#TeslaModel3

Beyond tracking your credit score, Experian tracks trends and data in the automotive industry, including the most popular leased models. While the list is typically dominated by high-volume gas vehicles like the Ford F-150 and Nissan Rogue, the Tesla Model 3 is on a run that made it the first EV to make the top 10 most leased vehicles in the second quarter of 2023.

We’ve been seeing leaks and hearing teases for the updated Tesla Model 3 for a while now, and it finally looks like the automaker has rolled out the long-awaited refresh. The new car is on sale in China now, bringing refined styling, increased range, and a fresh interior.

Tesla clearly isn’t just a car manufacturer anymore - it’s a buzzword. For some, it’s a synonym for disruption and innovation; for others, that disruption and innovation aren’t all that welcome. And Tesla’s existence is inextricably linked to politics, the ongoing “Full Self Driving” soap opera, and the Almighty’s gift to headline writers himself, Elon Musk. All of this tends to polarize people into “Love Tesla” and “Loathe Tesla” camps, but I think both camps would agree about the brand’s impact - the company has revolutionized the way mass-market cars are designed, powered, and sold.

Should you buy a Camry, or should you buy a car from Elon Musk? If you’re shopping on price alone and live in California, the choice might become a lot simpler after this news. Reuters recently reported that the Model 3 can become less expensive than a new Camry if buyers can capitalize on federal and California state incentives.

Tesla has a new plan to draw in more car buyers and expand its electrification footprint in Texas. The automaker recently launched a new program through Tesla Electric that provides one year of overnight home charging to new Model 3 buyers. If you live in Texas and want to take advantage of the program, make sure you act before June 30.

For a while, it seemed like Tesla's values would never come back  to Earth. Buyers lucky enough to get a new EV from the automaker were flipping their cars for way more than the asking price, and many people overpaid as a result. Tesla started cutting prices earlier this year, making all models more attainable, and now the company has slashed the price of an entry-level Model 3 to below $40,000.

Things change quickly at Tesla, including pricing and the models it sells. The automaker has listed a Model 3 long-range model on its site with a “coming soon” tag for a while, and buyers can now order the car after a several-month hiatus from the company’s catalog.

Elon Musk may have his hands full with whatever he’s doing to Twitter at the moment, but his car company is still developing new (not you, Cybertruck) models. Automotive News reported that Tesla is working on an updated Model 3 sedan, which it hopes will reduce its production costs and give it new charm against newer and less controversial rivals.

With electric vehicles getting a lot of press, you might be wondering which models are scratching consumers in all the right places.

According to J.D. Power’s U.S. Electric Vehicle Experience Ownership Study, the Kia Niro EV is the best thing the mainstream BEV market currently has to offer. The Korean model garnered a satisfaction rating of 744 points out of a possible 1,000. However, it wasn’t the top dog overall. That honor fell to the Tesla Model 3, which achieved a score of 777 points — besting the industry average for premium electrics by a whole seven points.

Following the Virginia shutdown of Interstate 95 that left countless people stranded in freezing weather overnight earlier this month, there was a surprising amount of news coverage making offhand comments about how victims would have been better off if they all were driving electric vehicles (Ed. note — there was also this Washington Post op-ed in which the author worried that an EV would be a poor vehicle to be stranded in And this Vice rebuttal to that article). While it seemed an inopportune time to advertise for EVs, it’s an interesting premise and encouraged Car and Driver to conduct a head-to-head experiment between a Tesla Model 3 and Hyundai Sonata N-Line to see who could keep the cabin warm for the longest period of time when stranded.

Realistically, you’d be better off in whatever vehicle is yielding the heaviest fuel tank or least-depleted battery when traffic stops. But there are other factors to consider. Idling an internal-combustion car for extended periods of time is not recommended and doing so when totally snowed in could potentially trap harmful exhaust gasses if the exhaust is not kept clear. Meanwhile, EVs are notorious for having their battery chemistry altered by colder temperatures. This is especially true if they lack the relevant thermal management systems, resulting in the maximum range being diminished by as much as 30 percent.

There’s a big to-do coming up in Tesla’s social calendar. Dubbed “Battery Day,” the occasion seems to have something to do with…well, you can probably read.

Battery Day, on which Tesla will presumably storm the beaches of electrification technology, is slated for September 15th — the same day as a postponed shareholder meeting.

Hoping to reduce the coronavirus pandemic’s strain on its balance sheet, Tesla slashed prices on three of its four models on Wednesday. While the company posted a surprise first-quarter profit last month, no one expects Q2 to be similarly rosy.

Tesla only recently fired up its Fremont, California assembly plant amid a cloud of threats and a lawsuit targeting Alameda County officials. With sales severely hampered by both the weeks-long shutdown and state-level stay-at-home orders, getting new Teslas out of the factory and into driveways becomes even more important than it was before. Perhaps consumers respond well to lower prices…

By “you,” we mean those of you not living in China. In that country, however, customers will soon have access to a Tesla Model 3 variant with more range than what’s available in North America.

As Tesla’s Shanghai assembly plant ramps up production and adds more variation to its offerings, Tesla is in a good position to dominate the country’s “new energy vehicle” market. It also frees itself from import tariffs that suppressed sales via higher sticker prices.

Timing is everything, a famous person (possibly Gerald Ford) once said, and it would seem Tesla is in a position to capitalize on the returning consumer strength of the Chinese marketplace.

In a week that will be remembered by many Chinese as bringing about a return of free will and movement, such as that country can offer, Tesla plans to begin offering a domestically built Model 3 with considerable range.

Some 12 years and one month ago, Tesla CEO Elon Musk delivered the firm’s first electric vehicle… to himself. Fast-forward to today, and electric vehicle are sprouting from automakers the world over — including the “legacy” automakers Teslaphiles so often deride as out of touch.

On Monday, the company that opened the floodgates for EV proliferation marked a production milestone once thought of as inconceivable: its millionth car.