Thing 1: An electric semi tractor-trailer (a.k.a., lorrie) with enough battery to have 500 miles of range at freeway speeds. They clearly did their market research, including features like fleet management APIs, a stronger windshield, and caravaning support for increased energy efficiency. They didn't show retail prices, but they did a bunch of cost-of-ownership calculations versus traditional diesels. Supposedly they've already got orders from several big operators. Of note, it's got a variant on Tesla's normal AutoPilot rig, so a driver is still required. The versions they showed have no rear-view mirrors, but instead have cameras and screens.

Thing 2: A $250k outrageous sportscar with a 200kWh battery pack (twice the size of a Tesla P100D), three motors, and a claimed 0-60 time of 1.9 seconds. And 600+ miles of range on a charge. Oh, and pay now get it in three years.

The semi is clearly a big deal. The outrageous sportscar seems like it's going to kill a lot of rich people.

A lot of the criticism I've seen on the net has been of the form, "gee, if they're not able to ship the Model 3..." or "gee, if they're not profitable...". I'm not sure I buy either argument. Of course you pipeline your development efforts. None of these new things are going to be on the road for a while to come, so the Model 3 "production hell" ramp-up should be fully sorted before they're making either new car.

As to the financials? All the people who criticize Tesla's financials seem to conveniently ignore the crazy poor financial state of the rest of the automotive industry. Worst case, somebody else big buys Tesla out. Maybe Mercedes. Maybe Toyota. Tesla is clearly far enough along that somebody else would want to keep the ball rolling even if Tesla's bank accounts run dry.

You forgot the most important announcement of all!

Those semis remind me of the ones in Logan. Make sure your horse trailers are secure!

Finally a Tesla I can afford! Thx MAtt

And, of course, no USB-C support so not particularly useful for me, but a cool toy nonetheless.

Electric is definitely the future, whatever happens to Tesla they almost singlehandedly created the market. My brother owns a Model S, my Audi A3 e-tron is just sooo much better quality. They need to sort out production quickly if they're to compete once the Germans launch their evs.

I think Elon Musk is right that 200 miles of range is a magic number. Without that, range anxiety can kick in for a variety of simple day-trips that you might want to make. For example, it's a 57 mile drive from my house to the beach. With only 100 miles of range, you'd have to worry about charging somewhere near the beach. With 200+ miles of range, you don't even think about it.

We own an 2008 A3 (petrol) and a 2013 Tesla Model S. In terms of "interior quality" (seats, trim, etc.), I'd say they're roughly on par with each other. In terms of frequency of visits to the shop, squeaks and rattles, and other such things, the Audi has a slight edge on the Tesla, but both have been much much better than, for contrast, my 2000 BMW Z3, which was a never-ending series of problems.

Today, there's exactly one serious competitor to Tesla in the U.S. market: the GM Bolt, which is going after the same segment as Tesla's Model 3, except you can actually go buy a Bolt today. Not so much (yet) for the Model 3. On paper, the Model 3 is a much nicer car, with the fancy AutoPilot and a beautiful interior, but none of that matters if you can't actually get one.

To my mind, Tesla's greatest contribution to the world was serving as an existence proof for a kick-ass purely electric car. Once other car manufacturers start selling serious competition, we can have a fun discussion about which cars are better or worse. It seems that the first serious German competition to Tesla will be the Porsche Mission E, which has already been seen doing the Nurburgring.

Fun hypothetical: let's say my Tesla is totalled through no fault of my own or of its own (e.g., a valet driver crashes it into a wall) and I could get a Porsche Mission E or a Tesla Model S for around the same price with roughly the same specs. Which would I buy? I'm not sure, but I'd welcome the chance to try both. I'd probably end up making a decision on all sorts of secondary things, like whether I can fit my bike in the back without removing the front wheel. (Plenty of room in the Tesla for this.)

If the Bolt was available here I'd have bought it instead of the etron. Yep, 200 miles does get people more comfortable.