Tesla went back to basics with its latest big announcement

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It was a LeBomb. That was the reaction from some brand experts regarding NBA superstar LeBron James’ Hennessy ad stunt. Others said the campaign, which was teased like James’ potential retirement announcement, effectively generated buzz.

In today’s big story, Tesla finally shared details about a more affordable option of its most popular EV.

What’s on deck:

Markets: See where some of the brightest young minds on Wall Street went to school.

Tech: A $9 billion startup is cracking down on its return-to-office policy in an unconventional way.

Business: Landlords are getting scammed by lease applicants, and we could all end up footing the bill.

But first, EV-ing on a budget.

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The big story

Tesla goes back to basics

Tesla’s got a cheaper version of some of its popular EVs, but it cut more than just the price.

Elon Musk’s company unveiled the prices on two models it’s marketing as more budget-friendly. The announcement comes following the end of the EV tax credit and a general slowdown in the industry.

I know what you’re here for, so let’s get right into the prices and how they compare to the traditional versions:

Model Y Standard: $39,990

Model Y Premium: $44,990

Price difference: $5,000 (-11.1%)

Model 3 Standard: $36,990

Model 3 Premium: $42,490

Price difference: $5,500 (-12.9%)

You’ll notice that price drop is still shy of the $7,500 tax credit EV buyers received up until the end of September.

The cheaper price also means you’ll miss out on some bells and whistles. The cutbacks in the standard models range from stuff that feels core to Tesla (the Autosteer feature that keeps the car centered in its lane) to what you’d expect in just about any car (an AM/FM radio.) I’m more of a Spotify guy myself, to be honest.

If you’re still interested, you won’t have to wait long. The estimated availability of the Model Y Standard is as early as November, according to Tesla. The Model 3 Standard could arrive as soon as December.

You also might be wondering: Is a new car that’s barely under $40,000 really considered “affordable”?

That term is pretty relative to the individual, but car prices have certainly spiked in recent years. BI’s Alistair Barr and Andy Kiersz ran the numbers on how inflation impacted Musk’s initial promise of a $25,000 EV back in 2020.

So what did people think?

To be fair, an announcement more than 7 years in the making — Musk first teased plans for a cheaper option back in 2018 — was always going to struggle to live up to the hype.

The market was unimpressed, with Tesla’s stock finishing the day down almost 4.5%. Even Tesla perma-bull analyst Dan Ives had a tough time finding a silver lining.

“We are relatively disappointed with this launch,” Ives wrote in a note following the announcement.

Ross Gerber, Seth Goldstein, and Gene Munster are also among the analysts, investors, and business leaders who have commented on the new models. You can read their reactions here.

Some of Tesla’s biggest fans also felt let down. Grace Kay, our resident Tesla expert, told me there was an expectation for more fanfare surrounding the news. Instead, Tesla just posted a 41-second video announcing the new models on X.

Of course, maybe the lack of fanfare was the whole point. After all, in recent years Tesla’s faced scrutiny for the lack of execution on its big plans.

This time around, just like its more affordable cars, it could be back to basics.

3 things in markets

1. Explain like I’m five: Wall Street job titles edition. We asked our newest class of rising stars of Wall Street how they describe what they do to people outside the biz. Speaking of our rising stars, we also compiled a bunch of stats about them, from where they went to school to fun facts about them. (And in case you missed it, here’s the full list of 2025’s rising stars.)

2. Small strategies, big returns. Massive multistrategy hedge funds are seeing their more niche strategies outperform the firm’s larger, mainstream funds. These are the concentrated funds punching above their weight at firms like Citadel, Schonfeld, and Point72.

3. Ken Griffin isn’t cheering the gold rally. Citadel’s billionaire hedge fund manager said the precious metal’s recent all-time highs suggest it has filled the role once held by the US dollar as a stable store of value. And that’s not the only thing that has Griffin concerned about US markets.

3 things in tech

1. OpenAI has now done $1 trillion of deals this year. Partnerships with Oracle, Nvidia, CoreWeave, and AMD pushed the ChatGPT maker’s dealmaking past $1 trillion. They’re just a handful of the companies riding the AI bull run to major stock surges.

2. Show up to the office or miss out on equity. $9 billion cybersecurity company Tanium is enforcing its RTO policy by withholding some equity from those who don’t comply, according to three sources familiar with the matter. While some companies have terminated employees who don’t return to the office, withholding a form of compensation for those who don’t comply is relatively rare, experts say.

3. Jensen Huang says H-1Bs are here to stay. The Nvidia CEO said his company will continue to sponsor H-1B visas and cover fees after President Trump tacked on a $100,000 application fee via executive order last month. Read Huang’s memo to staff here.

3 things in business

1. What’s bad for your landlord may be bad for you too. Landlords and property managers are sounding the alarm on rising leasing application fraud. While you might think boohoo, poor landlords, scammers could make renting worse for honest tenants, too — in the form of tougher applications or even rent hikes.

2. Ford’s bumpy road to RTO could lead to some dead ends. Some Ford employees have been told via email that they could be fired if they don’t improve their office attendance, three current and former Ford workers told BI. However, multiple employees said they received the emails despite complying with the policy

3. No back pay for furloughed federal workers. At least, there won’t be any if the Trump administration gets its way. There’s a 2019 law that’s understood to guarantee back pay to federal workers during a shutdown, but a draft of a White House memo seen by BI argues the law doesn’t apply to furloughed workers.

In other news

• Group Black cofounder calls for board’s removal, citing ‘serious concerns’ about its conduct
• AI is supposed to kill jobs. Instead, AI companies are hiring in droves, fueling a resurgence of Silicon Valley offices.
• Here’s the exclusive pitch deck that Anthropic-backed Heidi Health used to raise $65 million to join the AI scribe race.
• An LA airport was left without air traffic controllers for 6 hours as the government shutdown causes travel chaos.
• Diddy wants to serve his sentence at a NJ prison previously home to ‘Pharma Bro’ Martin Shkreli and mobsters
• Brands are losing interest in AI influencers — but tech gains could bring a new wave of enthusiasm
• An 8-figure Amazon seller says it’s never been easier to get started and explains how to launch a brand with $2,000.

What’s happening today

• Federal Open Market Committee meeting minutes and economic forecast published.

Dan DeFrancesco, deputy executive editor and anchor, in New York. Hallam Bullock, senior editor, in London. Akin Oyedele, deputy editor, in New York. Grace Lett, editor, in New York. Amanda Yen, associate editor, in New York.

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