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Tesla’s Product Roadmap update reveals Cybertruck, $25k Model won’t come in 2022

(Credit: @TeslaTruckClub/Twitter)

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Tesla’s Earnings Call for Q4 and Full Year 2021 was its most impressive in history from a financial standpoint. After accomplishing its second profitable year of operations with a healthy automotive gross margin and above-consensus reports of production and delivery figures, Tesla activated bullish commentary across the board from many analysts and firms. However, the most anticipated portion of the call for some was Musk’s promise to update Tesla’s “Product Roadmap,” which revealed that “Cybertruck, Semi, Roadster, [and] Optimus” will not come until 2023 at the earliest.

“So, we will not be introducing new vehicle models this year,” Musk said on the call. “It would not make any sense because we’ll still be parts constrained.” Global supply chain issues have plagued much of the automotive industry. Tesla, interestingly, has been the one company that has seemingly defied all odds and avoided increasing wait times for even the most standard of parts. However, the company is not immune to the shortages, and 2022 will not be a year where Tesla introduces any new vehicles, including the Cybertruck, which was recently rumored to be pushed back to 2023.

Tesla (TSLA) Q4 and FY 2021 earnings results: Revenue and EPS beat on most impressive quarter to date

It seems that reports were correct, and Tesla will not enter any explicit production phases of the Cybertruck, nor any of the other models Musk mentioned this year. The Roadster, Semi, and $25,000 rumored vehicle will not enter production any time during 2022. This does not mean that Tesla will not be developing them, however.

“We will, however, do a lot of engineering and tooling, whatnot to create those vehicles: Cybertruck, Semi, Roadster, Optimus, and be ready to bring those to production hopefully next year. That is most likely,” Musk added. He also indicated that the Tesla Bot, which is inching toward the name “Optimum Sub-Prime,” will be Tesla’s “most important product development” of 2022. “This, I think, has the potential to be more significant than the vehicle business over time.”

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Joe Rogan gives the Tesla Cybertruck some praise: “Coolest car I’ve ever seen in my life”

While some (including myself) are frustrated with timeline delays, it is important to remember Tesla cannot control global supply constraints. While the company is super vertically-integrated, it cannot build its entire vehicles itself and has to receive some of its parts from third-party suppliers. This has limited Tesla’s ability to offer certain powertrains and has pushed back delivery dates on some currently offered models.

What about models that have been in Tesla’s pipeline for several years? The Cybertruck had an initial production date of late 2021 for the Tri-Motor powertrain. Now, the Tri-Motor will not even be the premier trim, according to Musk himself, who said a Quad-Motor variant would be the first Cybertruck model produced at Gigafactory Texas.

Tesla’s uber-affordable $25,000 model will also not be coming anytime soon, although he confirmed it. “Well, we’re not currently working on the — on a $25,000 car. We — you know, at some point, we will, but we have enough on our plate right now, too much on our plate, frankly. So, you know, at some point, there will be.”

The Q4 2021 Earnings Call really told us all one thing: the good stuff is coming next year. This year will be a year of surviving the supply chain shortage, which Musk also stated would last through this year. “So — in 2022, supply chain will continue to be the fundamental limiter of output across all factories. So the chip shortage, while better than last year, is still an issue.” After Tesla works through short-term issues with the supply chain bottlenecks, the company’s longer-term projects can move forward, bringing more groundbreaking and innovative electric vehicles to the market.

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I’d love to hear from you! If you have any comments, concerns, or questions, please email me at joey@teslarati.com. You can also reach me on Twitter @KlenderJoey, or if you have news tips, you can email us at tips@teslarati.com.

Quotes provided by The Motley Fool.

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 adjusts crucial feature as winter weather arrives

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Credit: Tesla Cybertruck Owners Club Forum user CybertruckCovers

Tesla has adjusted the functionality of a crucial climate feature as Winter weather has started to arrive throughout some parts of the United States. The new feature was highly requested by owners.

Tesla has a Cabin Overheat Protection feature that helps keep the temperature regulated if it reaches a certain threshold. Inversely, it can be used in cold weather as well, which will automatically warm the cabin if it sinks to a temperature that is too low for the owner’s comfort.

This is a great way to keep the cabin either warmed up just enough or cooled down just enough so that it never gets too hot or too cold. Extreme temperatures could damage certain parts of the vehicle or damage personal belongings that are kept inside the car.

Overheat protection is a great thing to have in hot climates like Arizona or Texas, especially with the Premium trims of the Model 3 and Model Y, which feature a glass roof.

Many owners appreciate the feature, but they argue that using it at home will utilize too much energy, especially during extreme temperatures. For a while, many Tesla fans have requested an option to disable this feature when the car is parked at home, which the company recently added, according to Not a Tesla App.

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The feature is part of Software Version 2025.44.3, and the release notes state:

“You can now choose Exclude Home when Cabin Overheat Protection or No A/C is enabled.”

Tesla has been great at listening to what owners want with new features, and this is one that will reserve some charge and prevent unnecessary utilization of available power, especially as the car is parked at home. If owners want to condition the cabin or get the car ready for operation with a comfortable interior, they can utilize the Tesla app to adjust the climate.

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Tesla CEO Elon Musk sends rivals dire warning about Full Self-Driving

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla CEO Elon Musk revealed today on the social media platform X that legacy automakers, such as Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis, do not want to license the company’s Full Self-Driving suite, at least not without a long list of their own terms.

“I’ve tried to warn them and even offered to license Tesla FSD, but they don’t want it! Crazy,” Musk said on X. “When legacy auto does occasionally reach out, they tepidly discuss implementing FSD for a tiny program in 5 years with unworkable requirements for Tesla, so pointless.”

Musk made the remark in response to a note we wrote about earlier today from Melius Research, in which analyst Rob Wertheimer said, “Our point is not that Tesla is at risk, it’s that everybody else is,” in terms of autonomy and self-driving development.

Wertheimer believes there are hundreds of billions of dollars in value headed toward Tesla’s way because of its prowess with FSD.

A few years ago, Musk first remarked that Tesla was in early talks with one legacy automaker regarding licensing Full Self-Driving for its vehicles. Tesla never confirmed which company it was, but given Musk’s ongoing talks with Ford CEO Jim Farley at the time, it seemed the Detroit-based automaker was the likely suspect.

Tesla’s Elon Musk reiterates FSD licensing offer for other automakers

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Ford has been perhaps the most aggressive legacy automaker in terms of its EV efforts, but it recently scaled back its electric offensive due to profitability issues and weak demand. It simply was not making enough vehicles, nor selling the volume needed to turn a profit.

Musk truly believes that many of the companies that turn their backs on FSD now will suffer in the future, especially considering the increased chance it could be a parallel to what has happened with EV efforts for many of these companies.

Unfortunately, they got started too late and are now playing catch-up with Tesla, XPeng, BYD, and the other dominating forces in EVs across the globe.

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Tesla backtracks on strange Nav feature after numerous complaints

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla is backtracking on a strange adjustment it made to its in-car Navigation feature after numerous complaints from owners convinced the company to make a change.

Tesla’s in-car Navigation is catered to its vehicles, as it routes Supercharging stops and preps your vehicle for charging with preconditioning. It is also very intuitive, and features other things like weather radar and a detailed map outlining points of interest.

However, a recent change to the Navigation by Tesla did not go unnoticed, and owners were really upset about it.

Tesla’s Navigation gets huge improvement with simple update

For trips that required multiple Supercharger stops, Tesla decided to implement a naming change, which did not show the city or state of each charging stop. Instead, it just showed the business where the Supercharger was located, giving many owners an unwelcome surprise.

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However, Tesla’s Director of Supercharging, Max de Zegher, admitted the update was a “big mistake on our end,” and made a change that rolled out within 24 hours:

The lack of a name for the city where a Supercharging stop would be made caused some confusion for owners in the short term. Some drivers argued that it was more difficult to make stops at some familiar locations that were special to them. Others were not too keen on not knowing where they were going to be along their trip.

Tesla was quick to scramble to resolve this issue, and it did a great job of rolling it out in an expedited manner, as de Zegher said that most in-car touch screens would notice the fix within one day of the change being rolled out.

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Additionally, there will be even more improvements in December, as Tesla plans to show the common name/amenity below the site name as well, which will give people a better idea of what to expect when they arrive at a Supercharger.

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