Cars

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Tesla’s European and Chinese customers are staying away in droves

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Tesla’s shareholders are ready to vote tomorrow on whether to give Elon Musk an even more vast slice of the company in an effort to keep him focused on selling electric vehicles. Currently, the trolling tycoon appears a little obsessed with the UK, a place he appears to conflate with Middle Earth, which investors may or may not take into account when making their decision. What they ought to take into account is how many cars Tesla sold last month.

Although Tesla only publishes quarterly sales figures and does not divide those up by region, slightly more granular data is available from some countries via monthly new car registrations. And the numbers for October, when compared year on year to the same month in 2024, should be alarming.

Sales fell by double-digit margins in Sweden (89 percent), Denmark (86 percent), Belgium (69 percent), Finland (68 percent), Austria (65 percent), Switzerland (60 percent), Portugal (59 percent), Germany (54 percent), Norway (50 percent), the Netherlands (48 percent), the UK (47 percent), Italy (47 percent), and Spain (31 percent).

Only France bucked the trend—there, a new subsidy helped bump sales by 2 percent year on year.

Things in China were better, but not by much; Tesla sales dropped 9.9 percent in October compared to last year. And that’s bound to be very bad news for the bottom line; even with record sales in Q3, Tesla saw its margins shrink, its costs climb, and its profits begin to evaporate.

A common factor in both Europe and China is that Tesla now faces a huge amount of competition for EV buyers from both established OEMs and new Chinese startups. Tesla has failed to expand its range beyond the Models 3 and Y, both of which look increasingly stale despite recent cosmetic tweaks.

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“So much more menacing”: Formula E’s new Gen4 car breaks cover

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In fact, there will be two different bodywork configurations, one for high downforce and the other with less. But that doesn’t mean Formula E teams will run out and build wind tunnels, like their F1 counterparts. “There’s significant gains that can be made out of software improvements, efficiency improvements, powertrain developments,” said Dodds, so there’s no incentive to spend lots of money on aero development that would only add fractions of a second.

The biggest opportunity for finding performance improvements may be with traction control and antilock braking systems. Formula E wants its technology to be road-relevant, so such driver aids will be unlimited in the Gen4 era. But efficiency will remain of utmost importance; the cars will still have to regenerate 40 percent of the energy they need to finish the race, as the 55 kWh battery is not sufficient to go flat-out to the end. Happily for the drivers, the new car can regen up to 700 kW of energy under braking.

A grainy shot of a Formula E gen4 car testing

The Gen4 car in testing. Credit: Formula E

Finally, the car’s end of life has been considered. The entire race car is entirely recyclable, Formula E says, and it already contains 20 percent recycled content.

So far, the Gen4 car has been put through its paces for more than 5,000 miles (8,000 km), which is more than the mileage of an entire Formula E season, including testing. Now the teams have started to receive their chassis and have started the work of getting to know them and preparing to race them in season 13, all while getting ready to start season 12 next month.

What we won’t know until season 13 gets underway is how the Gen4 era will change the races. With bigger, faster cars, not every Formula E circuit will still be suitable, like London’s very tight Excel Arena track, but with a continued focus on making efficiency count, it’s quite likely we’ll continue to see the same close pack racing as before.

“So much more menacing”: Formula E’s new Gen4 car breaks cover Read More »

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Dune driving with Mercedes-Benz as it tests off-road systems

Cars, Mercedes GLC with EQ Technology / /

The reason Mercedes’ engineers were driving up and down and across the dunes was to work on the car’s brake control systems. As you slow with the brake pedal, the car’s electronic brain juggles the input of the traction control, electronic stability control, antilock brakes, and a downhill speed governor that keep you going where you want, as opposed to careening down a slope at speed.

After a passenger ride through a particularly tricky section, it was my turn to have a go. It was a more surreal experience than messing around in an all-wheel drive car on fresh snow—that might involve low traction surfaces and some sliding around, but the horizon tends to remain in the same place.

As I climbed a dune, my view was nothing but sand, then the deep blue sky. Despite the steep slope and the fact that the car was shod with regular street tires, the wheels found traction where needed, “churning” where necessary. Under braking, the ABS allows the front wheels to remain more controllable, taking into consideration any steering angle you have.

And that may be a lot, because as Lightning McQueen learned in Cars, to go left, sometimes you have to turn right. At times, crabbing up the side of a dune involved making progress with a fair amount of opposite steering lock.

Just think, the wind deposited all this sand here. Note the return of a maximalist Mercedes front “grille.” Mercedes-Benz

Driving on a loose surface like sand, similar to driving on snow, requires a fair bit of torque, and the GLC’s 596 lb-ft (808 Nm) was more than enough to throw a rooster tail or two as the speed picked up and propelled us along. And the low center of gravity that results from the 94 kWh battery pack between the axles no doubt helped keep the car planted even while driving sideways along the dune.

My experience was much less repetitive than that of the Mercedes engineers, whose job it is to go out and drive a route, come back to the trailer, download the data, and upload a new configuration to the car. Then go out and drive the route again and repeat the whole process before driving two hours back to Las Vegas at the end of each day. But the result should be an electric SUV with the kind of mountain goat ability that belies its posh badge and looks.

The new GLC with EQ Technology goes on sale in the US late next year.

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Sam Altman wants a refund for his $50,000 Tesla Roadster deposit

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2017 feels like another era these days, but if you cast your mind back that far, you might remember Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s vaporware Roadster 2.0. Full of nonsensical-sounding features that impressed people who know a little bit about rockets but nothing about cars, the $200,000 electric car promised to have a suction fan and “cold gas thrusters,” plus 620 miles (1,000 km) of range and a whole load of other stuff that’s never happening.

Plenty of other electric automakers have introduced electric hypercars in the eight years since Musk declared the second Roadster a thing, with no sign of it being any closer to reality, if the latest job postings are accurate. And it seems that over time, a lot of the people who gave the company a hefty deposit—some say interest-free loan—have become tired of waiting and want their money back.

And that’s not quite so easy, it turns out. Musk’s current Silicon Valley rival is the latest to discover this. According to Sam Altman’s social media account, he placed an order for a Roadster on July 11, 2018, with a deposit of $45,000 ($58,206 in today’s money). But after emailing Tesla for a refund, he discovered the email address associated with preorders had been deleted.

A screenshot of Sam Altman's X posts about cancelling his car

Credit: Twitter

Perhaps Altman forgot to ask ChatGPT how best to go about getting his money. If he had, he might have stumbled across the experience of streamer Marques Brownlee, who eventually had to pick up a telephone and call someone to get most of his $50,000 back. Or perhaps some of the threads at Reddit or the Tesla forums, where other people who fell for the cold gas thruster-equipped two-seater with Lucid-busting range and F1-beating acceleration have gathered to share stories of how best to make Tesla return their money.

Sam Altman wants a refund for his $50,000 Tesla Roadster deposit Read More »

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2026 Hyundai Ioniq 9: American car-buyer tastes meet Korean EV tech

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The Ioniq 9 interior. Jonathan Gitlin

The native NACS charge port at the rear means all of Tesla’s v3 Superchargers are potential power-up locations; these will take the battery from 10–80 percent state of charge in 40 minutes. Or use the NACS-CCS1 adapter and a 350 kW fast charger (or find one of Ionna’s 350 kW chargers with a NACS plug) and do the 10–80 percent SoC top-up in a mere 24 minutes.

With this most-powerful Ioniq 9, I’d mostly keep it in Eco mode, which almost entirely relies upon the rear electric motor. When firing with both motors, the Calligraphy outputs 422 hp (315 kW) and more importantly, 516 lb-ft (700 Nm). In Sport mode, that’s more than enough to chirp the tires from a standstill, particularly if it’s damp. Low rolling resistance and good efficiency was a higher priority for the Ioniq 9’s tire selection than lateral grip, and with a curb weight of 6,000 lbs (2,735 kg) it’s not really a car that needs to be hustled unless you’re attempting to outrun something like a volcano. It’s also the difference between efficiency in the low 2 miles/kWh range.

Life with the Ioniq 9 wasn’t entirely pain-free. For example, the touch panel for the climate control settings becomes impossible to read in bright sunlight, although the knobs to raise or lower the temperature are at least physical items. I also had trouble with the windshield wipers’ intermittent setting, despite the standard rain sensors.

A Hyundai Ioniq 9 seen from the rear 3/4s.

Built just outside of Savannah, Georgia, don’t you know. Credit: Jonathan Gitlin

At $74,990, the Ioniq 9 Calligraphy comes more heavily specced than electric SUVs from more luxury, and therefore more expensive, brands and should charge faster and drive more efficiently than any of them. If you don’t mind giving up 119 hp (89 kW) and some options, all-wheel drive is available from $62,765 for the SE trim, and that longer-legged single-motor Ioniq 9 starts at $58,955. Although with just 215 hp (160 KW) and 285 lb-ft (350 Nm), the driving experience won’t be quite the same as the model we tested.

2026 Hyundai Ioniq 9: American car-buyer tastes meet Korean EV tech Read More »

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GM lays off 1,700 workers making EVs and batteries in Michigan, Tennessee

Cars, EV adoption, General Motors, Lordstown / /

Now we can see some of the impact of that realignment. According to The Detroit News, 1,200 workers are being laid off at GM’s EV-building Hamtramck Assembly Center near Detroit, which will move from two shifts a day to just one in early January.

Another 550 workers are being laid off at the Ultium Cells battery plant in Ohio; this is a joint venture with LG Chem and the plant will also stop production on January 5 until at least May.

Another 850 workers at the Ultium Cells plant in Ohio will be temporarily laid off, as will 700 more at a second Ultium Cells factory in Tennessee.

“During the temporary pause, Ultium Cells plans to make upgrades to both facilities to provide greater flexibility,” GM said in a statement to the Detroit News. “Ultium Cells will continue to evaluate and adapt production plans based on evolving market needs.”

GM also recently shut down its BrightDrop brand, which made electric delivery vans, blaming weak demand. And the automaker has also laid off IT workers in Georgia and staff from its Warren Technical Center in Michigan.

GM lays off 1,700 workers making EVs and batteries in Michigan, Tennessee Read More »

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Mazda shows a rotary hybrid concept for Tokyo with evolved design language

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The Vision X-Coupe’s interior Credit: Mazda

Mazda says it has succeeded in producing fuel from microalgae, although the throughput isn’t amazing: it says it “succeeded in producing over one liter of fuel from a 11,000-liter culture tank in about two weeks.” Once the fuel is extracted, Mazda thinks the leftovers can be used in food products or fertilizers.

The other technology is called “Mazda Mobile Carbon Capture,” which extracts CO2 directly from the car exhaust, although the information Mazda sent us ahead of time doesn’t go into more detail than that. But in November we should see it in action: the automaker says it will enter a car into a “super endurance race” equipped with the tech.

Vision X-Compact

The other vehicle Mazda brought to the show is the Vision X-Compact, which it says is “designed to deepen the bond between people and cars through the fusion of a human sensory digital model and empathetic AI,” which is capable of engaging the occupants in natural conversation, “helping expand the driver’s world.”

Mazda gave us very few details about the Vision X-Compact, so we don’t even know if it’s an EV or a hybrid or just uses ICE. Mazda

“It might say ‘Hey, remember that cafe you mentioned last week? There is a fun backroad that will get us there. Way more interesting than this highway.’ So you make the turn, and hear, ‘ooh, nice merge!’ Then gently, ‘Blind spot, left side.’ And your adventure continues,” said Kaisei Takahashi, designer of the Vision X-Compact.

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Here’s how Slate Auto plans to handle repairs to its electric trucks

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Earlier this year, Slate Auto emerged from stealth mode and stunned industry watchers with the Slate Truck, a compact electric pickup it plans to sell for less than $30,000. Achieving that price won’t be easy, but Slate really does look to be doing things differently from the rest of the industry—even Tesla. For example, the truck will be made from just 600 parts, with no paint or even an infotainment system, to keep costs down.

An unanswered question until now has been “where do I take it to be fixed if it breaks?” Today, we have an answer. Slate is partnering with RepairPal to use the latter’s network of more than 4,000 locations across the US.

“Slate’s OEM partnership with RepairPal’s nationwide network of service centers will give Slate customers peace of mind while empowering independent service shops to provide accessorization and service,” said Slate chief commercial officer Jeremy Snyder.

RepairPal locations will also be able to install the accessories that Slate plans to offer, like a kit to turn the bare-bones pickup truck into a crossover. And some but not all RepairPal sites will be able to work on the Slate’s high-voltage powertrain.

The startup had some other big news today. It has negotiated access for its customers to the Tesla Supercharger network, and since the truck has a NACS port, there will be no need for an adapter.

The Slate truck is due next year.

Here’s how Slate Auto plans to handle repairs to its electric trucks Read More »

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Porsche’s 2026 911 Turbo S is a ballistic, twin-turbo, 701-horsepower monster

car review, Cars, First drive, Porsche 911 Turbo S / /

Other upgrades

To handle the 61 hp (45.5 kW) of additional power over the outgoing car, the new Turbo S features 10 mm wider tires at the rear—sticky Pirelli P Zero Rs to be exact. Porsche also outfitted a new form of active suspension to the Turbo S, which uses one of the pumps from the Panamera’s trick new Active Ride suspension to drive actuators at each of the car’s four corners.

By raising or lowering pressure, the 911 Turbo S effectively varies the stiffness of its anti-rollbars, resulting in a cushier ride for daily driving and a more aggressive one in Sport or Sport Plus. The feeling of the Turbo S is never exactly plush—those low-profile tires aren’t ideal for that—but neither is it harsh. I felt quite comfortable cruising over the broken Malagan asphalt, making this an ideal daily driver.

I didn’t even mind the soft-top convertible in the Cabriolet, which raises and lowers quickly and, even at highway speed, doesn’t add much road noise to the equation. Still, if I were buying, I’d go coupe instead of Cabriolet, if only for the extra headroom and cleaner styling.

I won’t be buying, though, because I can’t afford one. The 2026 Porsche 911 Turbo S starts at $270,300 for the coupe or $284,300 for the soft-top Cabriolet, plus a $2,350 destination fee. That’s for a reasonably well-equipped car, including the new active suspension and carbon-ceramic brakes, but start digging into the options catalogue or ponder the expanded palette in Porsche’s Paint to Sample lines, and you’ll quickly find yourself on the painful side of $300,000. That’s a mighty amount of money for a 911, a whopping $40,000 MSRP increase over last year’s model, but given the wild level of engineering required to deliver this much power and responsiveness, it doesn’t feel completely out of line.

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F1 in Mexico City: We have a new championship leader

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Doing so vaulted him past his teammate Oscar Piastri to regain the lead Norris held in the early part of the season, albeit by just a single point. But if that makes it sound like it was a boring race, think again.

Behind Norris, the chasing pack went into turn 1 four-wide. Both Ferraris were in the mix: Charles Leclerc qualified second, and his teammate Lewis Hamilton was third. Max Verstappen could qualify his Red Bull no higher than fifth, behind George Russell’s Mercedes. A number of drivers had to take to the grass at turn 1 to avoid crashing, giving Norris plenty of breathing room to build a lead.

Behind him, things were a little more interesting. Leclerc managed to keep second place, but with much less speed than Norris, a following pack formed behind him. By lap 7, Verstappen had managed to fight his way past Russell, then diced with Hamilton, his old foe from the 2021 title. Neither car was able to keep entirely to the track, and Hamilton was handed a 10-second penalty, putting an end to any thoughts of finally grabbing his first Ferrari podium finish. Eventually, he finished eighth.

The stadium section doesn’t have the best sequence of corners, but there are few places to get a good a view of the cars. Peter Fox/Getty Images

Norris, Leclerc, and Verstappen all stuck to a one-stop strategy, with the Red Bull driver starting on medium tires and then swapping to the softs; his rivals did the opposite. Verstappen was in a much stronger position in the final phase of the race, with newer, softer rubber than the Ferrari ahead. But although he closed the gap to fractions of a second, he was denied a chance to overtake Leclerc when a virtual safety car interrupted the race with just three laps to go.

With his third place, Verstappen is now 36 points behind championship leader Norris, with a total of 116 points left on offer for the season.

Fourth went to the Haas of Oliver Bearman, who saw a chance early on to get into the front-running pack but was unable to hold off Verstappen for the final podium spot toward the end of the race. As for Piastri, he was able to claw his way back to fifth after starting eighth. That earned him 10 points, so he only gave away five to Verstappen, although Norris now leads him by 357 points to 356.

The next race will be in Brazil on November 9.

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Tesla’s “Mad Max” mode is now under federal scrutiny

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Earlier this month, Tesla rolled out a new firmware update that added a pair of new driving modes for the controversial full self-driving (FSD) feature. One, called “Sloth,” relaxes acceleration and stays in its lane. The other, called “Mad Max,” does the opposite: It speeds and swerves through traffic to get you to your destination faster. And after multiple reports of FSD Teslas doing just that, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration wants to know more.

In fact, “Mad Max” mode is not entirely new—Tesla beta-tested the same feature in Autopilot in 2018, before deciding not to roll it out in a production release after widespread outcry.

These days, the company is evidently feeling less constrained; despite having just lost a federal wrongful death lawsuit that will cost it hundreds of millions of dollars, it described the new mode as being able to drive “through traffic at an incredible pace, all while still being super smooth. It drives your car like a sports car. If you are running late, this is the mode for you.”

Tesla’s “Mad Max” mode is now under federal scrutiny Read More »

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Rivian is settling $250 million lawsuit to focus on next year’s R2 EV

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Electric vehicle startup Rivian announced on Thursday that it has settled a lawsuit with some of its investors. The company continues to deny allegations of making “materially untrue” statements during its inial public offering but says it agreed to pay $250 million to clear itself of distractions as it focuses on building its next EV, the mass-market R2, which is due next year.

Rivian was first sued by a shareholder in 2022 over claims that the startup knew it would cost far more for it to build each R1T electric truck and R1S electric SUV than the advertised $67,500 and $70,000 prices, respectively. A big surprise price increase would tarnish the nascent automaker’s reputation, the lawsuit claimed, and could lead to many of the almost 56,000 pre-orders being canceled.

Just a few months after its November 2021 IPO, the company had indeed issued a hefty price hike: $79,500 for the R1T and $84,500 for the R1S SUV. After an outcry, the company said it would honor the original price for its existing preorders. By that point, though, the damage was done, and more than a third of the company’s value was erased within a few days, the lawsuit alleged.

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