Lifestyle
Tesla Model 3 Performance spins out at 135 mph during top speed attempt
Very few things can rival the exhilaration that one feels when going on a top speed run. With a powerful vehicle like the Tesla Model 3 Performance, such exhilaration becomes even more pronounced, since the vehicle is propelled by the instant torque and raw power from its dual electric motors, which produce a combined 450 hp and 471 lb-ft of torque.
Top speed runs on the Model 3 have been conducted in the past. Last August, for example, Long Range RWD Model 3 owner Michael Striker opted to go flat on the Bonneville Salt Flats. During his top speed attempt, the electric car actually went past the vehicle’s rated 140 mph top speed, reaching 142 mph before Striker decided to pull back on the accelerator. Striker’s top speed run was pretty impressive overall, especially considering that his car was equipped with 18″ Aero Wheels, which are not tuned for performance.
Ben Ahlander, a Tesla Model 3 Performance owner, wanted to push his electric car to its limits. His Model 3, a Midnight Silver unit equipped with 20″ Sport Wheels, was charged before it was taken to the Salt Flats in UT for its run. Right before accelerating, the Model 3 owner even opted to play some highly appropriate music for the top speed attempt — Kenny Loggins’ “Danger Zone” from the Top Gun soundtrack.
Immediately noticeable from the Model 3 Performance’s run was how quickly the vehicle breached the 100 mph barrier. True to the vehicle’s reputation, the electric sedan blazed past 60 mph and well past 100 mph quickly. The vehicle just kept pulling after that, all the way to 154 mph, which is 1 mph short of the car’s listed top speed of 155 mph.
A following top speed attempt proved to be a lot more exciting and a lot more intense for the Model 3 owner. After hitting what appeared to be soft sand, the Model 3 Performance started spinning out — while it was speeding at around 135 mph. The electric car displayed several warnings when it came to a stop, including notifications for the regenerative braking and stability control system being disabled. Automatic Emergency Braking was also disabled after the 135 mph spin-out.
Ben later noted that when he looked further into the area where he conducted his Model 3 Performance’s top speed attempts, he noticed that there were warnings about softer sand due to wet conditions. It should be noted, though, that despite the high-speed spin out, the Model 3 did not show any indication that it was in danger of rolling over, thanks to the vehicle’s low center of gravity due to its floor-mounted battery pack. While spinning out at 135 mph is a pretty harrowing experience on its own right, Ben Ahlander notes that he would definitely do another top speed run in the Salt Flats as soon as his vehicle receives the Track Mode update.
Tesla’s Track Mode update is currently being rolled out to the company’s Model 3 Performance fleet. Tuned in collaboration by Tesla’s engineers and professional racecar driver Randy Pobst, Track Mode gives the Model 3 Performance the capability to handle corners in a manner rivaling that of track-bred sports cars. During Pobst’s tests, for example, the Model 3 Performance completed a lap around the “Streets” of Willow Springs International Raceway in CA in 1:21.49, faster than one of Motor Trend‘s Best Driver’s Car winners in the past — the Ferrari 458 Italia, which completed the course in 1:22.30.
Watch the Model 3 Performance spin out at 135 mph in the video below.
https://youtu.be/RZbLeRD8hQE
Tesla has taken home the “Overall Loyalty to Make” award from S&P Global Mobility for the fourth consecutive year, reinforcing Tesla owners’ willingness to come back. The 2025 awards are based on S&P Global Mobility’s analysis of 13.6 million new retail vehicle registrations in the U.S. from October 2024 through September 2025. The complete list of 2025 winners includes General Motors for Overall Loyalty to Manufacturer, Tesla for Overall Loyalty to Make, Chevrolet Equinox for Overall Loyalty to Model, Mini for Most Improved Make Loyalty, Subaru for Overall Loyalty to Dealer, and Tesla again for both Ethnic Market Loyalty to Make and Highest Conquest Percentage.
Tesla’s streak in this category started in 2022, and the brand has now won the Highest Conquest Percentage award for six straight years, meaning it keeps pulling buyers away from other brands at a rate no competitor has matched. Tesla’s retention among Asian households reached 63.6% and among Hispanic households 61.9%, rates that significantly outpace national averages for those groups. That breadth of appeal across demographics adds a layer of significance to a win that some might dismiss as routine.
The timing matters too. After several consecutive quarters of decline, Tesla’s share of U.S. EV sales jumped to 59% in Q4 2025. That rebound, arriving just as competitors were flooding the market with new models and incentives, suggests Tesla’s loyalty numbers are not simply the result of limited alternatives. Buyers are still choosing it when they have plenty of other options.
What keeps Tesla owners coming back has a lot to do with the and convenience of charging. The Supercharger network is the most straightforward example. With over 65,000 Superchargers globally, it remains the largest and most reliable fast-charging network in the world, and owners who have built their routines around it face a real practical cost when considering a switch. Competitors have made progress, but the consistency, speed, and availability of Tesla’s network is still the benchmark the rest of the industry is chasing. Then there is the software side. Tesla has built a model where the car you own today is functionally different from the car you bought two years ago, through over-the-air updates that add continuous game-changing improvements such as Full Self-Driving that has moved from a driver-assist feature to an increasingly capable autonomous system. For many Tesla owners, leaving the brand means starting over with a car that will not get meaningfully better over time, and that is a trade-off fewer and fewer are willing to make.
Cybertruck
Tesla Cybercab just rolled through Miami inside a glass box
Tesla paraded a Cybercab in a glass display at Miami’s F1 Grand Prix event this week.
Tesla set up an “Autonomy Pop-Up” at Lummus Park in Miami Beach from April 29 through May 3, 2026, embedded within the official F1 Miami Grand Prix Fan Fest. The centerpiece was a Cybertruck towing the Cybercab inside a glass display case marked “Future is Autonomous,” rolling through the beachfront crowd.
Miami is on Tesla’s confirmed list of cities for robotaxi expansion in the first half of 2026, making the promotion a strategic promotion that lays groundwork in a target market.
This was not Tesla’s first time using Miami as a showcase city. In December 2025, Tesla hosted “The Future of Autonomy Visualized” at its Miami Design District showroom, coinciding with Art Basel Miami Beach. That event featured the Cybercab prototype and Optimus robots interacting with attendees. The F1 pop-up this week marks Tesla’s return to Miami and follows a pattern Tesla has been running since early 2026. Just two weeks before Miami, Tesla stationed Optimus at the Tesla Boston Boylston Street showroom on April 19 and 20, directly on the final stretch of the Boston Marathon, letting tens of thousands of runners and spectators meet the robot for free, generating massive earned media at zero advertising cost.
Tesla is sending its humanoid Optimus robot to the Boston Marathon
Tesla has confirmed plans to expand its robotaxi service to seven cities in the first half of 2026, including Dallas, Houston, Phoenix, Miami, Orlando, Tampa, and Las Vegas, building on the unsupervised service already running in Austin. Musk has said he expects robotaxis to cover between a quarter and half of the United States by end of year. On the production side, Musk told shareholders that the Cybercab manufacturing process could eventually produce up to 5 million vehicles per year, targeting a cycle time of one unit every ten seconds. Scaling robotaxis to 10 million operational units over the next ten years is a key condition of his compensation package, alongside selling 20 million passenger vehicles.
As for the Cybercab’s price, Musk has said buyers will be able to purchase one for under $30,000, with an average operating cost around $0.20 per mile. Whether those numbers hold through full production remains to be seen.
Cybercab at F1 Fan Fest in Miami
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Lifestyle
California hits Tesla Cybercab and Robotaxi driverless cars with new law
California just gave police power to ticket driverless cars, including Tesla’s Cybercab fleet.
California DMV formally adopted new rules on April 29, 2026 that allow law enforcement to issue “notices of noncompliance”, or in other words ticket autonomous vehicle companies when their cars commit moving violations. The rules take effect July 1, 2026 and officially closes a regulatory gap that previously let driverless cars operate on public roads with nearly no traffic enforcement consequences.
Until now, state traffic laws only applied to human “drivers,” which meant that when no person was behind the wheel, police had no mechanism to issue a ticket. Officers were limited to citing driverless vehicles for parking violations only. A well-known example came in September 2025, when a San Bruno officer watched a Waymo robotaxi execute an illegal U-turn and could do nothing but notify the company.
Under the new framework, when an officer observes a violation, the autonomous vehicle company is effectively treated as the driver. Companies must report each incident to the DMV within 72 hours, or 24 hours if a collision is involved. Repeated violations can result in fleet size restrictions, operational suspensions, or full permit revocation. Local officials also gained new authority to geofence driverless vehicles out of active emergency zones within two minutes and require a live emergency response line answered within 30 seconds.
Tesla Cybercab ramps Robotaxi public street testing as vehicle enters mass production queue
California’s new enforcement rules arrive at a pivotal moment for Tesla. The company is ramping Cybercab production at Giga Texas toward hundreds of units per week, targeting at least 2 million units annually at full capacity, while simultaneously pushing to expand its Robotaxi service to dozens of U.S. cities by end of 2026. Unsupervised FSD for consumer vehicles is currently targeted for Q4 2026, and when it arrives, Tesla’s fleet may not have a human to absorb legal accountability, under the July 1 rules.
Tesla has confirmed plans to expand its Robotaxi service to seven new cities in the first half of 2026, including Dallas, Houston, Phoenix, Miami, Orlando, Tampa, and Las Vegas, with the service already running without safety drivers in Austin. Musk has said he expects robotaxis to cover between a quarter and half of the United States by end of year.
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