today we're getting into the latest Tesla news including a new Tesla steering wheel Tesla passing BMW in the U.S and massive Tesla price drops across their entire lineup

today we're getting into the latest

Tesla news including a new Tesla

steering wheel Tesla passing BMW in the

U.S and massive Tesla price drops across

their entire lineup in all markets so

let's get into it

[Music]

first up today since the refresh of the

model snx announced back in January of

2021 Tesla has only offered those cars

with a yoke steering wheel option this

wheel drew a lot of criticism but

overall has worked out fine for owners

at the same time though people have

wanted the option to purchase a round

steering wheel when buying these cars

particularly on the model X but Elon

Musk was clear that Tesla wouldn't make

this in July of 2021 he responded no in

response to whether Tesla would make an

optional round wheel in September of

2021 he said yet another round wheel is

boring and blocks the screen FSD and

panoramic mode looks way better with a

yoke it took a long time for Tesla to

scale up those vehicles and renders of a

round wheel on those cars leaked a while

ago but Tesla never released it until

now I figured this change would happen

eventually and Tesla has made this

change in two ways first when you

configure a Model S or X on Tesla's

website you can now configure a steering

control option surprisingly the default

is now a round wheel still with touch

sensitive buttons but a normal wheel

shape then you can change to a yoke if

you choose and either option is included

I personally recommend the Yoke and

would say to give it a try before

deciding not to buy it but I'm also glad

to see Tesla finally making this an

option in classic Tesla fashion though

this change was made suddenly and has

made some customers frustrated that

their car had no option for a round

wheel to handle this Tesla is offering a

retrofit allowing you to change from a

yoke to a round wheel if you so choose

but it costs 700 Tesla offers it on

their online shop saying quote travel in

luxury enjoy the warmth of a heated

wheel and the touch of Premium vegan

leather in a traditional form factor no

stocks or shifters it will become

available in March and the purchase

price includes Tesla Service

installation next up to date Tesla has

officially become the top Luxury Auto

brand in the United States based on

registration data collected and posted

by Automotive news Tesla has entered the

number one spot this is the first time

in 25 years that a US automaker has been

in this position they are in first with

491 thousand registrations in the US for

2022 passing BMW at 300 132 388 and

Mercedes at two hundred and eighty six

thousand seven hundred sixty four Lexus

Audi Cadillac Acura and Volvo follow

after in 2021 BMW was in the top spot

beating Tesla by around 23 000 units so

Tesla's significant Factory ramping this

year has definitely helped them

comfortably enter this top spot leading

by over a hundred thousand Vehicles

their lead here is only expected to grow

in 2023 but recent price drops have both

concerned people as to Tesla's demand

and encouraged people that Tesla is able

to lower prices once again at the end of

last quarter Tesla was offering

discounts of 37.50 and up to 7 500 by

the end of the year this was largely

seen as Tesla trying to clear inventory

while customers were delaying orders to

see what the impending tax credit would

offer the details for that tax credit

came out disqualifying the model y since

it was over the 55 000 price cap it was

assigned but then we started seeing

Tesla lower prices in China Tesla

suddenly slashed their prices at the

beginning of January lowering prices up

to the equivalent of seven thousand

dollars this brought cheapest vehicle in

China the model 3 rear-wheel drive down

13.54 percent to 229 900 RMB or 33 417

US Dollars the model y long range also

dropped down 13.41 to the equivalent of

45 118 dollars in China this was

exciting to hear from the perspective of

affordable electric vehicles but sparked

protests for the customers who had just

purchased cars at the higher prices

shortly after we saw Tesla continue to

slash prices in markets like South Korea

Japan Singapore and Australia but this

week they officially dropped prices for

the first time in a long time in the

United States it's the biggest price

drop we've seen and far larger than

anyone expected the model 3 rear wheel

drive dropped three thousand dollars the

model 3 long range dropped eight

thousand dollars in model 3 Performance

dropped to nine thousand dollars those

are significant price drops and far more

than I expected to happen at once but

the bigger drop is for the model y Tesla

lowered the price of the model y from

sixty five thousand nine hundred ninety

dollars all the way to down to fifty two

thousand nine hundred ninety dollars

that is a thirteen thousand dollar price

drop overnight lowering its full price

by twenty percent model wide performance

dropped the same amount bringing that

car down to fifty six thousand nine

hundred ninety dollars what this means

is that a base model y even price capped

at fifty five thousand dollars for a tax

credit is now eligible for certain

customers the model y has now become a

whole twenty thousand dollars cheaper it

used to be sixty five thousand nine

hundred ninety dollars and not get a tax

credit but now it's fifty two thousand

nine hundred ninety dollars and eligible

for a seventy five hundred dollar credit

bringing the price down to forty five

thousand four hundred ninety dollars for

some people when including that credit

that's the cheapest price the model y

has ever been available for and it's a

significant change from the very high

price this car has been at Tesla also

dropped Model S and X prices at the same

time dropping the model S plaid to the

lowest price I believe we've seen the

model S dropped ten thousand dollars now

starting at ninety four thousand nine

hundred ninety dollars a ten percent

drop the model S plaid dropped a whole

twenty one thousand dollars now starting

at hundred and fourteen thousand nine

hundred ninety dollars a fifteen percent

drop the model X dropped eleven thousand

dollars now starting at a hundred and

nine thousand nine hundred ninety

dollars a nine percent drop and lastly

the model X plaid dropped nineteen

thousand dollars now starting at One

hundred nineteen thousand nine hundred

ninety dollars a fourteen percent drop

there's a lot to talk about here but the

first concern people have is that Tesla

has demand issues and desperately needs

to drop their prices in order to sell

vehicles what's very likely though is a

mix of a few things Tesla has been able

to bring down production costs and is

passing those savings down to the

purchase price at the same time a lower

purchase price will surely lead to more

sales of the model Y and three that have

been priced very high for some time I

think the Tesla does have a quote demand

issue that they're addressing with this

price drop but it has all been part of

their plan they knew they couldn't keep

selling a growing number of available

model wise each quarter at sixty six

thousand dollars keep selling their cars

at premiums people are paying and lower

them once it becomes necessary to do so

a recent development as well was that

most trims were not going to qualify for

the tax credit either now that should be

another incentive for people to purchase

this massive price drop is fantastic

news for future Tesla buyers and for EVS

in general it shows that these vehicles

are able to be priced lower and it

should lead to many more customers being

able to buy Teslas at the same time

Tesla is ramping up production at

multiple new factories long term this is

a great thing cheaper EVS are what we

want and the ultimate goal it's far

easier to recommend a model Y at fifty

three thousand dollars as compared to

sixty six thousand dollars and many more

people will be able to justify this

purchase what I don't understand though

is why Tesla did this overnight it's a

Surefire way to make brand new and

fairly recent Tesla customers angry they

did this first in China and now have

followed suit in the U.S Europe and

Canada they slash prices up to 21 with

certain models in Canada and it's

similar in Europe overall it's clear

that they can and need to price their

vehicles lower in order for demand to

stay in line with their increasing

production capacity again though I don't

really see why they couldn't have eased

prices down in the way that they eased

them up in the past couple years they

want these car hours to qualify for the

tax incentive but people were buying

their cars regardless of tax incentives

in the past it seems they really

suddenly can lower prices but also need

to as a result I don't think the timing

here was handled well at all it's how

Tesla operates where anything can change

at any moment ultimately it's great that

their cars are far more affordable but I

know plenty of people who bought a Tesla

very recently and now see the same

vehicle selling for a significant

discount from what they paid even those

who bought win Tesla was offering a

large credit at the end of 2022 are

finding that waiting two weeks would

have saved them around five thousand

dollars Tesla offered a great credit of

7 500 off to clear Q4 inventory waited

less than two weeks and dropped the

price far more than that credit did

others may find that their purchase

could have been up to twenty thousand

dollars cheaper if they had waited a

single month it would be one thing if

Tesla did this over the course of many

months and customers could look back six

months later and see a thirteen thousand

dollar or twenty thousand dollar price

drop frustrating but a long enough

period of time to understand how things

change it's another thing to experience

that draw up just a couple weeks after

dropping sixty six thousand dollars on a

Model white purchase not only could it

feel like a slap in the face but it will

immediately devalue your car that you

just bought I'm sure that there's a way

that they could have eased pricing down

over time kept customers happy and

actually made more profit in the process

dropping this much all at once is very

odd to me as good as it is for the

bigger picture speaking to why test the

dropped prices though I test the

spokesperson in Germany said quote at

the end of a turbulent year with

interruptions to the supply chain we

have achieved a partial normalization of

cost inflation which gives us the

confidence to pass this relief onto our

customers as frustrating as this is for

recent buyers the impact that this will

have for Tesla is going to be huge many

more customers will be able to buy an EV

and Tesla is finally able to truly

undercut the competition they continue

to have competition be on range

supercharging and certain features in

their vehicles but those advantages used

to come at a significant premium now

they come at a cost lower than or on par

with many competing Vehicles there will

always be customers who want to buy an

EV that isn't a Tesla but for those

deciding between a Tesla or another EV

it will be much more difficult to not

get a Tesla a Tesla Model y now is

significantly cheaper than a range

equivalent Mustang Mach e or Cadillac

lyric and qualifies for 7 500 off that

those Vehicles don't the model Y is also

Priced Right in line with vehicles like

the ev6 or ionic 5. and on the back end

we know that Tesla's profit margins are

higher helping them significantly long

term their production capacity is

continuing to grow and they now offer

some of the best EV options at some of

the best price points available from any

company there's definitely valid

frustration with this sudden price drop

but it will be huge for Tesla's growth

in 2023. this is all happening right as

Tesla is preparing to introduce the

standard range 4680 model y in the US

they are making them again and selling

them through inventory currently and all

signs point to them getting ready to add

this configuration to the online

configurator they appear priced the same

as a Long Range model Y at the moment

but these are coming out of Giga Texas

and will likely come in even cheaper in

the future this could potentially bring

a model y option under fifty thousand

dollars at the same time Tesla dropped

these prices they did make three small

changes to the pricing structure when

configuring a vehicle the destination

fee has gone up 190 dollars now coming

in at one thousand three hundred ninety

dollars the price of the seven seater

option in the model y has increased one

thousand dollars now coming in as a four

thousand dollar option and they brought

back the charge for changing from white

to midnight silver metallic paint for a

while either of those colors were

included now it's an extra one thousand

dollars for midnight silver metallic and

white is the only included color in the

base price we'll see how all this pans

out but Tesla is going to have a lot of

recent frustrated customers and also

likely see an influx of new orders for

their cars at these new lower prices

next up today Tesla has once again begun

reporting their autopilot safety data

for a while they weren't posting updated

autopilot safety data as they used to do

each quarter but now they have filled it

in and published the latest data through

Q3 of 2022. they chart out the

improvements which are very notable as

always with Tesla autopilot data it's

important to remember that they are

comparing autopilot which is mostly used

on freeways and clearly marked roads to

General driving but it's still

impressive to see the lines are miles

driven per one accident with a dark blue

line being Tesla vehicle using autopilot

technology the light blue line being

test the vehicle not using autopilot

technology and the Gray Line being the

US average it looks like the best

quarter they had ever was q1 of 2022 and

Q3 of 2022 was the next safest quote in

the third quarter we recorded one crash

for every 6.26 million miles driven in

which drivers were using autopilot

technology for drivers who were not

using autopilot technology we recorded

one crash for every 1.71 million miles

driven by comparison the most recent

data available from Nitsa and fhwa from

2021 shows that in the United States

there was an automobile crash

approximately every 652 000 miles

autopilot continues to prove its safety

and this is particularly showing the

effectiveness of Tesla Vision Without

radar long term Tesla's goal is for FSD

in general to be better than human

drivers but it's a long road to get

there in the meantime it's great to see

Tesla reporting this data again so we

can see that autopilot has continued

improving as their Fleet is growing next

up today Tesla is expanding in a few

different ways in Texas this week Tesla

filed for a 717 million dollar expansion

of Giga Texas with the Texas department

of licensing and regulation it includes

an additional 1.4 million square feet of

space comprising four different projects

the largest is a 693 000 square foot

facility called cell one with

construction set to complete on February

12 2024. Drive Unit is the second

largest and that will be 423 000 square

feet completing construction on January

15 2024. the third project is cathode at

321 000 square feet and the fourth is

cell test lab only about 2560 square

feet this is a huge Expansion Project

and pretty clearly relates to a few main

pieces of manufacturing Tesla will be

doing and expanding at Giga Texas likely

these will relate to the Cyber truck but

they could also be for any future Tesla

products built to kick at Texas at the

same time Tesla has secured a new 1

million square foot building near

Brookshire Texas it's unknown what this

space will be used for but the rumor is

that it will be for battery storage

quote little is known about Tesla's

plans but the Fortune 500 company signed

a lease late last year for about 1.03

million square feet at 111 Empire West

part of the 300 acre Empire West

Business Park in Brookshire Tesla is

continuing to expand rapidly in many

ways and a big piece of this is with

their overall footprint in the state of

Texas another place they're expanding is

with the refining of lithium itself for

their batteries we've known Tesla was in

the process of entering this space for

some time with Tesla planning to invest

365 million dollars into a lithium plant

that will employ 165 people now Tesla is

moving forward with hiring a new job

listing for project scheduler has popped

up and the listing says quote as a

project scheduler you will be playing a

critical role in the construction of

Tesla's first lithium refinery plant

near Corpus Christi Texas this role will

support all project phases from

engineering through commissioning of

construction by providing project

management with critical decision-making

information that ensures projects are

delivered on time the timeline here

isn't clear but Tesla is starting the

process long term this could be another

piece that leads to significant cost

advantages for Tesla last up today some

updates about other automakers Lucid

Motors finished 2022 strong surpassing

their guidance of 7000 units within

2022. they produce 7180 Lucid errors in

2022 and delivered 4 369 of them that's

a 50 production growth and they achieved

it with strong Q4 growth where they

produced

3493 EVS however it's important to note

that these were their revised targets

changed from their originally announced

goal of 20 000. we'll see how 2023 pans

out but hopefully they can get on track

for more production and deliveries

within the year over at Jaguar they just

unveiled their new 2024 i-pace it has a

bit of a facelift and a number of new

features but one thing to note is that

the range from the 90 kilowatt hour

battery is 292 miles wltp converted to

EPA that's a range of about 263 miles

Jaguar says quote ipace has always

offered a comprehensive package of

performance agility technology and

everyday usability that customers expect

from a Jaguar together with the smooth

quiet and effortless Driving Experience

that electrification offers we've

delivered exactly that and now it's the

latest model to benefit from our

approach of offering more curated richer

specifications over at Mercedes they

announced that they plan to drop the EQ

branding from their EVS by 2024. they

are doing this to avoid confusion since

they soon will have a large variety of

electric offerings these will be the eqa

eqb eqc eqe eq-e-s-u-v eq-s eqs SUV eqv

and maybe the eqg and eqt that's a lot

of similar vehicle names and customers

often think these are designated this

way due to size instead of the fact that

they are electric we'll see what they

come up with for their branding but I

think it's a smart move as they plan to

go all-electric after 2025. that's all

the latest Tesla news for today so in

the meantime if you want to see the

latest announced EVS coming soon you can

check out that video linked up here or

in the description below thanks so much

for watching and I'll see you on the

next one