Latest Tesla News: 1 Bil, New Games, Easter Eggs, and More!

Welcome to our weekly Tesla news recap, where we discuss and share the latest Tesla news. If you don’t have the time to constantly monitor Tesla and their ever-changing company and products, this is for you. This week, Tesla hit 1 billion miles on autopilot, Elon said Tesla was within weeks of death, new Easter eggs and games were announced, and more.

Tesla Sending Cars to Auction

Tesla has always sent their trade in inventory to auctions. Now with 3 and 2 year Tesla leases coming to an end, Tesla is rapidly gaining used inventory. Having too many Teslas might not sound like a big issue, but it is when you don’t have the proper networks in place to sell them at a rate that beats deprecation. With this influx of lease returns, Tesla is looking to sell their cars at auctions. Not just any auctions, but dealer auctions such as Manheim and Adesa. This is perfectly normal and is what the majority of manufacturers end up doing with their lease returns. These auctions are the backbone of the used car industry. They’re closed to the public and only sell to licensed dealerships. It’s where dealerships buy the bulk of their inventory. For the most part, this information is useless to the public. But some are saying selling cars at auction over the traditional CPO route could drastically lower the market value on used Teslas.

Tesla “Within Single-Digit Weeks” of Dying

Elon recently did an interview with Axios on HBO. In that he talked about going to Mars and threw the bombshell that Tesla was recently “within single digit weeks” of death.

Here’s a brief excerpt from the interview:

“Tesla really faced a severe threat of death due to the Model 3 production ramp. Essentially, the company was bleeding money like crazy and if we didn’t solve these problems in a very short period of time we would die. It was extremely difficult to solve them.”

You can watch more clips and read more about the interview here.

1 Billion Miles

Tesla has officially surpassed 1 billion miles driven on Autopilot. Tesla claims this as 10% of total miles driven by Tesla owners. This includes all Teslas, those sold with and without Autopilot. Autopilot cameras are on every single Tesla made in the last 3 years but you must purchase the “Enhanced Autopilot” package to access its features. In no way does this 10% number mean owners with Autopilot only drive 10% of the time on Autopilot. Personally, I’m at a solid self-calculated 85% of the time on Autopilot.

New Games Easter Eggs

Elon took to twitter to tease some soon to be released features.

Holiday themed Easter eggs are becoming a tradition for Tesla. Previously we’ve seen a Santa mode and even a full lightshow and dance from the Model X.

Can’t wait to see what “Toilet Humor” and “Romance Mode” will consist of.

We’ve previously discussed Elon’s intention to add more games to Teslas. It seems to be a priority as Elon once again expanded on the subject. Games might not be the best selling point but it sure adds to my love for this car.

Sadly, we won’t be seeing Mario Kart anytime soon.

Tesla Quiz

Test your Tesla knowledge and find out how much you actually know about the electric automaker here.