Tesla Claims All Top 5 Spots for Most American-Built Cars

December 18, 2024

By Karan Singh

Not a Tesla App

As a Tesla fan, you’re likely already aware that most American-made cars are Teslas, but we wouldn’t be surprised if many people still think it’s one of the Detroit Big-3.

Tesla produces most of the parts for the North American versions of the Model 3 and Model Y in the United States, with some parts coming from facilities inside Canada, so it's all kept relatively local. As a background fact, both the study and the United States government consider parts from Canada as domestic content, and there is no differentiation between US-made or Canadian-made parts.

Tesla’s supply chain is designed with a strong emphasis on reducing transportation costs. By streamlining the movement of goods between part production facilities and their Gigafactories, Tesla not only lowers expenses but also secures its position as the leading manufacturer of American-made vehicles.

First, Second, Third, Fourth… and Fifth!

According to a study from American University’s Kogod School of Business, Tesla not only makes the most American-made car but actually makes the top five most American-made cars, with the Model S and Model X being tied for the number four spot.

Rank	Model	US Domestic Content
1	Model 3 Performance	87.5%
2	Model Y	85%
3	Cybertruck	82.5%
4	Model S	80%
4	Model X	80%
4	Ford Mustang GT Models	80%

The Model 3 and Model Y easily dominate the top two spots, coming in with US Domestic Content rates of 87.5% and 85%, respectively.

For comparison, the first non-Tesla on the list has an 80% rate, while the 10th most American car has a 73% rate. So, the Model 3 and Model Y are significantly more American-made than the other leaders on the list.

Every Tesla vehicle is mostly American-made, and even the Cybertruck is ranked 82.5% American just a year after its launch.

The closest competitor is Ford’s Mustang GT - in a couple of variants, meeting the 80% mark. Many would normally think Ford, GM, or Stellantis would have taken up all these spots, but this isn’t the case. In fact, tied for #5 is the Honda Passport with 76.5%.

Tesla not only produces some of the safest vehicles in the world, but they’re easily the most American made year after year. We’d love to see another study at the manufacturer level, where the maker’s whole lineup of vehicles is considered instead of just specific models. It seems that there would be a stark difference from number two.

With the current list of incentives running through the end of the year, now is a great time to buy a new Tesla.

Tesla Update 2025.20 Tear Down Reveals Grok Personalities and Icons

June 16, 2025

By Karan Singh

@greentheonly on X

While most automakers are adding basic and un-integrated AI assistants to their vehicles, Tesla appears to be working hand-in-hand with xAI to build out an entire cast of characters for in-vehicle Grok. In the latest dive into Tesla’s firmware, Tesla hacker @greentheonly uncovered a few new details about the upcoming Grok feature.

This discovery, part of a larger batch of changes found in Tesla update 2025.20, also offers a hint at the hardware required for the Grok.

A Dozen Groks

While we knew from previous firmware teardowns that Tesla was adding various Grok personalities to the vehicle UI, this update introduces a new one called Language Tutor, which may allow users to learn and practice a new language.

These are the different personas that will be included in Grok:

Argumentative
Assistant
Conspiracy
Doctor
Kids’ Stories
Kids’ Trivia Games
Meditation
Motivation
Romantic
Sexy
Storyteller
Therapist
Language Tutor
and the Grok Classic - Unhinged Mode

Release Date

Icons for these personalities have been added to the firmware for the first time, leading us to think Tesla is getting close to releasing the feature. However, even after the feature is developed and included in vehicle software, Tesla may only enable it selectively — such as for select employees for testing.

Grok is expected to be one of the largest vehicle features added via a software update, so it’ll be a big deal when it’s finally released. While we know more or less what to expect from Grok, what we don’t know is about vehicle requirements or whether it’ll require a subscription beyond Premium Connectivity.

Grok Requirements

While subscriptions required are anyone’s guess, vehicle requirements may be a little clearer now, thanks to Green’s discovery that Grok is only being added to AMD-based vehicle software builds.

Unfortunately, this likely means that older, Intel-based vehicles will not receive Grok support, at least for the time being. When Tesla introduced a voice assistant in China, they also started off with AMD-only support but later added Intel support, so it’s possible that the same could happen with Grok.

Energy Saving

Green also found a new undocumented navigation feature in 2025.20.3. This one focuses on leveraging Tesla’s vast amounts of data in an interesting way and offers drivers proactive advice to save energy on a well-traveled route.

In the Energy App, your vehicle will display, “This route is typically driven at X mph. Slow down by Y mph to save Z% for the rest of this trip.’

As you can see in the photo below, Tesla recognizes that vehicles typically drive at 66 mph on the route being driven and offers the driver the option to go five mph slower to save 1% of range. While this example doesn’t provide much incentive to slow down, it could be useful for someone with a low state of charge or if the savings are more significant.

The new line in the Energy App

Not a Tesla App

In the future, Tesla could even use this, alongside the road surface data they’re gathering, to help plan routes for Robotaxi and Unsupervised FSD.

NHTSA to Streamline Approvals for Control-Free Vehicles Like Tesla’s Cybercab

June 16, 2025

By Karan Singh

Not a Tesla App

In a letter to industry, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has announced that it is overhauling its approvals process for vehicles designed without human controls.

The change addresses a regulatory bottleneck that has slowed down American companies like Tesla from deploying purpose-built Robotaxis, rather than relying on using traditional vehicles with steering wheels and pedals. The policy shift is outlined in a letter posted to the NHTSA’s website, which you can find here.

Reducing Approvals From Years to Months

Under the existing rules today, any vehicle that is built without a steering wheel or brake pedals must receive a special exemption from federal safety standards.

Obtaining exemptions for a particular vehicle was a time-consuming process for both the companies requesting exemptions and the NHTSA. The process was often a black box—nobody knew when an exemption might be granted, and approvals could take years.

The NHTSA, under the new administration’s guidelines for autonomous vehicle development, is now committed to streamlining this process. The agency will be implementing a new, faster approach immediately for receiving exemptions for autonomous vehicles without standard controls. The NHTSA expects decisions on exemption requests to be determined within months rather than years.

Accelerating the Cybercab

This change has massive implications for Tesla, which is banking on the production of the simplified and easy-to-maintain purpose-built Cybercab. The Cybercab is developed from the ground up as an autonomous Robotaxi and will be one of the key beneficiaries of this move by the NHTSA.

Knowing that a final design won't be caught in a multi-year regulatory limbo provides a level of certainty that has been missing. It allows Tesla to confidently plan the manufacturing, development, and deployment processes without worrying whether the project will get stuck in regulatory approvals.

According to the letter, the agency will publish its improved instructions for the streamlined process "shortly." With Tesla already having begun Cybercab pre-production and the goals for its deployment as soon as late 2026, there’s still a lot to be done to make autonomy a part of Tesla’s new sustainable abundance mission statement.