Tesla doesn't measure itself against other electric vehicles. It never has. In a post on X this afternoon, the company restated a principle that has guided it since the Roadster era: the goal is to build the best car, full stop — not the best car with a battery pack, not the best car for eco-conscious buyers, but the outright best automobile on the planet.
That's a high bar, and the current lineup offers some evidence Tesla is closing in on it. The Model Y was the best-selling vehicle of any kind globally in 2023 and held the top spot in California for all of 2025 and into Q1 2026, according to sales data. The Model 3, meanwhile, earned Edmunds' Top Rated Electric Car for 2026 — a recognition that judges it against the broader market, not just EVs.
The mission statement lands at an interesting moment in Tesla's product history. The company confirmed during its Q4 2025 earnings call that the Model S and Model X would be discontinued ahead of Q2 2026 due to low volume and production constraints — a significant pruning of the lineup. What remains is a tighter, more focused portfolio. And waiting in the wings is the new Roadster, which Elon Musk has described as a vehicle that will be 'the best among the last batch of human-driven cars' — a line that frames the supercar as both a performance statement and a philosophical one, arriving at the cusp of the autonomous era.
Tesla's strategy has clearly broadened beyond hardware — robotaxis, Optimus, and AI infrastructure are consuming increasing attention and capital. But this afternoon's post is a reminder that the foundation hasn't shifted: the car itself still has to be the best one on the road. Everything else is built on top of that.
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Sources & reporting notes
The links below identify the material source records used for this report.
- @Tesla on X (2026-05-13T19:30:34.000Z) — Direct source
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