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Tesla Top 5 Week in Review: Model 3 “Founders Series”, a test drive gone wrong, Tesla insurance, and more
The news this week out of Tesla focused a lot on the Q4 earnings call and the 2016 annual financial report, with overall good numbers and analyst reactions. Part of that confidence came from the anticipated production of the new Model 3, which will be released to employees first as part of a feedback loop. In other areas, an overnight test drive program for prospective buyers turned bad when a driver behind a P100D lost control and crashed. Generally, Teslas score in the highest levels of automotive safety, which is why Tesla may be considering offering customers a package where purchase costs, insurance, and maintenance are bundled together. And, finally, more good news poured out of Nevada, where the Tesla Gigafactory is under construction. All that and more: read on, Teslarati fans….
Tesla beats Wall St. estimates: $7 billion revenue; record Model S, X orders; Model 3 production starts in July
Tesla released its 2016 Q4 financial results and shareholders letter as well as its annual 2016 overall financial report. With Q4 earnings loss of $.69 per share, Tesla came in at the lower end of the estimate spectrum. Revenue was $2.28 billion versus an estimate of $2.13 billion. For the full year 2016, revenues were up 73% from 2015 at $7 billion. Q4 Model S and X vehicles came in at record high sales numbers. In the days prior to the financial announcement, Tesla stock values had soared to nearly all-time highs.
Tesla Model 3 Design Studio expected in June, “Founders Series” will go to employees first
The Tesla Model 3 configurator is about three or four months away, according to Tesla CEO Elon Musk. Model will be released incrementally for testing and feedback. First deliveries will be offered to employees as part of an internal “feedback loop” to generate information before customers experience the car. Following the employee offering, west coast Tesla owners with geographic proximity to the Fremont factory will have the next opportunity to experience the Model 3. After that, the geographical expansion will continue to other regions and other lucky new Tesla customers.
Tesla’s “overnight test drive” program ends badly for one P100D driver
Last summer, a registration form appeared on the Tesla website in which prospective buyers could apply for an overnight test drive program. A prospective customer near Canmore, Alberta was behind the wheel of a P100D, which is Tesla’s fastest production car, when it crashed into guardrails. Authorized Tesla body shop Contemporary Coachworks declined to release background information regarding the incident, including the Tesla’s speed at the time of impact. Pictures taken afterward do seem to show significant damage, which leads one to wonder what insurance costs will look like for the test run. Maybe the next top featured story of the week isn’t just coincidence….
Tesla looks to bundle insurance policy into the purchase of a car
In Asia, Tesla offers a package to customers that includes the costs of purchase, insurance, and maintenance. That’s a model that Tesla would like to bring to the U.S., according to company information provided this week. This package may be offered in conjunction with external insurance providers or as in-house option. Providing insurance, in addition to other essential coverage, would be another way that Tesla would disrupt a business-as-usual set of practices from top automakers. The company has the capacity to offer this bundled package because Teslas have a strong safety record, which underlies the usual perils inherent in car insurance.
Nevada official says Tesla Gigafactory has over 1,000 workers and is hiring 150-200 more each month
At at time when the talk of the nations is jobs, jobs, Tesla’s job creation numbers at its Gigafactory in northern Nevada are one bright moment in an otherwise stagnant employment scene across the country. With hiring levels at about 150 to 200 more every month, Executive Director Steve Hill told the Senate Finance Committee last week during a budget review meeting that the California-based electric carmaker and energy company may be able to have 3,200 workers by March, 2018. Job creation at the Gigafactory reinforces Tesla’s original commitments when Nevada provided a $1.3 billion tax incentive package to Tesla at a time when the company’s name recognition was quite low.
Elon Musk
SpaceX’s $24B Starbase supercomputer plan slipped past a key roadblock
SpaceX wants a Starbase tax break for a $24 billion gas plant and supercomputer campus.
SpaceX is asking its own company town for a tax break on a $24 billion natural gas power plant and supercomputing facility at Starbase, Texas, and the land it picked sits just outside the reach of a data center moratorium that took effect in neighboring Brownsville last week.
A City of Starbase public hearing notice says SpaceX “proposes to construct, own, and operate a gas-fired power plant and super-compute facility” on roughly 444 acres between Boca Chica Boulevard and the Port of Brownsville. The $24 billion figure covers only the initial phases, and the notice leaves room for future expansions. The Starbase City Commission will consider a property tax abatement and a related economic development agreement at a 7 p.m. hearing on December 9. The notice does not disclose the size or length of the abatement, or how much computing capacity the site would hold.
The location has a history. Over the summer, SpaceX asked Brownsville to remove the tract from its city limits and offered $220 million for water and wastewater projects in return. Brownsville approved the move in August, and Starbase later annexed the land. Brownsville’s own 90-day pause on data center applications took effect last week, and had the tract stayed inside the city, the project likely would have needed a different home.
The power side is already in front of state regulators. SpaceX has applied to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality for air permits covering 35 mobile gas turbines producing roughly 750 megawatts, according to Politico, which also noted that two of the three Starbase commissioners voting on the incentives are SpaceX executives.
Building its own plant lets SpaceX skip the Texas grid. Gov. Greg Abbott paused new data center grid connections in August pending an audit, but a facility that generates its own electricity does not need one. The air permit still has to clear the TCEQ, where Abbott also ordered a halt on data center permits.
The bigger test arrives in January. Governor-elect Gina Hinojosa, who unseated Abbott last week, has said she will block data center approvals until the legislature passes new protections, and she has already asked state officials to hold off on any sale of Boca Chica State Park to SpaceX until she is sworn in. Tesla and SpaceX shares both fell the day after the election, and Musk’s first reaction on X was “Data centers in space looking pretty appealing right now.”
That line points to Starmind, SpaceX’s orbital compute constellation. Musk has said terrestrial compute will be “peanuts compared to orbital compute” and expects monthly orbital deployments to pass ground deployments around the end of 2028, as Teslarati reported. Until then, SpaceX still needs gigawatts on the ground. It ended the third quarter with 1.7 GW of nameplate compute, is targeting 2.5 to 3 GW by the end of this year and wants at least 10 GW more in 2027. Its existing Colossus sites around Memphis already run on gas turbines and face a lawsuit from residents over emissions.
Local reaction is split. The South Texas Environmental Justice Network has announced a protest, citing air quality, water use and energy bills, while some Brownsville residents told the Tribune they welcome the jobs. SpaceX did not respond to the Tribune’s questions about the project.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced that the company will extend Cybertruck production slightly to handle its extensive order backlog.
On Wednesday, Musk announced that “In order to work through more of the Cybertruck order backlog, production will be extended through the end of summer 2027.”
In order to work through more of the Cybertruck order backlog, production will be extended through the end of summer 2027
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 11, 2026
Tesla has already attempted to simplify its last months of production for the Cybertruck by eliminating several trim levels and only offering the Cyberbeast, the most expensive trim that starts at $109,990. The other two trim levels, the Cybertruck All-Wheel-Drive and Premium All-Wheel-Drive have both been discontinued.
There has been plenty of backlash against Tesla’s decision to ax the Cybertruck, but the company’s forecast prioritizes Cybercab and autonomy. Factory space at Gigafactory Texas that is not necessary is now being set aside for the Cybercab as the company truly embraces its “transportation-as-a-service” model.
There is still a slim chance the Cybertruck survives. Last evening, Tesla upfitter Unplugged Performance offered to take the Cybertruck line off of Tesla’s hands and continue building it, along with a CyberSUV.
Nevertheless, Tesla seems to be ending the Cybertruck on its terms after what will be a three-and-a-half-year run. It still does not really feel quite real; I think many of us thought the Cybertruck would be around for years to come.
Musk added more detail, stating that while it was not the smartest move, “there must be some room in this world for sentimentality or what’s the point?”
This is not the smartest move from a profit-maximizing standpoint btw, but there must be some room in this world for sentimentality or what’s the point?
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 11, 2026
Other EV pickups on the market have experienced a similar fate.
The Ford F-150 Lightning was axed by the Detroit company due to the continued losses the company took from sales. That truck was never profitable, and Ford is still taking a quarterly loss in its EV side. However, things are moving along as it has plans for a mass market EV pickup, which will likely gather some substantial demand if Ford can get it just right.
Perhaps another extension or even a total change of heart might come. Only Musk knows.
In a sudden and closely watched milestone, Tesla Robotaxi has edged past Waymo on the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles automated vehicle registry. As of November 10, Tesla lists 1,302 registered vehicles under Tesla Robotaxi, LLC, compared with Waymo’s 1,297.
The flip is narrow, but real, according to the State’s books. Tesla’s Texas fleet, following an expansion on November 10, now consists of 729 Model Ys and 573 purpose-built Cybercab vehicles. Waymo’s roster is dominated by the Jaguar I-PACE and a growing number of Zeekr-based Ojai minivans.
NEW: Tesla Robotaxi just added 20 Tesla Model Ys to its fleet. The Texas fleet now stands at 1302 vehicles.
Live tracker: https://t.co/ri0WMLRhCQ
Tracker powered by @EVject
— Texas Autonomous Vehicle Tracker (@texasavtracker) November 10, 2026
Those figures come from the same public TxDMV automated vehicle listings that independent trackers have monitored since a Texas law required operators to disclose fleet sizes.
The scale of Tesla’s climb is pretty interesting and shows how much the company has grown its autonomous ride-hailing fleet over the past months. When the registry first became public in late May 2026, Tesla listed just 42 vehicles on it. Meanwhile, Waymo had several hundred vehicles registered to it.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk shades Waymo: ‘Never really had a chance’
Since then, Tesla has multiplied its authorized Texas fleet more than thirty times, driven by repeated Model Y additions and a steady build of Cybercabs. Waymo has also expanded, but at a slower pace than Tesla.
It is also important to note that registrations are not necessarily equal to operational fleet. The TxDMV list shows the number of vehicles each company is permitted to run, but it does not report how many are actively carrying riders, which cities they serve, or trip volume. Both companies stage vehicles and run mixed fleets that can include units in testing or temporarily offline.
A lead on the registry therefore signals capacity and regulatory positioning more than immediate ride volume.
Tesla has use the growing authorized fleet to expand its unsupervised service beyond the original Austin geofence area, as now it is flowing into cities like San Antonio and Dallas. The company has highlighted plans for a broader Cybercab deployment, eventually into new states and territories.
Waymo is operating across multiple Texas markets and in other areas of the United States.
Right now, the five-vehicle margin is thin and could reverse with the next large registration from either side. For the moment, however, the public Texas record shows Tesla holding the larger authorized Robotaxi fleet in the state.
SpaceX’s $24B Starbase supercomputer plan slipped past a key roadblock
Tesla extends Cybertruck production as Musk concedes ‘sentimentality’
