*By Michael Teich*
Tesla's Model 3 Performance vehicle is bad news for the company's haters, said Wall Street Journal auto columnist Dan Neil.
"Tesla runs their company in a different way, and it drives people crazy. But you can't argue with the results," Neil told Cheddar in an interview Friday.
Earlier this year, CEO Elon Musk announced the high-performance Model 3 Performance vehicle on Twitter. According to Musk, the dual-motor, all-wheel drive car "will beat anything in its class on the track." Neil was the first person to test drive it, and he was thoroughly impressed.
"This thing is magnificent, a little rainbow-farting space ship," he said in his review. "They have a schedule of innovation ahead of them."
Sans additions, the base price of the Tesla Model 3 Performance is $64,000, but it may sell for $78,000 with certain upgrades. The car is advertised with a 0 to 60 mph acceleration time of 3.5 seconds.
Whether reviews of the souped-up version will make up for recent struggles at Tesla remains to be seen. Many Wall Street analysts have grown skeptical of the company's capacity to meet expectations for even the regular version of the Model 3, which is supposed to cost as little as $35,000, though that configuration isn't available yet. And CEO Elon Musk's latest [blunders](https://money.cnn.com/2018/07/17/technology/elon-musk-twitter-investors/index.html) on Twitter aren't helping. Even if Tesla overcomes the hurdles of production, investment bank Needham says consumers are losing patience: the analyst estimates that about one in every four Model 3 orders is canceled, about twice the rate of late year's reports.
For the full segment, [click here.](https://cheddar.com/videos/behind-the-wheel-of-the-tesla-model-3-performance-vehicle)
Carlo and Baker cover the big races to watch on this off-cycle Election Day, the concrete pledges starting to come out of COP26, Jeffrey Epstein keeps causing CEOs to lose their jobs, and Ryan Murphy's TV hit that wasn't.
The UN climate change conference kicked off on Sunday with about 120 world leaders and delegates gathering in Glasgow, Scotland this week, as experts continue to warn about the harms of heightened emissions and the effects on climate change. The topic of ESG investing is expected to be a top priority at the summit. Jefferies global head of ESG and sustainability research Aniket Shah joined Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
Christian Kroll, CEO of Ecosia, joins 'Fast Forward' to discuss how Ecosia uses its ad revenue to plant trees, and what the company plans to do after launching a $405 million venture capital fund focused on combating the climate crisis.
Elliot Wolf, EVP of Digital at Wolf Entertainment, and Ben Arnon CRO at Curio, join Cheddar News to discuss the new NFT project called the Wolf Society.
Clinical research company Medable has secured $304 million in Series D funding, marking its fourth round since 2020, giving the firm a valuation of just over $2 billion. Dr. Michelle Longmire, CEO and Co-founder, Medable joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss the future of the company.
Sportradar, a global sports data company, announced it will serve as UEFA’s exclusive authorized collector and distributor of data for betting purposes. The agreement covers 1,550 matches from the 2021-2022 season through to the end of the 2023-2024 season across all UEFA properties in Europe. Sportradar CEO Carsten Koerl joined Cheddar to provide additional details on the landmark partnership and some insight into the future of sports betting.
