News
Unplugged Performance now offers the ultimate Tesla suspension upgrade
Unplugged Performance has released its ultimate Tesla suspension upgrade, the all-new Ohlins X UP TTS performance suspension setup.
Suspension is currently one of the best upgrades you can make on an electric vehicle. Due to their generally higher curb weight, a good performance suspension setup can keep the car planted and controlled, no matter how big the bump or turn you take. Unplugged Performance has been one such place to get these upgrades for your Tesla for years. But they are taking it to another level with the Ohlins TTS performance suspension setup.
Stock Tesla Suspension –
This performance suspension setup works entirely differently from the stock suspension found on any stock Tesla. The stock suspension found on a Tesla Model 3 or Tesla Model Y is relatively rudimentary. A cylinder filled with liquid resists compression when the wheel goes up or down, and a spring pushes that cylinder down to reset after every bounce.
The suspension in the Tesla Model S and Tesla Model X is far more complex. These vehicles are equipped with air suspension, whereby a small rubber bag inside a spring on each wheel is inflated and deflated to control ride height and stiffness. And in the case of Tesla products, through camera sensing, these vehicles can even react to the road surface the car “sees.”
The Ohlins suspension works more similarly to the stock suspension found on the Tesla Model 3 and Tesla Model Y. The “coilover” suspension setup means that the spring is still placed over the cylinder to be compressed, but in this case, the rate at which the spring compresses, the rate at which the cylinder compresses, the ride height, and much more are both adjustable and perfectly designed for your car and the track.
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- Credit: Unplugged Performance
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- Credit: Unplugged Performance
The $15,000 Difference –
Via their partnership with Ohlins, Unplugged Performance is now offering the “pinnacle” of Tesla performance suspension offerings. With this comes a very pinnacle price tag as well. But what makes these setups worth the $15,000?
First, it needs to be acknowledged that this suspension is not for driving around town or picking up the groceries. The focus on track performance was paramount in the engineering process. To quote Ben Schaffer, CEO of Unplugged Performance, “we made this [suspension] for ourselves and ultimate track use.” The suspension was designed with one car and purpose: to make the fastest Tesla around a track.
Adjustability is another critical difference for the Ohlins TTS setup. Unplugged Performance has ensured that the setup is 4-way adjustable; front and rear, high-speed and low-speed rebound and compression, which means that you can tune precisely how you want the suspension to react when you hit a bump or a corner at high or low speeds.
Concierge service is another distinguishing feature. When you buy the Ohlins X UP TTS suspension setup, the Unplugged Performance team is on call to ensure your car is as fast as possible on whatever raceway you find yourself on; Pikes Peak to Mt. Washington, Nurburing to Spa; they have you covered.
Finally, what the setup brings when looking outside of the numbers, is prestige and an unrivaled road feel. The level of prestige that Unplugged Performance brings to its Tesla products is unmatched. They supply the products and use them to set records, most recently at the Pikes Peak hill climb. Very few other companies have the same dedication to Tesla products. And the road feel that they have dedicated themselves to will likely prove to be the factor that influences the hyper-enthusiast or Tesla race team to purchase the upgrade.
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- Credit: Unplugged Performance
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- Credit: Unplugged Performance
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- Credit: Unplugged Performance
This shows, perhaps above everything else, that electric vehicles don’t have to mean the end of modification or “wrenchin”; in fact, they can be an incredible new platform that enthusiasts can use just like any other to create unique projects. CEO Ben Schaffer noted that electric vehicles don’t have to be the end of performance tuning but the start of a new chapter.
What do you think of the article? Do you have any comments, questions, or concerns? Shoot me an email at william@teslarati.com. You can also reach me on Twitter @WilliamWritin. If you have news tips, email us at tips@teslarati.com!
News
Tesla Model Y Standard Long Range RWD launches in Europe
The update was announced by Tesla Europe & Middle East in a post on its official social media account on X.
Tesla has expanded the Model Y lineup in Europe with the introduction of the Standard Long Range RWD variant, which offers an impressive 657 km of WLTP range.
The update was announced by Tesla Europe & Middle East in a post on its official social media account on X.
Model Y Standard Long Range RWD Details
Tesla Europe & Middle East highlighted some of the Model Y Standard Long Range RWD’s most notable specs, from its 657 km of WLTP range to its 2,118 liters of cargo volume. More importantly, Tesla also noted that the newly released variant only consumes 12.7 kWh per 100 km, making it the most efficient Model Y to date.
The Model Y Standard provides a lower entry point for consumers who wish to enter the Tesla ecosystem at the lowest possible price. While the Model 3 Standard is still more affordable, some consumers might prefer the Model Y Standard due to its larger size and crossover form factor. The fact that the Model Y Standard is equipped with Tesla’s AI4 computer also makes it ready for FSD’s eventual rollout to the region.
Top Gear’s Model Y Standard review
Top Gear‘s recent review of the Tesla Model Y Standard highlighted some of the vehicle’s most notable features, such as its impressive real-world range, stellar infotainment system, and spacious interior. As per the publication, the Model Y Standard still retains a lot of what makes Tesla’s vehicles well-rounded, even if it’s been equipped with a simplified interior.
Top Gear compared the Model Y Standard to its rivals in the same segment. “The introduction of the Standard trim brings the Model Y in line with the entry price of most of its closest competition. In fact, it’s actually cheaper than a Peugeot e-3008 and costs £5k less than an entry-level Audi Q4 e-tron. It also makes the Ford Mustang Mach-E look a little short with its higher entry price and worse range,” the publication wrote.
Elon Musk
Elon Musk’s xAI bets $20B on Mississippi with 2GW AI data center project
The project is expected to create hundreds of permanent jobs, dramatically expand xAI’s computing capacity, and further cement the Mid-South as a growing hub for AI infrastructure.
Elon Musk’s xAI plans to pour more than $20 billion into a massive new data center campus in Southaven, Mississippi, marking the largest single economic development project in the state’s history.
The project is expected to create hundreds of permanent jobs, dramatically expand xAI’s computing capacity, and further cement the Mid-South as a growing hub for AI infrastructure.
xAI goes MACROHARDRR in Mississippi
xAI has acquired and is retrofitting an existing facility in Southaven to serve as a new data center, which will be known as “MACROHARDRR.” The site sits near a recently acquired power plant and close to one of xAI’s existing data centers in Tennessee, creating a regional cluster designed to support large-scale AI training and inference.
Once completed, the Southaven facility is expected to push the company’s total computing capacity to nearly 2 GW, placing it among the most powerful AI compute installations globally. The data center is scheduled to begin operations in February 2026.
Gov. Tate Reeves shared his optimism about the project in a press release. “This record-shattering $20 billion investment is an amazing start to what is sure to be another incredible year for economic development in Mississippi. Today, Elon Musk is bringing xAI to DeSoto County, a project that will transform the region and bring amazing opportunities to its residents for generations. This is the largest economic development project in Mississippi’s history,” he said.
xAI’s broader AI ambitions
To secure the investment, the Mississippi Development Authority approved xAI for its Data Center Incentive program, which provides sales and use tax exemptions on eligible computing hardware and software. The City of Southaven and DeSoto County are also supporting the project through fee-in-lieu agreements aimed at accelerating development timelines and reducing upfront costs.
Founded in 2023 by Elon Musk, xAI develops advanced artificial intelligence systems focused on large-scale reasoning and generative applications. Its flagship product, Grok, is integrated with the social media platform X, alongside a growing suite of APIs for image generation, voice, and autonomous agents, including offerings tailored for government use.
Elon Musk highlighted xAi’s growth and momentum in a comment about the matter. “xAI is scaling at an immeasurable pace — we are building our third massive data center in the greater Memphis area. MACROHARDRR pushes our Colossus training compute to ~2GW – by far the most powerful AI system on Earth. This is insane execution speed by xAI and the state of Mississippi. We are grateful to Governor Reeves for his support of building xAI at warp speed,” Musk said.
Tesla’s Head of AI, Ashok Elluswamy, says that something that was expected with version 14.3 of the company’s Full Self-Driving platform has already partially shipped with the current build of version 14.2.
Tesla and CEO Elon Musk have teased on several occasions that reasoning will be a big piece of future Full Self-Driving builds, helping bring forth the “sentient” narrative that the company has pushed for these more advanced FSD versions.
Back in October on the Q3 Earnings Call, Musk said:
“With reasoning, it’s literally going to think about which parking spot to pick. It’ll drop you off at the entrance of the store, then go find a parking spot. It’s going to spot empty spots much better than a human. It’s going to use reasoning to solve things.”
Musk said in the same month:
“By v14.3, your car will feel like it is sentient.”
Amazingly, Tesla Full Self-Driving v14.2.2.2, which is the most recent iteration released, is very close to this sentient feeling. However, there are more things that need to be improved, and logic appears to be in the future plans to help with decision-making in general, alongside other refinements and features.
On Thursday evening, Elluswamy revealed that some of the reasoning features have already been rolled out, confirming that it has been added to navigation route changes during construction, as well as with parking options.
He added that “more and more reasoning will ship in Q1.”
🚨 Tesla’s Ashok Elluswamy reveals Nav decisions when encountering construction and parking options contain “some elements of reasoning”
More uses of reasoning will be shipped later this quarter, a big tidbit of info as we wait v14.3 https://t.co/jty8llgsKM
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) January 9, 2026
Interestingly, parking improvements were hinted at being added in the initial rollout of v14.2 several months ago. These had not rolled out to vehicles quite yet, as they were listed under the future improvements portion of the release notes, but it appears things have already started to make their way to cars in a limited fashion.
Tesla Full Self-Driving v14.2 – Full Review, the Good and the Bad
As reasoning is more involved in more of the Full Self-Driving suite, it is likely we will see cars make better decisions in terms of routing and navigation, which is a big complaint of many owners (including me).
Additionally, the operation as a whole should be smoother and more comfortable to owners, which is hard to believe considering how good it is already. Nevertheless, there are absolutely improvements that need to be made before Tesla can introduce completely unsupervised FSD.
Tesla Model Y Standard Long Range RWD launches in Europe
Elon Musk’s xAI bets $20B on Mississippi with 2GW AI data center project
