> Franz von Holzhausen, Tesla’s longtime design chief, said the company is looking to combine the electronic and manual door-release mechanisms, which are currently in separate locations.

I never understood this. I get that the electronic release is "cool" or something, but it never made any sense to me that it wasn't integrated with or connected to a manual release.

That's the way the model s worked. pull the handle a little way and it electronically opens. continue pulling the handle further and it mechanically opens the door.

I think the later models 3, y, cybertruck were severely cost-reduced (either for part cost, or repair cost) to the point that poverty comes to a premium car.

I can see the idea - a part that doesn't exist can't break, but for safety you need redundancy but they went for deletion.