*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)
Third quarter Shopify earnings fell below expectations in both revenue and earnings per share. Though the e-commerce retailer has seen growth in partnerships with Target and Spotify, as well as adoption of a buy now, pay later payment option, Hatem Dhiab, Managing Partner at Gerber Kawasaki explains the impact that ongoing supply chain issues have had on Shopify's bottom line.
Alphabet reported an earnings beat on the top and bottom lines, proving to be immune to Apple's privacy policy changes and the supply chain shortages. Cheddar News was joined by Martin Garner, COO of CCS Insight to dive into the numbers and the future of Google.
Carlo and Baker cover Facebook's big rebrand, the latest on Biden's economic agenda and more. Plus, ranking the best Halloween candy and the worst couple's costumes.
Nicola Mendelsohn, vice president of the global business group at the newly-christened Meta, joined Cheddar to discuss what went into the re-branding of Facebook's parent company. Regarding criticism that the name change might be a way for the company to deflect from news of its role in allegedly undermining child safety, growing political strife, and spreading vaccine disinformation, she noted that the process began even earlier. "Something like this takes a long time to pull together," Mendelsohn said.
Proptech startup Juno recently raised $20 million in a Series A funding round. The company says the funds will be used to further its mission of building sustainable and affordable apartment buildings across the United States. Juno Co-Founder and CEO Jonathan Sherr joined Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
