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Elon Musk: Tesla ‘still haven’t fully recovered’ from difficult Model X ramp
CEO Elon Musk said that Tesla’s Model X Refresh ramp-up was a disaster that the automaker “still hasn’t fully recovered” from. The all-electric SUV from Tesla was its third vehicle release behind the Roadster and Model S, but it is still proving to give the company manufacturing difficulties; as Musk said, the “Model X is an extremely difficult car to build.”
Since “refreshing” Tesla’s two flagship vehicles, the Model S and Model X, in early 2021, only the all-electric sedan has contributed anything worth mentioning to the company’s quarterly delivery figures. The Model S, which experienced delays of its own, began deliveries in July 2021. While the Model S has presented challenges of its own, admittedly by Musk, who said the vehicle still had “many fine details to address” in March 2021, the Model X appears to be giving Tesla even more issues.
Credit: Tesla
Musk stated last night via Twitter that Tesla “dropped the ball badly regarding new Model X production ramp & still haven’t fully recovered. Was idiotic to stop production of old X in Dec 2020 when there was still plenty of demand!” Both the Model S and Model X production lines and the Fremont factory were halted, tipping off Tesla faithful that something was going on. Tesla then released details regarding both vehicles during the Q4 2020 Earnings Call, revealing the two updated vehicle designs.
Tesla owners who ordered the Model X after the automaker announced the redesign have experienced strange projections for delivery dates. While initial delivery dates were slotted for February 2021, by Q2, many of those projections had been pushed back to Q4. This was only the beginning of the delays, however, as some Model X delivery timelines have been pushed back to 2023. The most recent changes to Model X delivery dates took place in November 2021, when Tesla pushed Long Range variants with Cyberstream wheels back to March 2023.
Now, more owners are updating Teslarati that their delivery dates are continuing to be revised. After initial delivery was slated for April 2021 for one Model X orderer, this date has been delayed by twelve months.
@Tesla model x delivery date is now April 2022 in my profile, which has now been delayed 12+ months with original delivery set for April 2021. Will this ever be delivered? Has anyone else had a new model x delivered (non-plaid) @Teslarati
— Braden (@BradenLambros) February 9, 2022
Tesla also may be simplifying its Model X manufacturing lines to only include popular options in order to streamline manufacturing. Recently, Tesla made the Model X Plaid available in only the six-seat configuration, which sources told Teslarati was a move to simplify the production processes of the all-electric SUV. Tesla is unlikely to offer the five or seven-seat configurations again, people familiar with the matter said. Musk confirmed in another Tweet last night that “limiting factor is interior trim.”
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.
Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) reported its earnings for the first quarter of 2026 on Wednesday afternoon. Here’s what the company reported compared to what Wall Street analysts expected.
The earnings results come after Tesla reported a massive beat on vehicle deliveries for the second quarter, delivering 489,126 vehicles and building 451,758 cars during the three-month span.
This was a major shock for those on Wall Street as they anticipated somewhere around 400,000 deliveries for the quarter, and showed Tesla still has plenty of demand for its vehicles around the world and in the U.S. despite losing the $7,500 EV Tax Credit last year.
Tesla Q2 2026 Earnings Results
- Non-GAAP EPS – $0.33 reported vs. $0.53 expected
- Revenues – $28.236 billion reported vs. $26.4 billion expected
- Free Cash Flow- -$1.092B
- Profit -$ 4.751B
Tesla (beat/missed) analyst expectations, so the market response to the company’s quarter is what we will look for next.
Tesla shares closed today down just over 1 percent, trading at $374.01.
In the past, it has been anyone’s guess with what Tesla shares will do after they report earnings. Strong quarters have resulted in sharp drops, while lackluster quarters have seen the stock shoot up considerably.
Tesla will hold its Q2 2026 Earnings Call in about 90 minutes at 5:30 p.m. on the East Coast. Remarks will be made by CEO Elon Musk and other executives, who will shed some light on the investor questions that we covered earlier this week.
You can stream it below. Additionally, we will be doing our Live Blog on X and Facebook.
Q2 2026 Earnings Call https://t.co/zZS6ii2TWK
— Tesla (@Tesla) July 22, 2026
Tesla is about to make parking in busy parking lots at businesses and other points of interest less stressful than ever by allowing drivers more control over where they park and how, CEO Elon Musk confirmed on X.
Tesla has been working to improve the parking performance of vehicles utilizing the Full Self-Driving suite, but now it is looking to add more customization, allowing drivers to choose the specific space they park in, but also potentially the orientation the car pulls into the spot:
It’s coming soon
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 21, 2026
Musk has reiterated on X twice over the past several weeks that Tesla is working to make things with the FSD suite based more on the driver’s specific preferences and behaviors that were seen in past drives.
Essentially, it sounds like if you tend to park away from a business to avoid other vehicles, Tesla FSD will soon recognize that preference of yours and start parking further away as well. Additionally, the prospect of assigned parking spaces has been something many owners have voiced concerns about.
Living in a community with assigned parking spaces makes using FSD incredibly difficult as it will rarely park in the correct spot when there are so many to choose from. This is also pertinent in work settings where there are sometimes assigned parking spaces.
The updates to Tesla’s Full Self-Driving suite in terms of listening to driver preferences with parking are also extending to routing. Tesla announced yesterday that with the release of its 2026 Summer Update, it was adding Automatic Navigation and Preferred Routes:
Tesla reveals 2026 Summer Update with crazy fixes to Nav and more
Tesla has always maintained the idea that any human input is bad input, and that, ideally, Tesla Full Self-Driving will always make the right decision. Of course, this is all in theory, but the issue is that so many of Tesla’s interventions have come because it does something that is not necessarily wrong, but perhaps not what the driver would prefer.
Taking these preferences into account will help Tesla alleviate some of the potentially unnecessary interventions that drivers perform.
Tesla is starting to prepare for the launch of the Optimus robot in its smartphone app, new coding strings show. Elon Musk has referred to Optimus as what will be the greatest-selling product of any kind of all time, and now, Tesla is getting ready for its launch.
Tesla’s smartphone app had several first-time mentions of the Optimus program, according to Tesla App Updates, who intially reported on the appearance. Here’s what they found:
A Dedicated “Robot” Phone Key Authentication
Tesla is working on a Bluetooth Low Energy, or BLE, authentication that is specifically for robots. This does not only apply to Optimus, though, as Robotaxi, which is Tesla’s autonomous ride-hailing platform, might also identify vehicles within the fleet as robots as well.
Tesla shows rapid teardown of Model S and X lines, paving the way for Optimus at Fremont
Essentially, pairing your phone as a key to anything Tesla identifies as a robot to a “whitelist” of authorized devices. Optimus, Robotaxi, or other products that fall into this category will only respond if the device trying to communicate with it is authorized.
This is a great security feature that will eliminate at least face-value and low-level threats.
Home Data Collection and System Alerts
This appears to be somewhat of a neural network for Optimus within your house. There will be a dedicated screen that asks for consent to collect both video and spatial data while Optimus performs in-home tasks. Everything from vacuuming, washing dishes, dusting, and other activities will be tracked.
There will also be a comprehensive alert system that will track everything from low battery to mechanical issues.
Other Changes
Most of the changes tracked in this particular app update are related to Tesla’s 2026 Summer Update, and include things such as image assets for new features, a preview of the new custom wraps feature, and other unique features.
You can check out our coverage on what is included with the 2026 Summer Update here:
Tesla reveals 2026 Summer Update with crazy fixes to Nav and more
Tesla (TSLA) Q2 2026 earnings results: miss on EPS, beat on revenue
Tesla is about to make parking in busy lots less stressful than ever
