Elon Musk warns Ford of tough margins on new vehicles
TED
It should not be surprising that Elon Musk is lending his support to Ford. The long-established automaker has faced challenges in transitioning to electric vehicles. It revealed massive losses on EVs last week. While critics were quick to jump all over the legacy automaker, Tesla's CEO Elon Musk praised Ford's EV strategy on Twitter.
Ford's Model E Reports Losses Amid Shift to EVs
Ford's first-quarter results for 2023 revealed a loss of $700 million before interest and taxes for their Model E division, which is responsible for the development of electric vehicles. The EBIT margin for Model E was -102.1%, more than twice the -40.4% margin recorded in the fourth quarter of 2022. Ford only delivered 12,000 electric vehicles in the first quarter, resulting in a loss of $58,333 per clean car sold. Ford's Model E business is expected to lose $3 billion before taxes in 2023.
These losses have been attributed to higher costs related to engineering, spending, and inflationary pressures. Ford also reported weak sales volumes due to scheduled downtime at their Cuautitlan assembly plant in Mexico, which aimed to increase the Mach-E capacity to 35 jobs per hour.
Elon Musk Defends Ford's EV Strategy on Twitter
Recently, Tesla was compared to Ford from 100 years ago. When Henry Ford created the assembly line, it revolutionized auto manufacturing and put several car makers out of business. While Musk understood the comparison, he disagreed with ending the competition. Tesla has opened all of its patents to competitors, staying true to its mission: to accelerate the advent of sustainable transport by bringing compelling mass-market electric cars to market as soon as possible.
Responding to a tweet criticizing Ford's negative margins on electric vehicles, Musk acknowledged the challenges of transitioning to new technologies and praised Ford's EV strategy as "smart." He also highlighted the high demand for the electric F-150 Lightning.
This exchange occurred amidst a price war between Tesla and Ford. Tesla has lowered its vehicle prices six times this year, forcing Ford to cut the Mustang Mach-E's price by up to 8% to remain competitive.
Ford's Goals for Model E and Electric Vehicle Fleet
Despite the setbacks, Ford has set ambitious goals for its electric vehicle lineup. The company aims for a global EV production of 600,000 units by the end of 2023 and two million by the end of 2026. By 2030, Ford anticipates that 40 to 50% of its vehicle fleet will be electric, with a pre-tax profit margin of 8% for its Model E division.
Despite Ford's current struggles in transitioning to electric vehicles, the company has ambitious goals for the future, and even Musk believes in its strategy.
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Tesla’s long-anticipated refresh of the Model S and Model X is drawing closer, and we’re finally getting a clearer look at what to expect. Although the update is relatively minor, it does help freshen up the look of the Model S and Model X since their redesign in 2021.
While the camouflage made the grill-like opening at the front of the vehicle hard to spot, it was evident something was there. However, new photos shared by The Kilowatts show that Tesla is covering up this opening with a material that has a carbon fiber finish, at least on the Plaid variant.
While we were hoping for more drastic changes, such as a grill-less look with a light bar, similar to the new Model Y, it looks like that won’t happen with this refresh.
The limited design changes suggest Tesla may be trying to limit tooling and manufacturing changes for these lower-volume vehicles. While the headlights already support adaptive beams, they remained unchanged from the current Model S and Model X.
Our best look at the new front bumper camera on the upcoming Model S
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Rear Diffuser
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Tesla has also updated the rear diffuser, though it’s unclear if this will be exclusive to the Plaid version. While the refreshed Model Y moved its rear camera up into the rear trim piece, the Model S keeps it in the same location as the previous generation.
Ambient Lighting Arrives
For the first time, we’re getting a look at the refreshed interior — and there’s one noticeable addition: ambient lighting. This feature, which is now available on all of Tesla’s other vehicles, is finally making its way to the Model S and Model X. The implementation appears closer in style to the Model Y, with lighting running along the door panels but stopping about halfway down before continuing on the rear doors.
While ambient lighting is primarily aesthetic, Tesla has been expanding its use for more dynamic and interactive features.
Recent Ambient Lighting Additions
Over the last year, Tesla has made the ambient lighting feature more useful by integrating it with other Tesla vehicles. For example, Santa Mode and Rainbow Road easter eggs will now take advantage of the ambient lighting, with Santa Mode cycling the colors between red and green for a Christmas flair [videos], while Rainbow Road cycles the colors of the rainbow.
Tesla has also added other little additions, such as turning the ambient lighting red when Service Mode is active in the vehicle. They have also added additional options in recent updates to ambient lighting, such as the ability to choose the brightness of the lights and choose whether they'll always remain on or only come on at night.
New Exterior Color
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The refreshed Model X was also spotted in a new exterior color, similar but not identical to the Glacier Blue available on the new Model Y outside North America.
Launch Timeline
Although Tesla hasn’t officially said anything about a new Model S besides that, it’ll receive some “love” later this year. The Kilowatts noted that Tesla doesn’t have any Model S or X vehicles in their Fremont outbound lot, making it seem like these models could be announced any day now.
While the updates are relatively minor in terms of body redesign, the addition of the front bumper camera and ambient lighting are very welcome additions.
Stay tuned to see if there are any additional changes to these vehicles.
Tesla has begun selling a new Charcoal Suede dash insert for owners of the refreshed (2024+) Model 3 and refreshed (2026+) Model Y in the Tesla store.
Currently, both refreshed Model 3 and Model Y are shipping with a textile dash finish. This new accessory upgrades that surface to a vegan Alcantara suede, which is soft-to-the-touch and considerably more premium than the standard option.
For owners of the Launch Edition Model Y, this suede trim was included as part of the Launch Edition. Now, other refreshed Model Y owners can take advantage of the more premium Alcantara suede to achieve the same look and feel in their RWD or AWD vehicles.
Sweet, Smooth, Suede.
Not a Tesla App
Pricing and Installation
For those looking to make the upgrade, the Charcoal Suede dash insert is priced at $250 USD / $345 CAD with installation included. Currently, availability is limited to the United States and Canada, but it will likely become available in Europe and Asia-Pacific over the coming weeks.
If you do purchase it, the dash insert will be sent to your service center, and you’ll be prompted to make a service appointment at that location. This is the same procedure as if you were getting a tow hitch installed on your Tesla by purchasing it through the Tesla app.
The pricing includes installation by the selected service center. Tesla has indicated that the installation process should take approximately 90 minutes for the Model Y and 120 minutes for the Model 3. It would have been nice to see self-installation included, which would help reduce the cost of the part.
Future Options
This type of dash trim upgrade is something we expected when the new Model 3 was launched in 2023. The redesigned dash makes it easier to swap out trim pieces, so it’s great to see Tesla finally offering different dash trims. We speculated that Tesla might eventually introduce different dash trims—either to match the vehicle’s exterior or to provide a more premium feel—and that’s exactly what this appears to be.
It’s a welcome addition that helps owners personalize their Teslas, especially given the limited customization options available at purchase. We hope Tesla continues expanding these choices.
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