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Tesla’s vehicle performance downplayed by Porsche Mission E exec
Porsche’s Vice President of Product Line BEV, Stefan Weckbach, recently threw some shade at Tesla, stating that the Mission E, the German automaker’s upcoming rival to the Model S, will not have the limitations present in its iconic American counterpart.
The Porsche executive underplayed the performance of the Tesla’s flagship Model S, stating that the vehicle’s capabilities carry a significant weakness since the car is unable to maintain optimum levels of performance for extended periods of time. According to Weckbach, this particular weakness will not be present in the Mission E.
“(Tesla’s) system is throttled. Porsche drivers won’t need to worry about that because the Mission E’s being developed to deliver reproducible performance and a top speed which can be maintained for long periods,” the Porsche exec said according to Autoblog. Weckback asserted that Tesla’s ubiquitous and world record-setting 0-60 mph prowess will fail after a couple of runs. “But only twice — the third attempt will fail.” said the Mission E lead.
While Weckbach’s comments might have been somewhat accurate back when Tesla was limiting the use of its Ludicrous Mode to prevent the expedited wear and tear on its vehicles’ drivetrain and motor, the Porsche exec’s statements are not very accurate in the present context of Tesla’s vehicles. Both the Model S and the Model X, after all, are now capable of launching with Ludicrous Mode consistently, though the electric cars are still yet to dominate in an area where Porsche has expertise — extended performance driving on a track.
Weckbach further asserted that the Mission E would be absent of any gimmicks, dismissing the idea of simulating internal combustion engine sounds on the electric car to give it more character, even stating that the legacy automaker would not “lower” itself with such features. Weckbach asserted, however, that the Mission E will still provide its drivers with an ‘emotional’ experience that is comparable to those provided by the company’s iconic vehicles such as the Porsche 911 and the 918 Spyder.
ALSO SEE: Ludicrous Tesla Model S teaches showboating Porsche why electric drivetrains win [Video]
“Porsche is unlikely to lower itself to gimmicks of this kind or use sound effects. Any sound the Mission E makes will work to enhance the emotional factor of the car, and incorporate a clear reference to the technology,” Weckbach said.
Apart from his comments about Tesla and the lack of gimmicks on the Mission E, the Porsche exec also provided some tidbits of information about the upcoming electric car’s gear and luggage space.
“The front of the Mission E will contain lots of high-tech gear — the electric motor, the power electronics, the cooling system and other high-voltage components. Even with that, there are still 100 liters of space for luggage,” the exec said.
As we noted in a previous report, Porsche is doubling down on its efforts to meet Tesla head-on, investing $7.4 billion on its green car initiatives. Apart from the development of its electric and hybrid cars, Porsche is also investing $868 million in the construction of an ultra-fast charging network for its vehicles. Dubbed the Ionity network, Porsche response to Tesla’s Superchargers is reportedly designed to provide a standard output of 350 kW, which would enable owners of the Mission E to get 248 miles of charge in just 15 minutes. In comparison, Tesla’s Superchargers have a standard output of about 120 kW.
For years, there have been images and videos across social media platforms that have reminded me of when I was a 15-year-old kid teased by “Xbox 720” videos on YouTube. These videos are of the supposed “Tesla Phone” that Elon Musk was secretly developing in between leading Tesla with its electric cars and SpaceX with its reusable rockets.
Would you buy a Tesla phone ? pic.twitter.com/aaTwvvIJit
— Tesla Owners Silicon Valley (@teslaownersSV) October 6, 2023
Although Musk has put those rumors to bed several times, it was never completely out of the realm that he could get involved in cell phones in some capacity. Think outside the box and more macro-level, though. Instead of reinventing the computer, Musk reinvented connectivity by developing Starlink with SpaceX.
It could be something similar, TD Cowen analyst Gregory Williams said in a note last week, where he hinted SpaceX could be gathering some steam to acquire T-Mobile.
Williams said it would be the “clear choice” for SpaceX if it decided to go through with a network acquisition. He also suggested AT&T.
The move would be possible through selling more of its own stock, which would help SpaceX raise the money to purchase T-Mobile, which would cost roughly $300 billion. It could be one of the moves SpaceX makes post-IPO in terms of an acquisition: it already acquired Cursor AI for $60 billion.
Other analysts, like Dan Ives of Wedbush, believe SpaceX and Tesla will eventually merge into one anyway, and that conglomeration could come as soon as this year, some have said.
The implications of SpaceX purchasing T-Mobile are massive. A combined entity would create a truly ubiquitous network: T-Mobile’s terrestrial 5G towers and Starlink’s growing constellation of Direct-to-Cell satellites. This would essentially eliminate dead zones across the U.S. and potentially globally.
SpaceX would instantly become a full-scale facilities-based carrier with satellite differentiation; a huge advantage. This would pressure AT&T and Verizon heavily.
There are also concerns like a potential reduction in long-term competition, and of course, a deal of that size would face intense scrutiny from government agencies.
The strategic fit is compelling due to the existing Starlink–T-Mobile partnership and complementary technologies (space + terrestrial). It could create a dominant integrated communications player. However, the regulatory, financial, and execution hurdles are enormous — this remains highly speculative with no indication SpaceX is actively pursuing it right now.
Tesla revealed a major new Cybercab detail in a guide it released for First Responders, showing new territory in its beliefs and intentions for the ride-hailing-focused vehicle that entered production in April.
The First Responders Guide is released to give fire departments, paramedics, and other emergency personnel the proper guidance on what to do in the event of an accident, entrapment, or other situation that would require immediate attention.
On one of the pages of the First Responders Guide, Tesla revealed a stark detail about the Cybercab, which could help personnel enter the vehicle more easily in case of an emergency.
Tesla Cybercab has one important piece that AI4 cars might need for FSD
It shows Tesla has no intention of releasing any Cybercab units that were initially proposed for ride-hailing services for the general public with any manual controls, meaning a steering wheel or pedals:
“A Cybercab equipped with steering wheel, brake pedal, and an acceleration pedal is typically an engineering or test vehicle, and operates at SAE Level 2 autonomy. Cybercab is not typically equipped with a steering wheel or acceleration and brake pedals.”
New official Cybercab documentation from Tesla:
“A Cybercab equipped with steering wheel, brake pedal, and an acceleration pedal is typically an engineering or test vehicle, and operates at SAE Level 2 autonomy. Cybercab is not typically equipped with a steering wheel or… https://t.co/P6ut1mZyzr pic.twitter.com/yq6skl9s2J
— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) June 27, 2026
This is a major development for those who continue to believe Tesla planned to release the Cybercab with any sort of manual controls so that passengers could take over if needed. However, when Tesla started manufacturing production versions of the Cybercab in Giga Texas earlier this year, they were spotted without a steering wheel or pedals.
It essentially confirms the company has no intentions of bringing manual controls to the car’s production versions. Some have argued that the likelihood of Tesla having something
There still are some Cybercab units out there with a steering wheel and pedals, and as Tesla said, these cars are engineering or test vehicles, which have Safety Monitors on board to help the car out of a precarious situation or emergency.
Tesla released the Full Self-Driving v14 ‘Lite’ suite to owners of Hardware 3 or AI3 vehicles today, adding several new features to the vehicles that were once believed to be capable of unsupervised self-driving.
Now, Tesla has released this modified suite to older Tesla vehicles, adding plenty of new features and capabilities.
Here are the full release notes for the suite:
- Distilled the intelligence from HW4 V14 into HW3. This allows HW3 to directly learn how to handle scenarios using HW4 V14 as a guide. This process unlocks the improvements that have been made to HW4 including Reinforcement Learning (RL) and offline models for HW3.
- Improved both proactive and reactive responsiveness across a wide variety of categories including navigation handling, merges and forks, pedestrian interactions, traffic lights, and vehicle cut-in scenarios.
- Improved general comfort in nominal scenarios through fewer false slowdowns, smoother steering and more consistent lane centering.
- Introduced parking, unparking, and reversing capabilities.
- Added Arrival Options for you to select where FSD should park: in a Parking Lot, on the Street, in a Driveway, or at the Curbside.
- Speed Profiles are now available at all times, to further customize driving style preference.
These improvements, according to Tesla’s Head of AI, Ashok Elluswamy, help distill the driving behavior from AI4’s v14 series into both the camera and compute configurations of AI3.
Tesla Full Self-Driving v14 ‘Lite’ for older cars finally gets released
He added:
“It includes destination options and speed profiles on city roads, but more importantly significantly improved safety. We hope you’ll enjoy it, once the build ships wide.”
FSD v14 Lite is now rolling out to AI3 early-access customers. Based on the feedback, will rollout to more customers over the next few weeks.
This build distills the driving behavior from AI4’s v14 series into both the camera and compute config of AI3. It includes destination…
— Ashok Elluswamy (@aelluswamy) June 29, 2026
Tesla will continue to roll out the v14 Lite suite more widely in the coming weeks, the company said.
Tesla Phone? Not quite, but close: analyst
Tesla reveals huge Cybercab detail in new guide for First Responders
