Tesla - The leading car manufacturer of the future? (Part 2)

[Kasleew]

@All_in_aina

These are at least fresh videos

And then you post videos that are a year old? Freshness is of course a subjective concept, but perhaps in this case it would be good to stick to, for example, the latest software versions.

@All_in_aina

Of course, one must remember that only a small percentage film their drives for YouTube

Teslas record every drive, meaning if the car does something stupid, anyone can upload the video to the internet. If the fault is truly in the car, attention is guaranteed, so the incentives to find problems are also in place.

@All_in_aina

And on the forums “the web is currently full of ‘intervention’ situations where FSD makes a misjudgment and the driver is forced to”

Why don’t you post links to these actually fresh cases so everyone could see if these are real dangerous situations or perhaps something a bit less dramatic?

@Sissos

Shocking stuff on the Tesla Facebook group. Brake pipes are rusting and both circuits go bust at once. Tesla downplays the problem, saying no safety impact. This will likely become a big deal.

By no means post a link to this so that others could also investigate if it is a “big deal.”

[Sissos]

@Kasleew

By no means post a link here so that others could also investigate if this is a “big deal.”

Pekka varoittaa Teslojen vaarallisesta viasta – ”Mahdotonta havaita...

There’s the article; there are more private experiences in the Tesla owners’ Facebook discussions. I won’t link them because they don’t like evaluations there (either).

[Kasleew]

@Sissos

There’s the newspaper, and more personal experiences in Tesla owners’ Facebook discussions. I won’t link them since they (also) don’t like reviews there.

Could you please clarify how you got the impression that this is a “big deal”?

A few direct quotes from the Iltalehti article:

The case is an extreme example.

When we investigated the prevalence of rusted-through battery casings for our previous article, this case was the first of its kind for Akkuauto, a company that repairs and replaces Tesla batteries. Rusted-through brake lines were also unfamiliar to the company’s expert, Niklas Pitkäkoski.

Niklas Pitkäkoski from Akkuauto had not encountered a similar brake line problem before, even though he has worked on the batteries of hundreds of Teslas.

Googling the topic reveals some instances of brake line rust problems, but the issue is not massive. Apparently, the symptom only affects early Tesla Model 3s—in the Finnish case, 2019 models. In newer model years, the brake lines behave like those of other cars of the same age.

[Seinakadun_Keisari]

Tesla’s figures make for particularly grim reading. The first generation of its most popular model, the Model Y, reached inspection age, and a staggering 62.7 percent of the cars failed.

The lower-profile sister model, the Model 3, follows close behind. Of the 2021 models, 58.7 percent were rejected.

These percentages are on a completely different level compared to all other car models from that year. The third “worst” is the internal combustion engine Dacia Duster, 23 percent of which failed to make it out of the inspection station with honors.

Autojen viat | Teslan hittiauto tuli katsastusikään, ja hylkäysprosentti on...

[Sambadi]

For comparison, the fairly popular electric car models ID.4 and Enyaq reaching the same age were rejected in 5.5% and 7.8% of cases. Then again, this isn’t a huge surprise regarding Tesla. Aren’t these the ones where people go to the inspection specifically to get a “fail list” just to get new control arm bushings replaced on the manufacturer’s dime?

[Kasleew]

@Sambadi

Then again, this isn’t exactly a huge surprise when it comes to Tesla.

The first mention of the bushings (puslat) was back in 2021, and probably at least a few times a year since then. Has this “problem” actually had a significant impact on Tesla as a company? What would their dominance look like with maintenance-free bushings?

[Sissos]

@Kasleew

Could you please explain further how you got the impression that this is a “big deal”?

Based on the Facebook discussion, this isn’t an isolated incident. As soon as the first crash or something worse happens, it’ll be in the headlines. Cars are only now starting to reach that age. A bulletin has been published. It shows that the people at Tesla had little experience with cars.

[Sambadi]

@Kasleew

Has this “problem” then had a significant impact on Tesla as a company? What kind of dominance would we have seen with maintenance-free bushings?

Quite impossible to estimate. The car market is very irrational, and the objectively best models (if such things can even be defined) are not necessarily at the top of the sales statistics for their segments. One can probably say with good certainty that Tesla’s inspection statistics and the quality issues that previously received media coverage certainly don’t help sales. Whether they have played any significant role in the declined car sales is another matter entirely.

[skuuppia]

@Sambadi

Aren’t these the ones people take to inspection just to get a defect list, so they can get new control arm bushings on the manufacturer’s dime?

Well, this is a fairly old topic, and as a recap, the point is that an inspection is the cheapest way to get an expert opinion on warranty items. You can also take a Tesla to the service center for an inspection, but that is a more expensive option, even if the replacement of the bushing/knuckle itself is covered by warranty.

All these quality issues and Tesla’s alleged lack of experience don’t seem to bother owners. Tesla has the best brand loyalty among all brands. Sales also appear to be growing in Europe in April—with three-digit growth percentages in several countries. The Semi is also getting large orders. Perhaps they haven’t read about the brake pipes or the Finnish inspection statistics. At least Fred Lambert doesn’t mention those in his Semi article.

https://electrek.co/2026/05/05/wattev-orders-370-tesla-semis-california-largest-ev-truck-deployment/

[Ken-guru]

You have an excellent ability to always dig up a statistic from somewhere that shows Tesla is doing well. This time, sales grew in Europe in April. You manage to do this even though the overall picture is stalling.

Why do you act like this? Why do you want to create a narrative that gives a false impression of the actual state of affairs?

[skuuppia]

@Ken-guru

You are capable of this, even if the overall situation is stalling.

Why are you acting like this? Why do you want to create a narrative that gives a false impression of the actual state of affairs?

Where can one see this actual state of affairs then? If eu-evs.com uses its sources with a delay and several countries haven’t reported their April figures, the April graph will certainly look wrong. For example, Finland’s April figures are not in the eu-evs.com database at all. I could ask the same: why are you acting like this?

My own overall picture is based on the delivery volumes and order backlog reported in the interim report. Delivery volumes were up 6% and the order backlog was better than it has been in two years. The situation in Europe in April is better explained by, for instance, this Reuters article (rebound stays on track), even though not all information is included here either.

https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/teslas-european-rebound-continues-april-despite-decline-norway-spain-2026-05-04/

[Ken-guru]

My apologies for not being precise in my message. Of course, I didn’t mean that we should be comparing the April or May statistics right now. Those should definitely be ignored from that source, as the data is still incomplete.

What I meant is that since sales volume has decreased on an annual level in Europe at the same time as it has increased for the main competitors, your tendency to selectively pull up statistics for a single month or country to praise Tesla’s sales performance gives a completely false picture of the overall situation. I just don’t understand why you so often seem to act this way.

[skuuppia]

@Ken-guru

sales volume has decreased on an annual level in Europe at the same time as it has increased for main competitors, so the fact that you often selectively pull out statistics for a single month or country to praise Tesla’s sales development gives a completely wrong picture of the overall situation.

It’s possible that among Finnish inspection statistics, Giga Mexico, and years-old FSD videos, I may have specifically mentioned some country statistics. I don’t consider that a major deviation from the general line of this forum.

However, I disagree on the actual matter—Tesla is not losing in sales to its main competitors, especially if the “overall picture” is limited to Europe. Surely the “overall picture” defined by Tesla and the main competitors themselves is global.

Car sales are seasonal, and the common way for investors to track them is quarterly YoY (Year-over-Year). The main competitors in Europe are Europe’s own car brands, and their YoY growth falls significantly behind Tesla’s 44.9% growth now in Q1. BYD is growing better with hybrids, and Alpine perhaps cannot be considered a main competitor. If you see someone who has grown over 45% in Q1 or if you have better facts than the ACEA statistics, I’d be happy to take another look. So, what exactly is the completely wrong picture here?

[All_in_aina]

@skuuppia

After Tesla’s 44.9% growth now in Q1

Are you actually serious?

Did you look at the unit numbers at all? Just thinking if VW had happened to grow by 45%, how many cars that would have been.

There is always a lie, a damned lie, a statistic, and these can be made to look and be interpreted however one sees fit.

I see there that quite a few are doing well. And there are big players involved ..

Reuters had praised the product again https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/tesla-recall-over-218800-us-vehicles-rearview-image-issue-2026-05-06/

[skuuppia]

@All_in_aina

Did you look at the unit volumes at all? Just thinking if VW happened to grow by 45%, how many cars would that actually be.

There is always a lie, a damned lie, statistics, and these can be made to look and be interpreted however one sees fit.

We can move the goalposts however you like. If we look at worldwide (ww) figures or just EVs, bring your own statistics here with sources. It is surely a better truth than a year-old FSD video of “car-drives-into-the-guardrail-but-actually-doesn’t.” The claim that missed the mark was that “sales volume has decreased annually in Europe while it has increased for main competitors.” Within the European goalposts, that claim simply isn’t true according to ACEA statistics.

Since worldwide figures are poorly available, let’s take another market significantly larger than Europe as the goalposts: China’s wholesale (export + domestic) worldwide. Tesla’s YTD growth figure after April is 27%. So sales didn’t decrease here either, so which main competitor sells more EVs from China to the rest of the world?

https://www.investors.com/news/tesla-stock-buy-point-tesla-china-sales/

[All_in_aina]

@skuuppia

We can move the goalposts however you want. If we are looking at worldwide (ww) figures or just electric cars, bring your own statistics here with sources.

I only found Finland quickly. Although it doesn’t matter for the big picture, many passed by from both the right and the left.

Especially if VW is treated as the VAG Group.

In April 2026, 53% of registered cars were electric cars!

In April 2026, a total of 4,783 electric passenger cars (BEVs, new first registrations + used imports) were registered in mainland Finland.

The amount was 15% higher than in April last year (Prev. year 4,142 units).

The share of electric cars in April was 53% of all registered cars (all passenger cars total 9,044 units).

Top 10 list of new first registrations + used imports by brand, April 2026:

1 Volkswagen 502 units

2 Skoda 464 units

3 Mercedes-Benz 445 units

4 Audi 419 units

5 Polestar 376 units

6 Volvo 369 units

7 Tesla 367 units

8 BMW 354 units

9 Kia 270 units

10 Toyota 197 units

----------

In April 2026, 2,783 new electric passenger cars (BEVs) were first-time registered in Finland, which was 21% more than the previous year, and 49% of all passenger cars first-time registered as new in April 2026.

Top 10 list of new electric passenger cars by brand:

1 Skoda 341 units

2 Volkswagen 293 units

3 Mercedes-Benz 254 units

4 Audi 233 units

5 Volvo 210 units

6 Toyota 189 units

7 BMW 185 units

8 Kia 150 units

9 Ford 140 units

10 BYD 115 units

---------

Additionally, in April 2026, 2,000 used imported electric passenger cars were registered in mainland Finland. The amount was 8.6% higher than in April last year. Electric cars represented 60% of all passenger cars registered as used imports in April.

Top 10 list of used imported electric passenger cars by brand:

1 Polestar 282 units

2 Tesla 276 units

3 Volkswagen 209 units

4 Mercedes-Benz 191 units

5 Audi 186 units

6 BMW 169 units

7 Volvo 159 units

8 Skoda 123 units

9 Kia 120 units

10 Hyundai 82 units

----------

Source: Finnish Information Centre of Automobile Sector and Traficom Statistics Database

[Seinakadun_Keisari]

https://insideevs.com/news/795337/lucid-gravity-nuro-uber-california-permit/

The company said Friday that it had secured a permit from the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to test the Gravity robotaxis with a safety monitor on board, along with passengers. In April, the company also obtained a permit from the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to begin truly driverless testing on public roads, without a safety monitor on board. The company, however, isn’t authorized to begin paid rides just yet.

Waymo is the only one operating at scale in the Bay Area with truly driverless paid rides. Tesla also operates its Model Y Robotaxi service in California with paid rides, but all of those have safety monitors on board. Tesla hasn’t obtained the necessary permits to test its taxi service without a driver. As of February, the company had not yet applied for a driverless permit, a DMV spokesperson told Reuters.

Update: A DMV spokesperson told InsideEVs that it had not received any new applications from Tesla for driverless testing.

It does have a few unsupervised robotaxis operating in Austin, Texas, where regulatory hurdles are far fewer than in California.

It seems extremely difficult for Tesla to even apply for permits in California, despite claiming to be a leading player in the industry.

[Kasleew]

Investments in Berlin continue:

Are they preparing for Semi/Cybercab production in 2027?