Tesla Chief Designer Alludes to New Paint Colors Coming to North America

Tesla's Chief Designer Franz von Holzhausen alludes to new colors coming to North America

Tesla

Tesla's Giga Berlin factory started producing vehicles in the new Quicksilver and Midnight Cherry Red in October 2022. Since then, Tesla enthusiasts, observers and future buyers have been waiting for the new colors to start spreading to other regions. While there have been several changes to the Tesla ordering page, mainly the price, the five colors have remained the same. But that may be due for a refresh.

Tesla's New "Pretty" Colors

Tesla's Chief Designer Franz von Holzhausen appeared on the Ride the Lightning podcast. Host Ryan McCaffrey asked about bringing the new colors to North America, pointing out that the same five colors have been available for several years. He asked if we were due for new paint colors in this country, and von Holzhausen replied, "yeah, I hope so." After the host reminded von Holzhausen (at the 43rd minute of the podcast) that he was in charge of that, the designer said, "yeah, wait and see."

While von Holzhausen always has to be guarded with his responses, he may have given enough information earlier in the interview to guarantee that new colors are coming to North America. "Both those colors are so pretty in person," gushed the 54-year-old, "tough to capture how really amazing those colors are until you see them in person."

Gleaming with pride, the designer reminisced about creating those colors, "we developed all the colors here (Fremont) with the team. We evolve them and do all the testing and kind of developments. As with anything we design, we're always trying to make the best we can at the moment. If we can improve it, then we will."

Von Holzhausen Talking Colors

Franz von Holzhausen talks about new paint colors at the 43rd minute mark below.

Time and Resources to Develop

A lot of time and resources went into producing Quicksilver and Midnight Cherry Red just to be used in the Giga Berlin location. We know Elon Musk does not waste time on production, and given the positive feedback, it would make sense to offer more colors.

Given that more Teslas are on the road than ever before and the company continues to pump out thousands of cars daily, it may be time for some more options. Pearl White Multi-Coat, Solid Black, Midnight Silver Metallic, Deep Blue Metallic and Red Multi-Coat have done the company well. But, follow a few Tesla forums, and you will see that many people are wrapping their Tesla to give a unique look and stand out from the pack.

Tesla's production has thrived because of streamlined choices. So, it's unlikely that Tesla would keep the existing gray and red colors and would likely replace them with these new options.

Tesla Introduces New Referral Program in the U.S. With New Rewards

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Tesla has reintroduced its referral program in the U.S. today. You’ll need Tesla App V4.36.1 to see the updated referral menu, so be sure to update your app first.

The program is quite different from the original program, and rather than offering referral credits, instead Tesla is offering a redeemable gift card. Let’s dig into the new offerings.

Rewards

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The new referral program will provide referrers $500 credits, while the user of the code receives $1,000 off a new Tesla. The $500 can be used toward just about anything, including Supercharging, software upgrades, merchandise from the Tesla Shop, service payments, or even a new vehicle. However, users are limited to 10 awards. Each referral code is also only good to get $1,000 off a new Tesla for the first 10 uses.

That means that if you refer 10 people, you can receive up to $5,000 towards your next Tesla, or just about anything else under the Tesla umbrella. Tesla isn’t clear whether the limit of 10 uses is per year or lifetime, however, we’re excited to see the program officially return.

Tesla Events

One of the most unique parts of the program is that those who refer new buyers will also have the chance to win an invitation to upcoming Tesla events. So, if you want to see the Robotaxi event on October 10^th, best get referring!

Referrals in Other Markets

Currently, the referral program seems to be limited to the United States. Canadian and European uses are currently unable to see the updated referral UI, and the button to open the link to refer isn’t available in the app. We’re hopeful Tesla will implement the referral program in other markets as well. However, it wouldn’t be surprising if Tesla turns it on and off in select markets based on demand.

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Tesla Improves Maps and Navigation With Update 2024.32

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Tesla recently released update 2024.32 to employees, and it comes with several new features that we’re sure everyone will be happy to see in their vehicles in the future.

Keep in mind that some features may be region-specific such as there construction on your route update. There may also be additional features available for other models or regions. The Cybertruck is expected to receive AutoPark soon, which may also be included in this update.

Construction on Your Route

If you’ve got Premium Connectivity, and have Online Routing enabled (Settings > Navigation), maps will display construction that is on your route with an icon on the screen. Tesla added map icons to the screen with the 2023 holiday update and they continue to support additional features in more regions.

Tesla already considers construction when navigating to a location, but it’ll now display the location of the construction on the screen, giving you a better idea of the area to avoid, or a better understanding of the route the navigation system picked. For those in urban areas that see lots of heavy construction, this will be a fantastic addition.

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Predictive Text for Navigation Searches

Alongside construction on the route, Navigation Searches will now have predictive text to try and suggest search terms as you type. The predictive text will be helpful to quickly complete searches – but you’ll need to have a solid internet connection for predictive text to function. Premium Connectivity won’t be required.

Search This Area

As part of more updates for Navigation Search, you’ll now be able to “Search this Area” when you’re searching for something specific if you drag the map to a different location. This is similar to the “Search this Area” feature that’s on Google Maps and is a good update for when the navigation likes showing you locations in a different town.

Mobile App Notifications – Tire Service

As part of a previous update, your vehicle can now inform you when it's in need of a tire change or tire rotation. You’ll need to set your own schedule based on distance under Service > Tire Service Mileage. You can set a mileage-based reminder when you want to rotate your tires. With this update, you will also be notified on the Tesla mobile app when your vehicle reaches the set mileage. You’ll also need to be on mobile app version 4.35 or later.

When Is It Coming?

This update is still being tested with wave 1 employees, but it’s expected to become available to the first set of consumers very soon. However, like most updates, it’ll take weeks before it becomes available to most users.

If you’re subscribed to FSD or own it outright, don’t expect this update any time soon. The FSD branch is always at least several weeks behind the main code branch. With Tesla recently updating its FSD branch to 2024.26, it may be another month before it gets updated again.

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