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Tesla Model S Plaid receives scathing review from Edmunds: ‘A waste of money’

Credit: Edmunds/Twitter

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Since its release, the Tesla Model S Plaid has received great reviews from both professionals and consumers alike. While there are a lot of criticisms of the controversial steering yoke that Tesla released for the flagship sedan, the performance of the vehicle, its overall practicality, its ride quality, and its improved build compared to the Model 3 and Model Y were frequent points of praise. 

Edmunds, which lists itself as the “global authority for unbiased, unvarnished automotive advice, news, reviews and deals for over 50 years,” opted to take the opposite stance on the vehicle. In a recent post on its YouTube channel, Edmunds noted that the Model S Plaid is “a “waste of money,” and that it’s not worth its price of $130,000. 

The motoring firm found numerous faults from the Plaid, from its build quality and the steering yoke to its interior, which lacks the conventional luxurious flairs from rivals like the Porsche Taycan and the Mercedes-Benz EQS. Edmunds’ Alistair Weaver, while summarizing his thoughts on the Model S Plaid, argued that the horrible steering yoke is a metaphor for the entire car. He also argued that the idea of releasing a car with that much power was “daft.” 

“The problem for me is that this yoke is really a metaphor for the whole car. It’s almost as if Tesla’s execs thought about how much noise they could make on Twitter and then worked backwards. A yoke on a road car is just plain daft. But then, so is the whole idea of 1,020 horsepower four-door sedan. 

“I love the Tesla Model, 3 because it’s a genuinely groundbreaking car that’s accessible to many people. This, by contrast, is just a marketing exercise designed to create attention for an aging car and to satiate the egos of multimillionaires in cocktail bars. Really, it’s only good for one thing. And that’s drag racing,” Weaver concluded. 

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Edmunds’ conclusions on the Model S Plaid are certainly in the minority, even among professional reviewers. Doug DeMuro, who has heavily criticized Tesla in the past, dubbed the Model S Plaid as “quite possibly the best all-around car ever made” after experiencing the vehicle. Unlike Edmunds, which had questions about the vehicle’s price, DeMuro noted that the Plaid brings a lot of value and performance considering that it’s a $140,000 car. 

The same was true for veteran motoring journalist Jason Cammisa, who reviewed the Model S Plaid soon after the vehicle’s unveiling. While agreeing that the steering yoke is a gimmick, Camissa stated that the Model S Plaid is a vehicle that is effectively a class of one at its price range. ‘Judged as a Chiron-beatingly fast, everyday luxury car, I must say with apologizes to Rolls-Royce, Bentley, Bugatti, Mercedes-Benz, and every automaker on the planet: good luck catching up. You’ll need it. And at $130k, nobody has a chance,” Cammisa wrote. 

Watch Edmunds’ Model S Plaid review in the video below. 

Don’t hesitate to contact us with account tips. Just send a message to tips@teslarati.com to give us a heads up. 

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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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Tesla China comeback: Retail sales hit second-highest month of 2025

Tesla’s September numbers are just below the 74,127 units that were sold domestically in March.

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Credit: Tesla China

Tesla’s retail sales in China climbed to 71,525 vehicles in September, the company’s second-highest monthly total this year, as per data from the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA). 

The result reflects a steady rebound, narrowing Tesla’s year-on-year sales decline to just 0.93%, while showing a 25% jump from August’s weaker numbers. Tesla China’s September numbers are just below the 74,127 units that were sold domestically in March.

Tesla China’s September

Despite the uptick, Tesla China’s retail sales have now logged seven months of year-on-year declines this 2025, managing growth only in March and June, though a good portion of these lost sales was due to the changeover to the new Model Y. The Shanghai Gigafactory, which produces both the Model 3 and Model Y, continues to serve as a dual-purpose hub for domestic and export markets.

In September, Tesla exported 19,287 vehicles from its Shanghai facility, up 19.6% year-on-year but down 25.9% from August, as noted in a CNEV Post report. This is in line with Tesla China’s strategy of prioritizing exports early in each quarter. Including exports, Tesla China’s total wholesale volume reached 90,812 units in September, up 2.82% year-on-year and 9.16% month-on-month.

Model Y still leads

The Tesla Model Y still led the electric vehicle maker’s sales in China with 59,907 units sold wholesale during the month, rising 17.1% from last year, while Model 3 reached 30,905 units, dipping 16.8% year-on-year but up 27% from August. Tesla’s overall market share in China’s NEV segment rose to 5.52%, and its BEV share climbed to 8.66%, modest gains hinting at the company’s resilience in a fiercely competitive market.

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Across Q3, Tesla sold 169,294 vehicles in China, down 6.9% year-on-year, marking its second consecutive quarterly decline but a strong 31.4% recovery versus Q2. Year-to-date, Tesla’s retail total stands at 432,704 units, down 5.97% compared to last year.

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Elon Musk teases ‘Banish’ feature to pair perfectly with Summon

Tesla has long promised the possibility of completely hands-off parking: arrive, drop off at the entrance, the car parks itself, and the car retrieves you at the end of your visit.

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Credit: Tesla China

Elon Musk has once again teased the “Banish” feature that could come to Tesla vehicles in the near future. It would be a perfect pairing to the popular Assisted Smart Summon (ASS), which the company launched earlier this year.

Banish has been something Tesla has teased for years. The company has promised the possibility of completely hands-off parking: arrive, drop off at the entrance, the car parks itself, and the car retrieves you at the end of your visit.

Ultimately, even though it is technically a driverless feature, Tesla has not refined its parking portion of the Full Self-Driving (Supervised) suite enough to release Banish to the public.

Tesla recently started performing specified parking tasks at the driver’s discretion. In the FSD (Supervised) v14.1 release, Tesla has added the ability to pick your parking scenario. Drivers can choose a Charger, Parking Lot, Curbside, Street, Driveway, or Parking Garage.

To achieve Banish, Tesla would have to gather enough data with these scenarios to then gain the capability to park after dropping vehicle occupants off.

However, CEO Elon Musk recently hyped Banish to the point of stating Teslas will be capable of it “in the near future.”

His remark came in response to a video where FSD v14.1 drove around a Costco parking lot for twenty minutes looking for a spot:

Summon is a feature that has given Tesla its challenges, but the release of Assisted Smart Summon (ASS) has improved some of its capabilities.

I tested it after receiving v14.1, and it did a great job of taking the correct route and driving safely to my location:

There will likely be some time between now and when Tesla is able to release Banish. As previously noted, Tesla will need to collect enough data from real-world scenarios and obtain a proven track record of being able to handle lots and parking in a variety of environments while supervised.

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Tesla faces new blockade in Sweden as IF Metall escalates dispute

The action takes effect October 15 and will remain in place until Tesla signs a collective agreement.

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Credit: NicklasNilsso14/X

Just over a month after the Swedish Meditation Institute threw in the towel on Tesla and IF Metall’s conflict, the labor union has announced a new industrial action aimed at disrupting the electric vehicle maker’s operations in the country. 

Potential Tesla disruptions

The latest news involves a total work stoppage by Linde Material Handling, one of Sweden’s largest forklift companies, which services industrial clients nationwide. The action takes effect October 15 and will remain in place until Tesla signs a collective agreement, as noted in a Dagens Arbete (DA) report.

The stoppage will halt all forklift-related work Linde performs for Tesla’s local subsidiary, TM Sweden, including maintenance, repair, and service of trucks used across its facilities. Simon Petersson, IF Metall’s contract secretary, shared described the union’s latest effort in a comment to the publication.

“We know that Tesla has trucks in several locations and that they are in need of service, maintenance and repair. We are stopping that now. For Linde, this is not a big deal. They service trucks for a lot of companies and Tesla is a small player in their portfolio,” Petersson noted.

Not a sure strategy

Whether IF Metall’s latest effort will succeed against Tesla remains to be seen, especially since the electric vehicle maker has been pretty firm in its stance that its employees do not need a collective agreement. Still, the IF Metall contract secretary stated that Linde’s strike against Tesla should make it more difficult for the electric vehicle maker to operate its business in Sweden. 

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“It remains to be seen. But as I have said before, it is about many small streams. This stops everything Linde does for Tesla. So not only with them, but regardless of where the work takes place. So if Tesla has problems with a truck, they will not have it repaired or serviced,” Petersson stated.

Following the decision of the Swedish Meditation Institute to end the negotiations between IF Metall and Tesla early last month, the union noted that it would still try to pressure the EV maker to sign a collective agreement. Since then, the Electricians union, as well as the postmen’s unions Seko and ST have continued to initiate blockades against Tesla Sweden.

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