Lifestyle
Tesla, teardowns, and treats: Sandy Munro talks 2,300-mile journey across the U.S.
The Tesla community is widely-familiar with automotive teardown legend Sandy Munro. The longtime Detroit automotive veteran has spent the last week in a 2021 Refreshed Tesla Model 3 with colleague Cory Steuben, driving over 2,300 miles from Michigan to the West Coast to talk Tesla, teardowns, and treats with the electric automaker’s faithful followers.
Munro chatted with Teslarati on Tuesday morning, close to exactly a week after his journey began, give or take a few hours. Munro’s purpose for the trip was to meet with several Munro and Associates clients who have requested the manufacturing expert’s two cents on their products for decades.
Munro’s 2021 Refreshed Model 3 was the car of choice for his 2,300-mile, 36-hour drive. (Credit: Tony Pham)
2,300 miles for Tesla fans and Treats
While his meetings were with other companies, Munro told us that he did not meet with Tesla or any executives exclusively. Instead, he was flagged down by several Tesla Owners groups who are situated across the state of California. It has been a pleasurable drive. In fact, Munro told me, “it has been one hell of a trip.” Munro has been showered with gifts and merchandise from Owners Clubs across the state. “We have a trunk full of goodies in the Model 3 here, and they’ve taken great care of us,” he said. “I had some of the best pizza of my life in San Diego. I haven’t had anything that good since I was in Italy.”
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- Credit: Tony Pham
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- Credit: Tony Pham
But his trip was more than just shared meals with Tesla owners across the state. He had plenty of time to talk with enthusiasts about their vehicles. He chatted with the Northern California-based group Tesla Owners Silicon Valley, where he spoke and conversed about all things Tesla related.
He did have a quick sneak preview of the Tesla’s Navigate on Autopilot and Full Self-Driving features, where he said, “I can’t go into much detail right now, but I can say it was phenomenal. I was in the passenger’s seat, and I was very impressed with what I saw, but I will leave it at that,” he commented.
Model 3 Improvements
Munro was a vocal critic of the original Model 3, using choice words when he described it to me during our interview. However, Tesla’s manufacturing processes, from build quality to paint, have all been improved since his teardown of an early Model 3 build. “This car has improved significantly,” Munro said. “The paint is great; it’s very impressive,” he remarked, but he still thinks there are some panel gap issues that Tesla needs to improve upon, but they may come with time and more refinements in the manufacturing process.
Most importantly, the paint issue is what Munro seemed to be super impressed with. He indicated that there was only one imperfection that he could notice in the 2021 Model 3, and he doesn’t even blame Tesla for it. “There is a small teardrop in the passenger’s side wing, but I don’t blame that on Tesla. It’s whoever made that part, not the paint.”
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- Credit: Ryan from The Kilowatts
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- Credit: Ryan from The Kilowatts
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- Credit: Ryan from The Kilowatts
I made sure to ask Munro whether Tesla’s paint facility had made the improvements internally, to which he replied he thought the early production years were most likely to blame for the paint mishaps. “I think they were just rushing to get in there and get production started. But a paint shop, when I look at it, should be as clean as the dining room table,” he said. Munro noted several steps automakers need to take when things like hair, dust, or dirt are found in a vehicle’s paint. It ultimately comes down to shutting the whole shop down and doing a clean sweep of the entire facility.
Tesla may have done this in 2020 after several permits found by Teslarati indicated paint shop revisions at Fremont were underway.
Tesla Fans: the best thing since the Jeep Wrangler wave
“I haven’t seen anything like Tesla fans since Jeep Wrangler people came about,” Munro said. “When I drive my Jeep Wrangler, and I see someone else with one, I am waving.” He talked about the monumental loyalty that every automotive brand enthusiast group experiences, but there is something different about Tesla. Munro said there are owners of Teslas and Jeeps who “extoll the virtues of their vehicles,” who are proud to drive their cars, and more importantly, glad to support their preferred companies through the good times and the bad ones.
It was a wonderful privilege to have our members meet @MunroAssociates. Here is their video of the meet up. https://t.co/l6pz0JlkPo pic.twitter.com/ynWkCLEJns
— Tesla Owners Of Silicon Valley (@teslaownersSV) January 26, 2021
Tesla teardown episodes have expanded Munro’s fan base considerably. He recounted multiple stories of when Supercharger visits resulted in photo ops for fans and unexpected conversations. His favorite, though, was an 8-year old child who asked, “Are you Sandy Munro?”
“Here’s this kid, his Mom drives a Tesla, he wants one of his own, and he sees me and tells me he likes my car,” he said.
Credit: Tony Pham
To his surprise, young fans are not the only ones with a keen eye on recognizing him. He also told multiple stories of how surprised he was to see the older generation driving the automotive industry’s newest thing. “I’ve never seen it before. There are 70-year-olds driving these cars, saying ‘It’s the best car I’ve ever had,’” even though they have been loyal GM or Ford owners for 5 or 6 decades. “They’re delighted” that they’ve made the switch, Munro says, and it seems like he certainly expects the trend to continue.
“This is the future,” Munro said. “There’s no question about it.”
Elon Musk
Tesla ditches India after years of broken promises
Tesla has ditched its plans to build a factory in India after years of failed negotiations.
Tesla’s long-running effort to establish a manufacturing presence in India is officially over. India’s Minister of Heavy Industries H.D. Kumaraswamy confirmed on May 19, 2026 that Tesla has informed authorities it will not proceed with a manufacturing facility in the country.
Tesla first signaled serious interest in India around 2021, when it began hiring local staff and lobbying the Indian government for lower import tariffs. The ask was straightforward: reduce duties enough for Tesla to test the market with imported vehicles before committing capital to a local factory. India’s position was equally firm, with an ask of Tesla to commit to manufacturing first, then receive tariff relief. Neither side moved, and the talks quietly collapsed.
Tesla to open first India experience center in Mumbai on July 15
India had offered a policy that would reduce import duties from 110% down to 15% on EVs priced above $35,000, provided companies committed at least $500 million toward local manufacturing investment within three years. Tesla declined to participate. The tariff standoff was only part of the problem. Analysts pointed to significant gaps in India’s local supply chain, inadequate industrial infrastructure, and a mismatch between Tesla’s premium pricing and the purchasing power of India’s automotive market as additional factors that made the investment difficult to justify.
First signs of an unraveling relationship came in April 2024, when Musk abruptly cancelled a planned trip to India where he was set to meet Prime Minister Modi and announce Tesla’s market entry. By July 2024, Fortune reported that Tesla executives had stopped contacting Indian government officials entirely. The government at that point understood Tesla had capital constraints and no plans to invest.
The more fundamental issue is that Tesla’s existing factories are currently operating at approximately 60% capacity, making a commitment to building new manufacturing capacity in a new market difficult to defend to investors. Tesla will continue selling imported Model Y vehicles through its existing showrooms in Mumbai, Delhi, Gurugram, and Bengaluru, but local production is no longer part of the plan.
Elon Musk
Trump’s invite for Elon just reshuffled Tesla’s big Signature Delivery Event
Tesla rescheduled its final Model S farewell to May 20 after Musk joined Trump in China.
Tesla has rescheduled its Model S and Model X Signature Edition delivery event to Wednesday, May 20, 2026, after abruptly calling off the original May 12 celebration. The event will take place at Tesla’s factory at 45500 Fremont Boulevard in Fremont, California, the same location where the Model S first rolled off the line in 2012. Invitees received a follow-up email asking them to reconfirm attendance and download a new QR code ticket, with Tesla noting that all travel and accommodation expenses remain the buyer’s responsibility.
The reason behind the original cancellation came into focus the same day it was announced. President Trump invited Elon Musk, Apple’s Tim Cook, BlackRock’s Larry Fink, Boeing’s Kelly Ortberg, and executives from Goldman Sachs, Blackstone, Citigroup, and Meta to join his trip to China this week for a summit with President Xi Jinping. The agenda covers trade, artificial intelligence, export controls, Taiwan, and the Iran war, following weeks of escalating friction between Washington and Beijing over AI technology, sanctions, and rare earth exports. Trump wrote on Truth Social, “I am very much looking forward to my trip to China, an amazing Country, with a Leader, President Xi, respected by all.”
Tesla launches 200mph Model S “Gold” Signature in invite-only purchase
The vehicles at the center of all this are the last Model S and Model X units Tesla will ever build. Priced at $159,420 each, the 250 Model S and 100 Model X Signature Edition units come finished in Garnet Red with a one-year no-resale agreement, giving Tesla right of first refusal if the owner decides to sell. As Teslarati reported, the Model S defined Tesla’s early identity as a serious luxury automaker, and the Fremont factory line that built it is now being converted to manufacture Optimus humanoid robots.
Musk’s inclusion in the China delegation drew attention given his very public relationship with Trump, and the invitation signals the two have moved past and past grievances. Trump originally brought Musk on to lead the Department of Government Efficiency following his inauguration, and despite a sharp public dispute in mid-2025, the two have appeared together repeatedly in recent months. A seat on the China trip, the most diplomatically consequential visit of Trump’s current term, puts Musk back at the table on U.S. economic policy at a moment when Tesla’s China revenue remains one of the company’s most important financial pillars.
Lifestyle
Tesla Semi hauls fresh Cybercab batch as Robotaxi era takes hold
A Tesla Semi was filmed hauling Cybercab units out of Giga Texas for the first time.
A Tesla Semi loaded with Cybercab units was recently filmed leaving Gigafactory Texas, marking what appears to be the first documented delivery run of Tesla’s autonomous two-seater. The footage shows multiple Cybercabs secured on a flatbed trailer being hauled by a production Tesla Semi, a truck rated for a gross combination weight of 82,000 lbs. The location is consistent with Giga Texas in Austin, where Cybercab production has been ramping since February 2026.
The sighting follows a wave of Cybercab activity at the Austin facility. In late April, drone operator Joe Tegtmeyer spotted approximately 60 Cybercabs parked in two organized groups in the factory’s outbound lot, the largest concentration observed to date. Units being staged in an outbound lot is a standard pre-delivery step, and the Semi footage is the logical next frame in that sequence.
En route with @tesla_semi pic.twitter.com/ZfuOjaeLH1
— Tesla Robotaxi (@robotaxi) May 7, 2026
This is not the first time Tesla has used its own Semi to move Tesla products. When the Semi was unveiled in 2017, Musk noted it would be used for Tesla’s own operations, and over the years Semi prototypes were spotted carrying cargo ranging from concrete weights to Tesla vehicles being delivered to consumers. In 2023, a Semi was photographed transporting a Cybertruck on a trailer ahead of that vehicle’s delivery launch.
The Cybercab itself was first revealed publicly at Tesla’s “We, Robot” event on October 10, 2024, at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, where 20 pre-production units gave attendees rides around the studio lot. Musk stated at the event that Tesla intends to produce the Cybercab before 2027. The first production unit rolled off the Giga Texas line on February 17, 2026, with Musk posting on X: “Congratulations to the Tesla team on making the first production Cybercab.”
Tesla’s annual production goal is 2 million Cybercabs per year once multiple factories reach full design capacity, with the company targeting a price under $30,000 per unit. Tesla has confirmed plans to expand its robotaxi service to seven cities in the first half of 2026, including Dallas, Houston, Phoenix, Miami, Orlando, Tampa, and Las Vegas, building on the unsupervised service already running in Austin. Musk has said he expects robotaxis to cover between a quarter and half of the United States by end of year.
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