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Tesla Model S Wins Australian COTY Award
The Tesla Model S has won the Car Of The Year award in Australia. It was also named Best Green Car in a competition that included cars from around the world.
The Tesla Model S has been named the Car Of The Year by Carsales.com.au
Down Under, The Carsales Car Of The Year competition involves a number of relevant real world factors. The process includes critical evaluation by members of the motoring press and makes up 70% of the total score. The remaining 30% takes into account operating expenses, retained value, consumer engagement, and affordability, according to Motoring.
Figuring out how much a car costs to drive involves some fairly complex calculations. Those computations take place over a 3 year period and an estimated 60,000 kilometers of driving. They include estimated expenses for fuel, taxes and registration fees, the cost of one set of tires, insurance, and finance costs. Retained value is a measure of what a car’s resale value is expected to be after 3 years. Consumer engagement is a measure of how much owners like their cars. Finally, affordability takes into account how each vehicle ranks in terms of initial costs compared to the other cars in a particular category.
After all the data was assessed and the numbers crunched, the Tesla Model S was deemed the overall Car Of The Year winner and also awarded the title of Best Green Car. Keep in mind that Model S P85D sells for almost $200,000 in Australia.
Carsales CEO Greg Roebuck said the Tesla Model S is a game-changer in the Australian automotive world. “While Tesla is a fledgling car company, it has set the tone for the next generation of automobile evolution. Tesla will change the auto industry. Companies with 100-year histories are scrambling to catch up,” says Roebuck.
“Tesla has done so with innovative technology and a fearless desire to sidestep existing practices. The Model S is conventional in its looks but ultimately unconventional in its execution. Its internet connectivity allowing vehicle updates and new features without the need to visit a service centre is a true innovation and the real-time, always current, mapping which includes traffic info, is a really nice touch.”
Roebuck tells Motoring the judges had nothing but praise for the Model S because of its advanced technology, excellent driving dynamics and a range almost three times longer than other electric cars available in the Australian market. The judges also commented favorably on the car’s high quality construction, user friendly GUI, quiet ride and spacious cabin.
“The Model S delivered on all our data-based criteria.on all our data,”Roebuck said. It was very close to being named one of our Prestige class winners. The Model S is a deserved winner, and truly a car that will influence the design of vehicles globally for many years to come.”
There is only one @carsales Car of the Year. And it's the ground-breaking @TheTeslaModelS! https://t.co/14KOmg2VmK pic.twitter.com/sUtpbaFNZS
— carsales.com.au (@carsales) November 10, 2015
Tesla Motors Australia marketing and communications manager Heath Walker said, “Our aspiration at Tesla was to show that the Model S can truly be better than a petrol car, helping overcome perceived barriers and advancing the adoption of sustainable transport. This is now further enforced through winning the Carsales Car of the Year [award] against a field of exceptional competitors.”
Photo credit: Carsales.com.au
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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.
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:
Saw it the other day pic.twitter.com/uv0geR6GIh
— Shareef Mahmoud (@saltyyshareef) November 6, 2025
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.
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.
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:
In case you missed the news, Giga Texas has begun Model Y Performance production. Now all variants of the Model Y (except the China-only YL) are built in Texas. pic.twitter.com/AOOB9jtLwN
— Joe Tegtmeyer 🚀 🤠🛸😎 (@JoeTegtmeyer) November 6, 2025
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.
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.
Elon Musk
Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey endorses Elon Musk Tesla pay package
Dorsey framed the pay package as an engineering and governance crossroads for Tesla.
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.
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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