Latest news with #Teslas
Hamilton Spectator
3 hours ago
- Automotive
- Hamilton Spectator
Tesla Cybertruck has a bad rap. So she gave hers a peach of a wrap
Christel Virag knows her main vehicle is one some people love to hate, whether it's due to its futuristic appearance, or because its creator, Elon Musk, is a highly polarizing figure. In her eyes, her 2024 Tesla Cybertruck is just peachy … the same colour the vehicle's stainless-steel body is wrapped in. Although Virag, who lives with her family in Georgetown, also has a Cadillac Escalade and a Lamborghini Aventador, the angular Cybertruck is the vehicle she gravitates to. 'I grew up in a single-parent, low-income home, and I didn't even know what a Lamborghini or Bentley was. I wasn't into cars. About nine years ago, my husband and I had a Range Rover that had been wrapped. I was pregnant with our first child. I have a background in marketing and we were getting so many compliments on the Range Rover and its wrap, that we took a risk and opened our own vehicle wrap business ( as a small shop in 2016. Fast forward to 2025 and we have headquarters in Mississauga and 15 locations, including in Florida and South Africa. We have a saying that if you want to wrap Teslas, you need to own one. The business has a fleet of 10 to 15 of (the) cars, in different categories, for that reason. I ordered the Cybertruck two-and-a-half years ago online with a $250-deposit, and was on a waiting list for two years. I got it in January 2025, straight from the dealership. It was a brand-new car, and, because it's considered a commercial vehicle, I didn't have to pay luxury tax on it. (A federal luxury tax that normally applies to vehicles costing more than $100,000; the Cybertruck's weight of 4,000 kg puts it above the weight threshold for the tax). It looks like something from outer space. I've never had an electric car before. It's practical because it's a pickup truck. I have three kids who have bicycles and play hockey and rep soccer, and it has plenty of room to stow their stuff. It's similar to all the other Teslas, with a tiny half steering wheel and no shifter. Everything is on a screen, telling you if it's in reverse or whether it's low on windshield wiper fluid, for example. The mirror, itself, is on the screen. It's still a learning curve. It has automatic brakes and will slow itself down, and when I switch to another vehicle, I have to remember to use the brakes. It's almost like driving a spaceship. You push the gas and then it jolts forward, but it's so smooth. You don't hear the engine. It's incredible that something that's so big and so heavy is so quiet and feels so smooth. It's like you're flying on a cloud. (The Cybertruck reportedly can go from zero to 100 km/h in 2.7 seconds). I don't drive it fast, though. The car I drive is often determined by how many children I have that day. The Cybertruck has five seats, and it's so spacious, even though it looks small from the outside. In the back seat, the children have their own screen, with Netflix, YouTube and games. The car has a microphone you can use to talk to someone outside. If I take my kids to the park, I can sit in the truck and watch them play, then use the microphone and say 'OK, it's time to go,' when we have to leave. The Cybertruck was the typical stainless-steel exterior when I got it in January, but now It's got a peach wrap, including the rims, and I love it. It's my first electric truck. I don't love my Escalade, and, although I love my Aventador, the more practical car is the Cybertruck. I drive it 90 per cent of the time. I love that it's fully electric and I can charge it, and that it's so super safe. There are no blind spots, because there are so many cameras and warnings if vehicles are too close in front or behind you. It does all kinds of light tricks, with different themes for different holidays, and you can put on a light show with music for different occasions. You can sync two Cybertrucks together to do a light-and-sound show, and we've done that, as I have the pink one and my husband has a blue one. All of my cars are some shade of pink. The Escalade is pink, the Lamborghini is faded pink. My seven-year-old daughter loves it. The Cybertruck is so weird looking, people either love or hate it. But it's a perfect driving advertisement, (both) because it is weird-looking and because of its colour. I have driven it to Ottawa to one of our business locations, and to Indiana for my sister's graduation. To be honest, I was super worried about driving to the States in it (because of the backlash against Musk and Tesla), as people seem a lot more vocal and there's been more vandalism against Teslas. But there was no problem and everyone who saw it was giving it a thumbs up. I think because it is pink, it's less hated. On a full charge, it has a range of 500 km When it's cold, I lose about 50 km, which isn't bad. The great thing is that Tesla charging stations are everywhere now, and when I was travelling to Indiana, I typed in the destination and mapped the route to include charging stations, and it told me I'd need to stay for 25 minutes to charge. We had a charger installed at home, and I plug it in and charge it overnight. I don't necessarily go cruising, as I'm always driving. I did take it and the Lamborghini to two children's fun fairs recently and let kids climb into them. I drive the Cybertruck year-round. It won't get stored for the winter. It is a super good winter car. It tells you when the road is slippery and will go into snow mode. It's trained how to drive in snow. It's 100 per cent my favourite vehicle. You can follow Christel Virag on Instagram at @christelbarbie
New York Post
18 hours ago
- New York Post
College student faces serious prison sentence for firebombing Tesla dealership
The college student accused of firebombing a Tesla dealership in Kansas City faces up to 30 years in prison if convicted on all charges. Owen McIntire, who has been released to receive gender-affirming care, allegedly hurled Molotov cocktails at a Tesla dealership, blowing up two cars and causing hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages in March, officials said. The 19-year-old UMass Boston student has pleaded not guilty to malicious destruction of property and unlawful possession of an unregistered destructive device. He faces up to 30 years, if convicted on all counts, according to the Kansas City Star. His case was elevated to the Department of Justice's national security division, which is typically focused on terrorism and espionage, after Attorney General Pam Bondi labeled the incident a case of 'domestic terrorism.' Owen McIntire, 19, is facing up to 30 years in prison if convicted. Department of Justice 'Let me be extremely clear to anyone who still wants to firebomb a Tesla property: you will not evade us,' Bondi said in April in announcing McIntire's arrest. 'You will be arrested. You will be prosecuted. You will spend decades behind bars. It is not worth it.' Federal authorities responded sharply to dozens of reports of vandalism at Tesla dealerships across the country in an apparent protest against Tesla CEO and President Trump's pal Elon Musk, who at the time was serving as the head of the administration's cost-cutting agency DOGE. The Federal Bureau of Investigation launched a new task force for investigating such reports. Trump even suggested sending the criminals to serve 20-year jail sentences in El Salvador, where the US recently rented out a prison for deported illegal alleged gang members. McIntire allegedly destroyed two Teslas and charging stations in March, KMBC News Last month, McIntire was granted release by a judge due to 'serious and ongoing' medical needs — which include gender-affirming medical care that requires daily medication as well as mental health support. McIntire is on the autism spectrum and was diagnosed with both ADHD and depression, all of which require medications and treatments that excuse him from remaining in prison, his lawyers successfully argued. He was allowed to move to his parents' Parkville, Missouri, home but must wear an ankle monitor and abide by other conditions, according to the Kansas City Star, Prosecutors wanted to keep McIntire in custody ahead of his trial. His trial is set for Aug. 11.
Yahoo
20 hours ago
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Tesla's Robotaxi Dream Is Here--But Alphabet May Have Already Won the Race
Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) just kicked off its robotaxi experiment in Austin. The service runs a handful of Model Y SUVs between 6 a.m. and midnight, priced at just $4.20 per ride. These cars are outfitted with Tesla's latest full-self-driving software, but each one still has a company employee riding shotgun. It's a soft launch, in a small area, for a few handpicked riders. The bigger promisethe Cybercab that Elon Musk unveiled in 2023isn't expected until 2026. Yet, this early-stage rollout sits under a $1.1 trillion market cap and a forward P/E of roughly 150, according to FactSet. For context: that's more than the combined value of the next 20 automakers. RBC's Tom Narayan believes robotaxis account for about 60% of Tesla's valuation. In other words, this bet matters. Warning! GuruFocus has detected 6 Warning Sign with META. But while Tesla grabs headlines, WaymoAlphabet's (NASDAQ:GOOG) self-driving armis already operating in five cities, including a new launch in Atlanta. Its 1,500-vehicle fleet is real, driverless, and growing. A new Arizona plant is set to more than double that by end of next year. Waymo raised $5.6 billion last year at a $45 billion valuation, but analysts are getting more bullish. Raymond James' Josh Beck now pegs Waymo closer to $150 billion, citing a base-case of 129% compound annual growth in gross bookings over five years. A recent Uber partnership could push those numbers even higher. The market might still be fixated on Tesla's bold visionbut Waymo's quietly building a commercial robotaxi empire. Tesla's edge? Its bet on software. Musk is aiming to transform existing Teslas into money-making robotaxis with a simple updateno Lidar, just cameras. It's a cheaper approach, but not without issues. Sunlight glare, social media footage of driving errors, and early questions from regulators have already surfaced. And at $4.20 per ride, the economics don't yet impress. Waymo, meanwhile, is logging real miles, real data, and real revenue. Investors chasing the next big thing might want to look again. Because the under-the-radar AI moonshot may not be Teslait might be hiding inside Alphabet. This article first appeared on GuruFocus.
CNBC
a day ago
- Automotive
- CNBC
We checked out Tesla's supervised, invite-only robotaxi launch. Here's what we saw
Tesla's June launch of its long-awaited "robotaxi" requires a lot of qualifiers: it was supervised, open only to a few invitees and included somewhere between 10-20 vehicles. The stock jumped 8% the day after the launch, and some participants and observers called it a success. The shares have largely given back that gain since then. "I thought it was extremely smooth. Everything we saw," said Wedbush analyst Dan Ives. "Not just from a safety perspective. Maneuverability was way impressive. I thought actually even better than Waymo out of the gates. I thought going into it was going to be an eight out of 10. I think it's a 10 out of 10 relative to our experience." Other experiences were less smooth: One vehicle drove on the wrong side of the road, one vehicle stopped in the middle of traffic, one braked suddenly on a 40 mph street and another vehicle dropped off a passenger in the middle of an intersection. Since 2016, CEO Elon Musk has been promising that Tesla vehicles were on the cusp of full autonomy. Tesla's Master Plan, Part Deux, envisioned a future where every Tesla owner would be able to "add your car to the Tesla shared fleet just by tapping a button on the Tesla phone app and have it generate income for you while you're at work or on vacation, significantly offsetting and at times potentially exceeding the monthly loan or lease cost." He said in October of that year that all Tesla vehicles would have the hardware necessary for full self-driving. In 2019, he said Tesla would have 1 million robotaxis on the road by 2020. So far, none of these predictions have come true. And many researchers and rivals have disputed Musk's claim that Teslas already have all the hardware needed for full autonomy. The electric car maker is taking a very different path from every other major company working toward fully self-driving vehicles. It does not use radar or lidar — laser-based devices that map the environment around the vehicle. Companies like Alphabet's Waymo and Amazon's Zoox each use both radar and lidar. Tesla, in contrast, primarily uses cameras. Musk has said he thinks software can make up the difference."Inside the autonomous vehicle industry, I think the thing that's both frustrating and just puzzling is that, you know, everyone seems to be on the same page," said Ed Niedermeyer, a journalist who has covered Tesla for years and who wrote a book on the company. "You talk to almost any major expert and they'll say, you know, what Tesla is doing is interesting. It's pushing the technology forward in certain ways. Right? It's like teaching a dog to drive. If you can teach a dog to drive a little ways, that's super impressive. Does that mean you're going to build a business around dogs driving taxis? No." The other key difference is Tesla has long been promoting what Niedermeyer calls a "general solution" to full self-driving. That means every Tesla will be able to drive itself under all circumstances anywhere in the world. This is pretty much what Musk said in Tesla's second Master Plan, "When true self-driving is approved by regulators, it will mean that you will be able to summon your Tesla from pretty much anywhere." This presents tremendous technical challenges. "If your operating domain is the whole world, how do you ever get enough miles to know that you've covered everything that you're ever going to see in all the conditions that exist out there in the world?" Niedermeyer said. Everyone else is taking the Waymo route — deploying fleets of vehicles to a small contained area like parts of Austin, Texas, Phoenix and San Francisco. The fact that Tesla chose to only deploy robotaxis in a section of Austin, rather than let them roam everywhere, is one reason why Niedermeyer said the company is kind of proving that Waymo is taking the more feasible approach. "It's funny because Tesla wants Austin to be the show, the performance that shows, 'hey, like, we're doing this, we can do driverless, right?'" he said. "But really what it's showing is, well, Waymo kind of had it right all along." Musk still has fans and believers. "Tesla is the future," said Darko Protich, an Austin resident who CNBC spoke with at a local coffee shop. Protich said he has owned a few Tesla vehicles and has ridden in similar autonomous vehicles from Waymo, which he said he grew to like after a bit of apprehension. He has also ridden in robotaxi-like cars in China, and has less confidence in those. "They're not as safe," Protich said. "They're smaller. But I believe in Teslas, honestly." Another fan is Michael Simon, from Buda, Texas. "I just think it's amazing what, what Elon is doing," he said. "When I saw robotaxis were active, I was like, I want to ride." Neither Protich nor Simon had ridden in the initial launch models, but both said they were looking forward to the chance. "Elon has made a huge investment in the Austin area, and if I were younger and still working, I would absolutely put in a resume for Tesla to try to go to work for them and be part of that exciting technology and the future," Simon said.
UPI
2 days ago
- Automotive
- UPI
Amid declining EV sales, Tesla fires vice president of manufacturing
A row of Teslas charge at a Tesla power station (2018). The company announced on Thursday that it sold fewer cars in 2024 than it did in 2023, the first time sales dropped since Tesla began mass producing EVs. Its profits fell 71% in the first quarter of 2025, too. File Photo by Stephen Shaver/UPI | License Photo June 26 (UPI) -- Tesla CEO Elon Musk has fired the carmaker's vice president of manufacturing and operations following a falloff in auto sales in the nation's largest markets this year. Omead Afshar oversaw more than a half dozen upper-level employees in the company, including Troy Jones, Tesla's vice president of sales in North America, and Joe Ward, vice president of the Europe, Middle East and Africa region. The firing was first reported by Bloomberg News. Afshar is the second high-level employee to leave the company recently. His termination follows the resignation of Milan Kovac, who was the company's head of its Optimus humanoid robotics program. Kovac said in a post on X that he was leaving Tesla to spend more time with his family. Musk later thanked Kovac publicly for his time with the company. In 2022, Afshar was the subject of an internal investigation at Tesla that focused on his involvement in trying to secure construction materials for a secret project for Musk that included hard-to-get glass. Prior to his job as Tesla vice president, Afshar worked for SpaceX, Musk's aerospace company. Afshar's X account, which had not been updated, said he still works for Tesla, and he praised Musk for his leadership and work ethic following the launch of the company's Robotaxi service in Austin, Texas. "Thank you, Elon, for pushing us all," Afshar wrote. Tesla's stock price has dropped 19% this year, and took an especially hard hit following Musk's association with President Donald Trump, who appointed Musk to oversee the Department of Government Efficiency. DOGE took a broad and aggressive approach to eliminating federal employees, downsizing federal agencies and ending diversity, equity and inclusion programs at some of the nation's largest companies and universities. The company sold fewer cars in 2024 than it did in 2023, the first time sales dropped since Tesla began mass producing EVs. Its profits fell 71% in the first quarter of 2025. European sales dropped 28%, and dropped for a fifth straight month in May. The European Automobile Manufacturers Association said buyers are shifting to cheaper Chinese models.
