Tesla Update — 2026-08-04

Tesla News & Deals

Confirmed deals

• California has now listed Tesla as a participating manufacturer in MyFirstEV, but Tesla-specific ordering availability is not yet confirmed. The state program provides $3,500 off a new ZEV with MSRP up to $50,000 or $1,750 off an eligible used ZEV priced up to $25,000 through a manufacturer pre-owned program for a Californian buying or leasing their first ZEV. CARB warns that launch timing varies by manufacturer and dealership and that vehicles ordered or purchased before the manufacturer makes the incentive available will not qualify. No income cap, expiration date, eligible Tesla configuration list, inventory requirement, combinability rule, or Tesla launch date is published on the accessible pages. Location: California only; not Hawaii/ZIP 96825. What changed: CARB’s live participating-manufacturer page now names Tesla, a material implementation detail discovered after the previous brief; this does not establish that the rebate is orderable from Tesla today. Confidence: confirmed program and participation; Tesla availability pending. CARB MyFirstEV · CARB participating manufacturers · California program terms
• No newly confirmed Tesla purchase, lease, APR, or Hawaii incentive appeared. Tesla’s Current Offers, inventory, IR, and press pages still return HTTP 403 to unattended checks. CarsDirect’s rendered ZIP 96825 page now says “No Results Found” and shows zero price drops, newly announced deals, or $0-due-at-signing offers; its “Tesla Lease Deals for August” heading is not an offer. Tesla’s configurator and inventory remain final authority for configuration, qualified-credit, inventory-only, returning-owner, order/delivery deadline, tax, fee, and combinability terms. What changed: the third-party Honolulu tracker no longer exposes even the expired July cards; it does not show a replacement August program. Confidence: no offer independently reproducible. Tesla Current Offers · Tesla new inventory · CarsDirect Tesla lease tracker

Important Tesla news

• Tesla’s July China-made EV wholesale sales rose 37.8% year over year to 93,579, the ninth consecutive month of growth. Reuters attributed the preliminary figure to the China Passenger Car Association. This is a sharp contrast with the country-by-country European weakness covered yesterday, but wholesale volume includes both China retail deliveries and exports; the mix matters before drawing a demand conclusion. Owner/buyer impact: no direct U.S. price change, though stronger Shanghai utilization reduces the case that one weak European month alone will force an immediate U.S. promotion. Confidence: credibly reported from CPCA preliminary data. Reuters
• Lemonade expanded its FSD-mile insurance discount to Tennessee. The insurer’s announcement, reproduced in a Teslarati report published after yesterday’s brief, says its usage-based Autonomous Car policy charges 50% less for miles driven with FSD engaged and requires Hardware 4 plus recent firmware. Tennessee joins Arizona, Oregon, Indiana, and Colorado; pricing remains quote-specific, and the product is neither Tesla Insurance nor available in Hawaii. Owner/buyer impact: potentially lower operating cost for eligible Tennessee HW4 owners, but not a vehicle-price incentive and not proof that FSD itself is safer. Confidence: credibly reported from Lemonade’s public announcement; state insurance eligibility and individual quote control. Teslarati report with Lemonade announcement
• No new Tesla SEC filing appeared. Tesla’s submissions feed still ends with the July 23 Form 10-Q. Confidence: confirmed from SEC data. Tesla SEC submissions

Rumors and early signals

• HW3 owners are reporting overheating and some Autopilot-computer failures after the wide release of FSD v14 “Lite,” but causation is unproven. Electrek says four owners contacted it directly after Tesla widely released software 2026.20.6.11 / FSD v14.3.6 on July 21; public screenshots show APP_w141_ECU_Thermal_Issue, which triggers above 90°C, with some readings near 96°C, forced disengagements, and reports of computers requiring replacement. The same thermal fault predates v14 Lite and can result from low coolant, air in the cooling loop, or a clogged radiator; Tesla has not confirmed that the software causes failures. Owner impact: an HW3 owner seeing red-hands or selfDrivingUnavailable warnings should stop relying on FSD, remain in control, and seek Tesla service/cooling-system diagnosis rather than assuming a software-only issue. Confidence: unconfirmed correlation based on owner reports; the fault and service symptoms are documented, but no fleet rate or causal analysis is available. Electrek

Deal watch

• Offers approaching expiration: no current Tesla U.S. or Hawaii offer expiration was independently visible. California’s MyFirstEV program has finite funding, but CARB has not published a Tesla launch or expiration date; ordering before Tesla activates it makes the vehicle ineligible.
• Meaningful inventory discounts: none reproducible for ZIP 96825. Tesla’s inventory page remains blocked, CarsDirect returns no Honolulu deal cards, and Tesla-Info’s general U.S. table does not establish Tesla-authorized ZIP-specific terms. Tesla inventory · Tesla-Info
• Signs a stronger promotion may be approaching: no verified nationwide or Hawaii signal. California’s $3,500/$1,750 MyFirstEV rebates are state-funded and manufacturer-matched, not evidence of a broader Tesla discount.
• Buy now or wait: Hawaii shoppers should wait for directly visible August terms unless a specific in-stock vehicle is urgently needed. California first-time ZEV shoppers should wait until Tesla explicitly activates MyFirstEV before ordering. In either case, verify ZIP, configuration, MSRP, inventory status, credit tier, taxes, fees, annual mileage, order/delivery deadlines, and incentive combinability in Tesla’s configurator.