News
Tesla Model 3 overtakes UK’s most popular gas cars in December 2020 registrations
The Tesla Model 3 has claimed the top spot for car registrations for December 2020, overtaking the region’s most popular gas-powered cars, new data from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders shows.
The Model 3 has dominated markets like the United States and China in terms of the most popular electric cars. However, the United Kingdom saw the Model 3 become the most popular vehicle regardless of powertrain. It overtook the Volkswagen Golf and the Ford Fiesta, two of the UK’s three most popular cars the top seller in December.
The #Tesla #Model3 takes top spot in new car registrations in the UK in December, according to new release from the SMMT.
Overall, the BEV mkt share is growing in the UK by leaps and bounds!@TeslaPodcast @Teslarati @Lebeaucarnews @alex_avoigt @ARKInvest @GerberKawasaki pic.twitter.com/4pCYWLuzYS
— Tavi (@tavi_chocochip) January 6, 2021
Data from the SMMT shows Tesla sold 5,798 Model 3s in the United Kingdom in December. This eclipsed the Volkswagen Golf, the second-place vehicle, by 1,328 units. The Ford Fiesta, the top seller in the UK for 2020, finished third for the month, with 3,367 units sold.
Credit: SMMT
The Model 3 has become the most popular electric vehicle in many markets due to its highly-affordable price point and commendable range and performance qualities. It was first manufactured by Tesla in 2017, and there is reason to believe that Tesla could have been experiencing overwhelming demand for the Model 3 in Europe due to the company importing many builds from the company’s Giga Shanghai facility in China. Tesla originally said that the China-manufactured Model 3s wouldn’t be imported. Still, the new numbers from the SMMT seem to indicate that demand was high, and the only way to keep up with it and fit the company’s year-end guidance of 500,000 cars was to import some builds from China to Europe.
Tesla Model 3 produced in Giga Shanghai are heading to Europe next week
As for battery electric vehicles (BEVs) as a whole, the UK saw a 343.7% increase in registrations in December 2020 compared to the same month in 2019. Figures show that a total of 21,914 BEVs were bought in December 2020, a sizeable increase from the 4,939 units that were sold in December 2019.
A noticeable increase in BEV purchases for 2020 as a whole was also noticed in the SMMT data. The 108,205 BEVs sold in 2020 eclipsed the 37,850 BEVs sold in 2019, a 185.9% increase. Additionally, a 5% increase in market share was reported for BEVs, from just 1.6% in 2019 to 6.6% in 2020.
Credit: SMMT
The Model 3 has dominated sales figures in many countries and regions since its introduction in 2017. As of now, it is the car that has put Tesla on the map as a mass-manufacturer of automobiles, and the Model Y crossover will only solidify the company’s presence as a major player in the transition to EVs. There is no doubt that the Model 3 was the main contributor to Tesla reaching its 500,000 vehicle production and delivery rate for 2020. Now that the popularity shows up in proven figures by surpassing gas-powered cars, the dawn of a new era may be upon the automotive industry.
News
Tesla’s Supercharger Diner probably just secured more locations
Tesla’s Supercharger Diner in Los Angeles dominated the company’s global usage rankings after just one year, proving the concept is more than just a one-off novelty location that will fade away.
The performance could incite the company to build more locations, something that CEO Elon Musk has hinted at for some time.
Tesla’s Supercharger Diner delivered 21.2 GWh of energy in its first year of operation, the company’s head of Charging, Max de Zegher, revealed on X. Of the top 10 most utilized Supercharger locations in Tesla’s global infrastructure, the Diner in Los Angeles was the most used by drivers, and it wasn’t particularly close:
Tesla Diner opened exactly 1 year ago. Inspiring that futuristic places like this exist.
It’s our highest usage Supercharger in the world: 21.2 GWh delivered in a year, 1.6k sessions/day.
Top 10 Superchargers by energy delivered: https://t.co/9YvJ8lw696 pic.twitter.com/koB3AUJHws
— Max (@MdeZegher) July 21, 2026
On its launch day one year ago, nobody was too sure what the Tesla Diner would be about. It seemed like an interesting concept, and considering it had been in the works for years, it was a highly anticipated launch that many were looking forward to.
Based on its success, we could see additional Diners with Superchargers built throughout the United States, and potentially beyond. Musk has said on several occasions that the company would be willing to bring the Diner idea to more markets.
Tesla makes major change at Supercharger Diner amid epic demand
Of the markets that Musk has mentioned, both Palo Alto and Austin have come to be perceived as ideal selections. However, there are no concrete plans as of now to build new Supercharger Diners anywhere; the location on Santa Monica Boulevard will remain the exclusive spot to pick up Tesla-inspired eats, at least for the time being.
Investor's Corner
Tesla short sellers win big after shares fall after earnings
Tesla short sellers won big following the company’s massive fall on Wall Street after it reported subpar Earnings on Wednesday.
Tesla short sellers collected about $4.12 billion in single-day profits on Thursday, according to Bloomberg. Shares fell as much as 15 percent during Thursday’s session. It closed as one of the worst days for Tesla on Wall Street in the past three years.
Investors sold off the stock after Tesla said it would aggressively direct its spending toward AI and its Optimus robot project. The company had record revenues, which were driven by one of the strongest quarters in terms of vehicle deliveries in company history.
However, it missed EPS estimates by reporting just $0.33, a far cry from the $0.53 analysts expected.
S3 Partners reported that about 3 percent of Tesla’s outstanding stock is sold short. Managing Director at S3, Ihor Dusaniwsky, provided the short seller’s potential profit, as well as another figure: shorts have likely had paper gains of $8.92 billion this year, as Tesla shares are down 30 percent in 2026.
Tesla (TSLA) Q2 2026 earnings results: miss on EPS, beat on revenue
Tesla has burned short sellers many times in the past, but the company’s latest Earnings Call was a chance for those skeptics to taste some payback. Although the company gave some very transparent information regarding future projects, the rollout of Robotaxi, Optimus, and Semi, many investors took their profits on Thursday.
Notable short sellers like Michael Burry have been transparent about their skepticism around Tesla shares. Burry just revealed three weeks ago that he had opened up a new short on the stock, stating he shorted Tesla shares at $416.22. “Happy it jumped back to this level,” he said in a blog post.
At the time of publication, Tesla shares were down about 3 percent and the stock was trading at $309.92.
News
Tesla door handle saga gets its latest chapter and a big change is coming
Tesla’s long-standing saga regarding its door handles and a manual release has entered its latest chapter, and as a result, a big change is coming.
On Friday, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) denied Tesla’s petition that was seeking a defect investigation into roughly 180,000 Model 3 vehicles for an issue involving the emergency mechanical door release.
🚨 The NHTSA denied a petition from Tesla that would have thrown out concerns regarding its door handles.
NHTSA said Tesla’s petition did not present evidence of a safety-related defect warranting an investigation. The agency said a rulemaking process would be a better strategy. pic.twitter.com/j6PzUBM1mT
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) July 24, 2026
NHTSA said that Tesla’s petition did not present evidence of a safety-related defect in the door handles or their emergency releases. Instead, the agency determined that it would rather solve the issue of the lack of labeling or location of emergency mechanical door releases and the federal safety rules that govern them.
Essentially, the NHTSA wants to create and enforce rules that would require automakers to make emergency door latch releases more clearly labeled in a car. Despite a Tesla having manual door releases on all four passenger doors, many people do not know they exist or how they work.
Tesla addresses door handle complaints with simple engineering fix
In recent times, Tesla has faced some criticism involving its door handles, specifically because some occupants have reported that they are unable to exit their vehicles after losing power. The door handles on a Tesla are electronically operated, but in the event that the 12V battery dies, there is a manual release that can be used.
The NHTSA only identified a single complaint involving the mechanical door releases: a 2022 Model 3 owner said the release was concealed and unlabeled after the vehicle lost power after a front-end collision. It has also already started to create a separate rulemaking process to make emergency door-egress systems more obvious.
It should be noted that all Teslas have mechanical emergency door releases, but they are placed in various locations as the vehicles have aged and been redesigned from year to year. Refer to the safety manual for your vehicle if you have any confusion about where the emergency releases are and how they work.