Investor's Corner
Tesla charges towards record Q4 with 13.7k new Model 3 VIN registrations in 2 days
Tesla ended the third quarter on a strong note, but if the electric car maker’s activities this October so far are any indication, it appears that the company is looking to end Q4 in an even more remarkable fashion. Amidst reports that Tesla has produced the 100,000th Model 3, the Silicon Valley-based company also registered more than 13,000 new Model 3 VINs in just two days.
This weekend’s VIN registrations were notable, considering that as of October 8, Tesla had already registered around 17,800 Model 3 in Q4. This past weekend’s filings were remarkable in their own right, as it saw the registration of the biggest batch of Model 3 VINs yet – 9,426 vehicles, ~52% of which are estimated to be Dual Motor AWD. With these latest filings, Tesla had registered a total of 148,386 Model 3 VINs to date.
#Tesla registered 9,426 new #Model3 VINs. ~52% estimated to be dual motor. Highest VIN is 148386. https://t.co/3pDIYHWgim
— Model 3 VINs (@Model3VINs) October 14, 2018
Tesla’s rate of VIN registrations appears to be picking up this month. October is only halfway through, but the company had already filed 30,478 new Model 3 VINs. If Tesla continues with this pace, October could easily be a record month for the Model 3’s registrations. While VIN registrations do not directly correspond to the number of vehicles immediately being produced by the carmaker, the rate of filings does give an idea about the pace of the Model 3 ramp. Elon Musk acknowledged this in the Q1 2018 earnings call, when he noted that “any information that we provide would be a week or two in advance of what will become public knowledge just due to vehicle registrations and shipments that are tracked very carefully.”
Earlier this week, Bloomberg‘s Tesla Model 3 production tracker, which has become more accurate with time, also showed that the overall production of the electric sedan has gone past the 100,000-mark. The tracker, which uses data from VIN registrations, social media reports from Model 3 owners, as well as direct reports submitted to the publication, currently estimates a total of 101,067 Model 3 built to date.
As further signs emerge of Tesla’s Model 3 ramp hitting its stride, it seems like Elon Musk’s long-term play for the electric car’s production is finally taking shape. When Musk envisioned the manufacturing of the Model 3, he saw an automated machine that builds the machine – one that would look nothing short of an “Alien Dreadnought.” The first 12 months following the start of the Model 3’s production proved challenging for Elon Musk and Tesla, though, as one bottleneck after another started emerging from both the Fremont factory and Gigafactory 1.
Eventually, it would be Tesla’s capacity to explore out-of-the-box strategies that ultimately made a difference in the Model 3 ramp. As Tesla adopted a more balanced workforce that utilized both humans and robots to construct the electric sedan, the company also looked into more unorthodox strategies to hit its targets. At the final month of Q2, for example, Tesla set up GA4, a Model 3 assembly line built inside a sprung structure. George Galliers, an analyst from Evercore ISI in London, visited the Fremont factory and noted that GA4, despite being built on the controversial “tent,” “looks to be permanent and in theory should be able to support much faster cycle times” following more optimizations.
In Q3, it was also revealed that Gigafactory 1 is receiving more upgrades in the form of new Grohmann machines, which would be installed by the end of the third quarter or the beginning of Q4. These new Grohmann machines, according to analysts from Worm Capital, will “help module production become three times faster, and three times cheaper.” Panasonic, which previously announced that it is looking to finish its upgrades to Gigafactory 1’s battery cell production lines, has revealed that it is expediting the installation of new cell production lines as well.
It remains to be seen if the record batches of Model 3 VIN registrations are the result of improvements in the battery module production lines in Gigafactory 1. That said, considering Tesla’s tendency to continuously improve and innovate as it goes, it appears that the Model 3 ramp would be stable and strong enough to allow the company to charge ahead towards the end of 2018.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BoSgB3rBVVL/?taken-by=teslamotors
Elon Musk
California snubs Tesla in its newly passed EV incentive that favors Rivian and Lucid
California passed a $135 million EV incentive that rewards Rivian and Lucid while sidelining Tesla
California just drew a line in the EV incentive sand to put Tesla on the wrong side of it. The state recently passed a $135 million program offering first-time electric vehicle buyers a direct incentive with no application required, but the rules were written in a way that leaves Tesla at a structural disadvantage compared to Rivian and Lucid.
The program caps eligible vehicles at $50,000 for new EVs and $25,000 for used ones. That pricing threshold rules out a significant portion of Tesla’s lineup, though some lower-priced Model 3 and Model Y configurations would still qualify. California-based automakers are exempt from the price cap entirely, regardless of what their vehicles cost. Rivian, headquartered in Irvine, and Lucid, based in the San Francisco Bay Area, both benefit from that exemption. Rivian’s R2 starts at roughly $45,000 but has versions above the cap. Lucid’s Air and Gravity start at $70,990 and $79,990 respectively, well above any threshold a non-California company would face.
California hits Tesla Cybercab and Robotaxi driverless cars with new law
Tesla built its reputation and a significant portion of its early market share in California, where EV adoption has consistently led the nation. The company operates its original factory in Fremont, California, and the state was home to Tesla’s headquarters for most of its existence. That changed in 2021 when Tesla moved its corporate headquarters to Austin, Texas. Since then, the relationship between the company and California Governor Gavin Newsom has been openly adversarial, with Musk and Newsom trading public criticism on multiple occasions.
California’s EV incentive landscape has shifted repeatedly in recent years, and Tesla has previously lost eligibility for state-level programs as its vehicles exceeded income-adjusted price thresholds. The federal $7,500 EV tax credit, which Tesla models have qualified for and lost depending on policy cycles, is no longer available after it expired without renewal, making state-level programs more meaningful to buyers than they have been in years.
The practical impact for buyers is more nuanced than the headline suggests. California residents purchasing a Tesla under $50,000 for the first time can still access the incentive. But the exemption written for California-based manufacturers is a structural advantage that rewards where a company plants its headquarters flag rather than where it builds its products, and Tesla moved that flag to Texas.
Elon Musk
SpaceX’s newest logo confirms everything about what it’s become
SpaceX officially absorbed xAI under the SpaceXAI brand, completing the largest private merger in history.
SpaceX made its corporate transformation official in May 2026 when Elon Musk posted on X that xAI would cease to exist as a standalone company. “xAI will be dissolved as a separate company, so it will just be SpaceXAI, the AI products from SpaceX,” he wrote.
A new SpaceXAI logo was announced today, visually embedding the xAI letters inside the SpaceX identity, which can be seen as a deliberate design choice that signals the merger is not a partnership but a full absorption and XAi a core function of the same company. The same way Starlink is not a separate brand but a SpaceX product. The announcement closed the loop on a process that began February 2, 2026, when SpaceX acquired xAI in the largest private merger in history, valued at $1.25 trillion. SpaceX at $1 trillion and xAI at $250 billion.
We are now @SpaceXAI. pic.twitter.com/ema66xDWC9
— SpaceXAI (@SpaceXAI) July 6, 2026
The reason SpaceX bought xAI was stated plainly by Musk at the time of the deal: to build orbital data centers. SpaceX had simultaneously filed with the FCC to launch up to one million satellites designed to function as AI compute nodes in low Earth orbit, escaping what Musk described as the energy constraints limiting AI development on Earth.
xAI provided the AI software stack, with Grok, the X platform, and the Colossus supercomputer infrastructure in Memphis with over 220,000 NVIDIA GPUs, while SpaceX provided the rockets, Starlink, and the capital base to fund it. The two companies needed each other. xAI was burning $2.5 billion in losses on $250 million in revenue. SpaceX was generating an estimated $8 billion in profit on $15 billion in revenue and needed an AI narrative to command the valuation it was targeting for its IPO.
What SpaceX has done, regardless of how the orbital AI vision ultimately plays out, is walk into a public market as something no company has been before: a rocket manufacturer, satellite internet provider, AI software company, social media platform, and supercomputer operator under one ticker. Whether that combination is worth $2 trillion depends entirely on which of those businesses you believe in most.
Investor's Corner
Tesla challenges startups to score a gig inside its most advanced European factory
Tesla is challenging startups to bring their best battery tech directly to Gigafactory Berlin.
Tesla has issued an open challenge to startups across Europe, inviting them to bring their best battery technology directly to the floor of Gigafactory Berlin. The program, called the JUNI x Tesla Battery Cell Giga Challenge, opened applications this month with a deadline of July 24, 2026, and is targeting startups with solutions that can make battery cell manufacturing faster, cheaper, safer, and more scalable at an industrial level.
The timing of the challenge is directly tied to Tesla’s most aggressive European battery investment yet. On May 12, 2026, Giga Berlin plant manager André Thierig announced a $250 million investment to scale the factory’s annual 4680 cell production capacity from 8 GWh to 18 GWh, more than doubling the previous target set just months earlier in December 2025. Thierig confirmed the expansion on X, saying the investment “will enable 18 GWh of annual 4680 cell production and create more than 1,500 new jobs.” Combined with a previously announced battery investment at the Grunheide site now approaches $1.2 billion.
Today, we announced a $ 250m investment for our Giga Berlin Cell factory. This will enable 18GWh of annual 4680 cell production and create more than 1500 new jobs. Good news during challenging times for the German industry. pic.twitter.com/ou4SWMfWh9
— André Thierig (@AndrThie) May 12, 2026
The challenge is looking specifically for startups with proven solutions across five categories: materials, equipment, operations, automation, and artificial intelligence. Applications are screened directly by Tesla’s cell manufacturing team in Grunheide, and the strongest submissions move through technical discussions, a pitch day in front of Tesla stakeholders, and potentially a paid pilot project with the cell team. Tesla is not looking for ideas at concept stage. The program requires applicants to demonstrate working prototypes, test data, or prior pilots before being considered.
The historical context matters here. Elon Musk first announced plans for what he called the world’s largest battery cell production facility alongside the Giga Berlin car factory back in 2020, targeting up to 250 GWh of annual capacity. Those plans were shelved in 2022 when Tesla shifted its battery investment focus to the United States to take advantage of Inflation Reduction Act incentives. The revival of cell production at Giga Berlin, now backed by over $1 billion in committed capital, represents a return to an ambition that was set aside for three years. As Teslarati has reported, the 4680 format is central to Tesla’s long-term cost reduction strategy across vehicles, energy storage, including the Tesla Semi and Cybercab.
By opening the challenge to outside startups, Tesla is acknowledging that reaching 18 GWh at Grunheide will require technology it does not currently have in-house, and it is willing to pay for the right solutions. For a startup in the battery supply chain, a paid pilot with Tesla’s European cell team is as close to a direct commercial path as the industry offers.
Tesla confirms crucial detail of Miami Robotaxi launch
Radiologist who drove Tesla off cliff has attempted murder charges dismissed
