a voice assistant. A rider signs in once, and from then on can say what they need and watch it happen. Order dinner from a favorite restaurant. Fill the grocery cart. Move money, answer email, adjust a calendar, push a work project forward. Tesla engineer Yun-Ta Tsai confirmed it is enabled across every Cybercab and the rest of the Model Y fleet, and Tesla’s own pitch is that Full Self-Driving handles the commute while Grok handles the errands.

Think about what that does to a thirty minute ride. Uber sells you a trip, while Waymo sells you the same trip in a more private setting. Tesla is selling the thirty minutes themselves, returned to you with an assistant attached. Errands that used to eat a Saturday get done between pickup and drop off. The ride stops being dead time between two places and becomes a place of its own.

Tesla integrates Grok Bot into its vehicles for the ultimate personal assistant

Best of all, your Bots follow you into any Cybercab, and presumably your own Tesla, then logs you out automatically when you step out. Anyone can bolt a chatbot onto a screen, but much harder to own the vehicle, the autonomy stack and the assistant at once. It also quietly ties SpaceX’s Super Intelligence business to Tesla’s fleet, after Tesla converted its xAI stake into SpaceX equity. The relationship between those two companies is getting harder to describe as separate.

This is also where the hard questions start, because an agent that can spend your money in a vehicle other people also ride in needs some answers. How does it handle a voice it shouldn’t trust? What gets recorded, who can see it, and for how long? What happens when a rider leaves halfway through a task?

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If Tesla gets those answers right, the scoreboard changes. We have been counting Cybercabs and wait times. The more telling number may be what riders accomplish per trip. That is data almost no one else will ever have, and it is the real reason to watch Grok @bot.

What do you think? Leave me a comment.

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Tesla’s mirrorless Cybercab will give riders a visibility upgrade

Tesla engineer confirms Cybercab update letting riders pull up rear and repeater cameras on demand.

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Tesla Cybercab camera visibility for passengers (Credit: Dan Burkland via X)
Tesla Cybercab camera visibility for passengers (Credit: Dan Burkland via X)

Tesla is working on a Cybercab update that would let passengers pull up the vehicle’s rear and side cameras on demand, and the request came straight from a rider.

The exchange played out on X late Friday. Cybercab rider Dan Burkland shared photos of the two-seater’s cabin screen after an evening ride, praised the UI team’s work, and left one request: let riders open the rear and repeater cameras whenever they want, “especially for peace of mind.” Tesla UI software engineer Evan (@CarCoder) answered with two words: “In development.”

The idea fits a pattern Teslarati has tracked since public rides began. Days after paid Cybercab service opened in Austin, Tesla sent riders a survey that asked them to rate the touchscreen, the app and the cabin, and to pick the features they wanted most. We reported on that survey in September, and a camera view is the kind of small software change Tesla can push quickly if riders keep asking.

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It also speaks to something unique about the vehicle. With no steering wheel, no pedals and no driver, passengers have no mirror to check and no way to see behind them. The hardware is clearly built for camera awareness, from the repeater cameras to the rear camera. Letting a passenger look through those same cameras would give a nervous first time rider a way to confirm what is around the car.

The timing matters because the fleet is growing fast. Tesla’s Robotaxi account said on Saturday that more than 300 Cybercabs are now serving Austin, an eightfold increase in 30 days, and Tesla AI chief Ashok Elluswamy named Dallas as the next city. More cars and more cities mean more people riding in a driverless vehicle for the first time, which is exactly when small trust features carry weight.

For now, the feature is confirmed only as in development. If Tesla follows its usual pattern with Cybercab software, riders could see it appear in a point release without any announcement, and Teslarati will watch for it.

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