Connect with us
Tesla Model 3 by Unplugged Performance Tesla Model 3 by Unplugged Performance

Lifestyle

Tesla Model 3 race-tuned by Unplugged heads to historic Tokyo Auto Salon exhibit

Published

7 years ago

on

Amidst the impeccably-detailed engines and stunning matte wraps of tuned cars in this year’s Tokyo Auto Salon event, a gunmetal gray electric sedan stands as a symbol of what may very well be the future of tuning. Shipped from the United States, the Tesla Model 3 Performance equipped with Unplugged Performance’s Ascension R package joins the ranks of the best JDM cars in the country. It’s arguably the most aggressively-modified Model 3 in the market today, and it looks every bit like it belongs in a Japanese track, ripping through corners with legends like the Nissan GT-R. 

Twenty years ago, Ben Schaffer took inspiration from the Tokyo Auto Salon and brought home a vision to the United States. That vision took form as Bulletproof Automotive, a tuning house that would eventually create monsters out of high-performance cars. From European monsters to hyper-tuned vehicles from Japan, Bulletproof Automotive has pretty much done it all. Being a true automotive enthusiast, Schaffer did not turn his nose up on electric cars. Instead, with the Tesla Model S, he saw a new breed of vehicles that can revolutionize motoring, and in extension, tuning. And thus, Unplugged Performance was born. 

With its headquarters in California, Unplugged Performance took everything that Schaffer learned from Bulletproof Automotive and translated them for all-electric mobility. From body kits to brake upgrades, Schaffer’s tuning house became one of the go-to companies for aftermarket Tesla modifications. Just like Bulletproof, Unplugged has made a few monsters of its own, including the Tesla Model S-APEX P100D widebody, which made its debut at the 2019 SEMA Show.

The Tesla Model 3 Performance Ascension R Package is even closer to Schaffer’s JDM roots than the Model S-APEX. The best JDM cars like the R32 Nissan Skyline GT-R are amazing machines for the track, but at the end of the day, the Model S is a vehicle that’s more of a grand tourer, not a track car. Tesla’s actual track-capable car is the smaller, nimbler Model 3 Performance, making it the perfect platform for a true all-electric track project. 

The Tesla Model 3 Performance in question is owned by owner-enthusiast Erik Strait, who hosts the DAErik YouTube channel. Strait’s Model 3 Performance features a long list of upgrades that make it a track-optimized all-electric car. Following is the full list of upgrades fitted in Strait’s Model 3. 

In a recently shared video on his YouTube channel, Strait has announced that he will be flying over to Japan to visit his car as it is being showcased at the Tokyo Auto Salon. Schaffer will be there as well, particularly as Unplugged Performance will have its booth at the event. The vehicle will not only be showcased at the TAS either, as the Model 3 will also be taken to the Tsukuba Circuit, a location iconic for time attack rounds, to determine just how well a track-optimized Tesla can perform on an actual closed circuit. 

As for Schaffer, the Model 3 Ascension R’s arrival in Japan practically takes his motoring journey full circle. While the Tokyo Auto Salon provided him with the inspiration he needed to start his own tuning house in the United States, he is hoping that the Model 3 Ascension R can inspire new generations of tuning in Japan. If it does, then Tesla can very well end up tapping into what could very well be a very lucrative and iconic market — one that would likely push the company’s vehicles to the limit, and perhaps even a little bit beyond. 

Advertisement
-
-
Related Topics:

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.

Advertisement
Comments

Elon Musk

Elon Musk’s answer to Christopher Nolan’s Odyssey got way more specific

Published

6 days ago

on

July 23, 2026

By

Elon Musk escalated his monthslong feud with Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey this week, pledging that his own AI video tool will produce a competing version before the year is out. Responding to a fan-made, AI-generated clip of the ancient epic, Musk wrote on X, “Before this year ends, Grok Imagine will make a full-length movie of The Odyssey that is historically accurate and true to the art of Homer.”

In June, Musk quoted an xAI-shared trailer built entirely with Grok Imagine Video 1.5, a two-minute-plus reimagining of The Odyssey styled after a 1970s classical Hollywood epic, and predicted “full movies by the end of the year,” as Teslarati reported at the time. That trailer, built from 36 consistent shots by a single creator, was Musk’s proof of concept. This week’s pledge turns that prediction into a specific commitment, tied directly to Homer’s text rather than a generic demo.


When a fan separately proposed that Musk fund a live-action alternative, to “give Mel Gibson $100 million to film an Odyssey adaptation with painstakingly historically accurate ships, armour, weapons, and casting, with all dialogue taken straight from the original poem and delivered in Homeric Greek,” Musk replied with two words: “I’m down.”

The Grok Imagine pledge lands as the tool’s underlying infrastructure has changed hands. Grok is no longer a standalone product, it folded into SpaceXAI after SpaceX’s acquisition of xAI closed in February, meaning the compute behind any Odyssey production traces back to the same Colossus supercomputers now bundled into SpaceX’s pitch to investors. Musk has separately said SpaceX’s own engineering data is being fed into the next major Grok training run, a two trillion parameter model he’s called the “2T run.”

Whether Grok Imagine can sustain a feature length narrative, rather than a series of impressive individual shots, remains the open question.

Advertisement
-
-
Continue Reading

Cybertruck

Tesla Mobile App gets a new feature that wrap fans are going to love

Tesla’s Summer Update removes the USB drive step from customizing your car’s digital wrap design.

Published

7 days ago

on

July 22, 2026

By

Tesla’s latest 2026 Summer Update quietly closes out one of the more tedious steps in personalizing a Tesla’s digital appearance. Uploading a custom wrap design used to require a USB drive. Now it doesn’t.

The feature is listed in Tesla’s release notes as “Send Custom Wraps from Mobile App.” The company described it plainly: “Skip the USB drive and upload a custom wrap of your car from the mobile app. Instructions for creating a custom wrap here: github.com/teslamotors/custom-wraps.”

The digital wrap tool has been around since Tesla’s 2024 Holiday Update, when it launched for Cybertruck owners first, as Teslarati reported at the time. Getting a design onto the car meant formatting a USB drive, creating a folder named exactly “Wraps,” dropping in PNG files sized between 512×512 and 1024×1024 pixels and under 1 MB each, then plugging the drive in and applying the wrap through Toybox. Tesla expanded the tool to other models and renamed it from “Colorizer” to “Paint Shop” with the 2025 Holiday Update, while also adding license plate and window tint customization alongside the wraps.

The latest Summer Update removes the USB step from that process. Owners will be able to pull a design from wherever they saved it, whether that’s a download from social media or something built from Tesla’s own GitHub templates, and push it to the car directly through the app.

Tesla reveals 2026 Summer Update with crazy fixes to Nav and more

Advertisement
-
-

It’s a small fix relative to the rest of this latest release, which also included expanded Grok voice commands, automatic navigation that learns regular routes, and self-driving stats inside the mobile app, all detailed in our rundown of the full Summer Update. The USB requirement was one of the more common complaints about Paint Shop since it launched. Tesla did not say when the wrap upload change would reach individual vehicles, only that the broader update is rolling out now in waves.

Continue Reading

Elon Musk

Tesla Diner is throwing a birthday party with a Franz-signed special treat

Tesla Diner turns one on July 21 with Optimus, roller skates, and a Franz-signed hat.

Published

1 week ago

on

July 20, 2026

By

tesla diner

Tesla is throwing its Hollywood Diner a first birthday party on July 21 and the celebration comes with a guest list of unique items, including a limited run of Tesla Diner birthday hats personally signed by Tesla Chief Designer Franz von Holzhausen for the first 50 customers who place an in-car order at midnight.

One year after lines wrapped around the block on Santa Monica Boulevard for a diner that most of the restaurant industry did not take seriously, Tesla is making the case that the concept was worth the years it took to build. The concept had been in Musk’s head since at least 2018, when he floated the idea of “an old school drive-in, roller skates and rock restaurant” on X, describing it years later as “‘Grease’ meets ‘The Jetsons’ with Supercharging.”

Tesla Optimus Gen 3 is coming to the Tesla Diner with new ambitions

 

What made the diner genuinely different from any restaurant that came before it was not the menu or the nostalgia. It was the ordering model. Tesla owners could place food orders directly from their vehicle’s touchscreen before arriving, a small feature that hints at something much larger on the horizon. As the Cybercab and unsupervised FSD expand across major cities, the diner model becomes a template for an entirely new kind of commerce. A robotaxi pulling in to charge does not need a human to walk up to a counter. The vehicle places the order, the food is ready on arrival, and the passenger never interrupts the experience of being driven somewhere else. It is the first glimpse of what drive-through commerce looks like when the car is doing the driving.

As Teslarati has reported, Musk signaled immediately after opening that the Hollywood location was only the beginning, posting that Tesla would expand the concept to major cities worldwide and along Supercharger corridors on long-distance routes if the first location proved successful. One year in, the birthday celebration on July 21 makes a strong case that it has. Tesla announced a full day of events including a Cybercab on display, a birthday menu, Optimus in attendance, face painting, a photo booth, roller skating servers, a light show, a Skypad DJ, and complimentary collectibles.

If Musk’s ambition holds, the Hollywood diner is year one of something much bigger. The birthday party is the proof of concept. The robotaxi fleet is the business model waiting behind it.

Advertisement
-
-

Continue Reading