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Tesla’s Plaid Model S rear-facing ‘jump seats’ to support larger passengers

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Tesla CEO Elon Musk took to his official Twitter last week to state that the Model S being tested at the Nürburgring had seven seats. When someone asked why, he comically replied, “to fit seven people”.

The Model S “Plaid” variant made its introduction to the world last week when it broke the track record for four-door sedans at the Laguna Seca Raceway in Central California. Among Tesla enthusiasts, the release date of the lightning-fast vehicle has been speculated heavily. But following reports of a Model S prototype absolutely demolishing Porsche Taycan’s Nürburgring record by 20 seconds, Musk doubled-down by saying he expects the production version to be even quicker than the prototype.

Details regarding the Plaid variant have been vague. We know it is fast and we know it’s a sizable four-door sedan, and we now find out that its rear-facing “jump seats” won’t be limited to children. When asked whether the Model S Plaid variant with 7-seat configuration will have a new layout, Musk replied, “No, original 5 forward-facing seats plus 2 rear-facing smaller seats. The new rear seats will accommodate larger passengers than before.”

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This will be a welcome update for the Model S’ rear-facing seats jump seats. Before it was quietly retired by the electric car maker, the all-electric sedan’s rear-racing seats were considered as one of the vehicle’s neat tricks. While smaller than the vehicle’s regular seats, the Model S’ jump seats are the perfect size for children. Functioning like jump seats, they fold up when not in use and feature a five-point harness-style seat belt for safety.

Musk himself is one of the reasons behind the creation of the Model S’ original rear-facing seats. Being a dad of five kids, Musk wanted to have a vehicle that can haul his large family on road trips. He actually conducted one in 2014, traveling from Los Angeles to New York on an epic, six-day, 3,200-mile journey. The trip was partly done as a way to promote the Supercharger Network, which was starting its aggressive expansion then.

Considering the number of Superchargers at the time of Musk’s trip, the family had to stop about 20 times to charge the Model S during the trip. Speaking about the coming journey, Musk lightly remarked then that “I’m planning to do a road trip with my kids from LA to NY at the end of the year. Which will be an adventure. Kind of like those Chevy Chase movies.”

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Joey has been a journalist covering electric mobility at TESLARATI since August 2019. In his spare time, Joey is playing golf, watching MMA, or cheering on any of his favorite sports teams, including the Baltimore Ravens and Orioles, Miami Heat, Washington Capitals, and Penn State Nittany Lions. You can get in touch with joey at joey@teslarati.com. He is also on X @KlenderJoey. If you're looking for great Tesla accessories, check out shop.teslarati.com

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Tesla Cybercab sightings on public roads are becoming more frequent

After it was unveiled a year ago by Tesla, the company has made some pretty drastic jumps in progress in terms of the Cybercab, but a recent development has truly pushed fans of the company to think it is probably going to be available soon.

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Credit: Petersen Museum

Tesla Cybercab sightings on public roads are becoming much more frequent, and they all are pointing to one thing: imminent production.

The Tesla Cybercab is the company’s vehicle developed for fully autonomous travel, as it will be manufactured without a steering wheel or pedals, according to CEO Elon Musk.

Tesla Robotaxi Cybercab: Seats, price, special features, release date, and more

After it was unveiled a year ago by Tesla, the company has made some pretty drastic jumps in progress in terms of the Cybercab, but a recent development has truly pushed fans of the company to think it is probably going to be available soon.

Last week, we reported on the first Cybercab sighting when the vehicle was finally being tested on public roads. The spotting was not a one-time deal, as we are now seeing many more sightings on public roads:

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The first spotting was in Palo Alto, just a few blocks from Tesla’s Engineering Headquarters in Los Altos. This second sighting appears to be relatively close to that first spotting, and it seems unlikely Tesla would be putting it on roads much further than that.

The public on-road testing of the Cybercab marks a major milestone in the entire project for Tesla. These early sightings and testing phases are usually followed by a lot of speculation about when the vehicle could end up in the hands of customers.

However, Tesla has already put a definitive date on when Cybercab production will begin, as Elon Musk said during the Q3 Earnings Call that it would roll off production lines in Q2 of next year.

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But the speculation regarding the Cybercab is slightly different than other vehicles because Tesla has been developing it for fully autonomous travel; it’s not meant to be driven by humans but instead by software and the company’s Full Self-Driving suite.

Despite the vehicle being spotted with a steering wheel and pedals in the recent sightings, Musk has maintained that the Cybercab will not be developed with typical controls for a human. He recently confirmed this, and it does not seem the company is willing to veer too much from its plans for an autonomous car.

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Tesla Model Y Performance is rapidly moving toward customer deliveries

New drone images from noted drone operator and Gigafactory Texas observer Joe Tegtmeyer show Tesla is moving forward quickly in terms of its progress in producing the new Model Y Performance.

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla has rapidly progressed in the production of its most anticipated Model Y trim level: the Model Y Performance.

New drone images from noted drone operator and Gigafactory Texas observer Joe Tegtmeyer show Tesla is moving forward quickly in terms of its progress in producing the new Model Y Performance.

The vehicle is being spotted more frequently at the factory located just outside of Austin, with what appears to be the first units rolling out to outbound lots:

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In the United States, Tesla unveiled the Model Y Performance on September 30, the newest iteration of the fastest trim level of the best-selling car in the world for the past two years. It was launched on the very last day of the $7,500 electric vehicle tax credit in the United States.

It featured a handful of performance improvements, including a 0-60 MPH acceleration rate of 3.3 seconds, a trim from the 3.5 seconds the 2025 version offered.

Additionally, the range has gone from 277 miles to 308 miles, a notable improvement in terms of how far it can travel on a charge.

There are also a handful of hardware changes that Tesla made to improve its aerodynamic performance, which all likely can be attributed to the boost in speed and acceleration, as well as range.

The vehicle was initially launched in Europe, which was not surprising, especially as Tesla was testing the new Performance trim at the famed Nurburgring in Germany.

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Deliveries are currently slated for late November, but some orders are getting projections of mid-December for their Model Y Performance, which would help Tesla bolster its end-of-year delivery figures and follow up on an extremely bullish finish to Q3, which was the company’s strongest performance in history.

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Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey endorses Elon Musk Tesla pay package

Dorsey framed the pay package as an engineering and governance crossroads for Tesla.

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Twitter co-founder and Square CEO Jack Dorsey has publicly backed Elon Musk’s leadership ahead of Tesla’s pivotal shareholder vote, which is expected to be decided later today at the company’s 2025 annual meeting. 

Dorsey framed the pay package as an engineering and governance crossroads for Tesla.

Dorsey’s public nod framed as an engineering defense of Musk

In a post on X, Dorsey weighed in on Tesla’s post about being in a “critical inflection point.” As per the Twitter-co-founder, the vote on Musk’s 2025 performance award is not about compensation. Instead, it’s about ensuring the path for the company’s engineering in the coming years. 

“This is not about compensation. it’s about ensuring a principled (and exciting!) engineering approach to the company’s future,” Dorsey wrote on his post, later stating that users of Cash app with TSLA shares would be able to vote for the CEO’s proposed 2025 performance award. 

Elon Musk appreciated Dorsey’s endorsement, responding to the Twitter co-founder’s post with a heart emoji. Musk has been pretty thankful for the support for is fellow tech executives, also thanking Michael Dell recently, who also advocated for its proposed 2025 performance award.

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Musk’s support

While Elon Musk’s 2025 performance award has received opposition from proxy advisors such as Glass Lewis and ISS, it has received quite a lot of support from longtime bulls such as ARK Invest, and, more recently, Schwab Asset Management following calls from TSLA retail shareholders. 

“Schwab Asset Management’s approach to voting on proxy matters is thorough and deliberate. We utilize a structured process that focuses on protecting and promoting shareholder value. We apply our own internal guidelines and do not rely on recommendations from Glass Lewis or ISS. In accordance with this process, Schwab Asset Management intends to vote in favor of the 2025 CEO performance award proposal. We firmly believe that supporting this proposal aligns both management and shareholder interests, ensuring the best outcome for all parties involved,” Charles Schwab told Teslarati.

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