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.
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The Cybertruck is having an eventful November. Just last week, we shared the news that Tesla isn’t offering their in-house wrap service for the Cybertruck anymore; the Foundation Series is now available in inventory in select US locations, Crossbars have arrived, and faster charging is around the corner. Now there’s even more to discuss about the stainless steel beast.
Projection Puddle Lights
Like the recently launched puddle lights for the Model 3 and Model Y, Tesla has introduced a set of add-on Projector Puddle Lights for the Cybertruck. These Cybertruck-specific ones go for $75 USD, or $105 CAD and are available in both the Canadian and US Tesla stores.
However, these don’t have the Tesla wordmark - instead, they feature the iconic Cybertruck symbol and, in our opinion, look even nicer. Here’s to hoping Tesla also introduces a set with the graffiti-style Cybertruck wordmark.
Powershare in Canada
While the Foundation Series Cybertruck has been getting delivered in Canada since November 7th, there was no news on Powershare being supported due to regulatory constraints. On the 20th, Foundation Series owners in Canada began to receive emails to get their Powershare installs started through Tesla’s official installer - Qmerit.
More to follow on pricing and the process as we receive our Canadian quote from Qmerit soon.
FSD in Canada
The Cybertruck Program Manager, Siddhant Awasthi, confirmed that with Powershare now becoming available, FSD for the Cybertruck in Canada will also become available soon. Canadian trucks shipped with a factory software build that didn’t include FSD, but did include TACC and stoplight/traffic control.
Early this morning Tesla began rolling out a new version of FSD 12.5.5.3 for the Cybertruck, which is update 2024.39.5. Will this be the version that rolls out in Canada?
Following Integrated Flight Test 6 for SpaceX’s Starship, Elon Musk confirmed that uncrewed Starships are likely to begin making their way to Mars in about 2 years. You’re probably going to ask what’s going to be in those Starships - that’s what Brett Winston on X asked as well. Elon confirmed that Cybertrucks and Optimus robots will be among some of the first items landing on Mars.
That’s a ton of awesome news for Cybertruck, and there’s absolutely going to be more around the corner, especially as we await the big Tesla Holiday Update. While you wait, why not take a look at our Holiday Update Wishlists?
Tesla software update 2024.44.3 has started rolling out to customers in larger waves recently and it brings several new features - including Actually Smart Summon to Europe and the Middle East, as well as improvements to Autopark. But that’s not all, it also adds a new Blind Spot Monitoring feature to the new Model 3, and potentially the Cybertruck, but that’s still to be determined.
We previously covered the Blind Spot Warning While Parked as part of our preview notes for update 2024.44, but now that it's going out to customers, it's time to see it in action.
If the vehicle’s door open button is pressed, and a vehicle or object is near or incoming, the vehicle’s Blind Spot Warning Light (2024 Model 3 and Cybertruck) will illuminate, an audible tone will ring and the door won’t open. A message will also be displayed on the center displaying, letting driver’s know why the door didn’t open.
Pressing the button a second time will allow you to override the warning and open the door normally, providing a way to get out in case you just parked close to a nearby vehicle or obstacle.
The object detection for this new feature includes cars, pedestrians, cyclists, and other objects - like things including traffic cones, bollards, strollers, and other large obstacles that FSD and vision-based Autopark detect during normal operation. Of note - this only works for the front two doors. Thanks to X user Max, who did some testing for us, It does not work for the rear passenger doors.
Optional Feature
The feature is optional - it’ll be enabled by default for safety, but if you need to enable or disable it, you can do so under Controls > Safety. For now, the feature is only available on the 2024 Model 3, but we expect it to roll out to the Cybertruck at least. However, there’s no reason why it can’t be added to other vehicles as well, minus the small red dot. We expect Tesla to eventually add this feature to all Tesla vehicles, but it’s currently not a part of update 2024.44.
Enhauto’s S3XY Buttons & Commander
If that’s not enough safety and vision for you, Enhauto, the makers of the popular S3XY Buttons and Commander recently put out a new software update for the 2024 Model 3, which makes some fantastic use of the ambient lighting.
With Enhauto’s solution, users are able to tie their ambient lights to Autopilot use, turn signals or even if a vehicle is their blind spot. Check out the video below for this awesome implementation, where the ambient lights turn red when another vehicle approaches.
Maybe Tesla will integrate something like this into a future update? We’ve been hoping for more customizability with their ambient lighting - it's an easy safety win and a demonstration of Tesla’s do-more-with-less attitude.
I look forward to @enhauto updates more than Tesla...
Ambient light effects....
I set default color to white. Blinks green on turn signals Turns blue on FSD activation Yellow if someone in blind spot Blinks red if turn signal on and blind spot activity detected.
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