Investor's Corner
Tesla Model 3 ramp continues amid 4.6k new VIN registrations, higher US sales rankings
Tesla might have just finished a record third quarter, but the electric car maker seems set to push forward with its Model 3 ramp without missing a beat. Just yesterday, Tesla registered 4,609 new Model 3 VINs, ~85% of which are estimated to be Dual Motor. With this latest batch of filings, Tesla has registered a total of 122,517 Model 3 to date.
The recent batch of Model 3 VIN filings bode well for Tesla’s continued push for the electric car this Q4. Tesla’s chances this fourth quarter has gained the confidence of some Wall Street analysts, including Romit Shah of Nomura Instinet, who noted that Tesla might have hit its break-even point in the third quarter. The analyst also noted that as Telsa closes in on production and delivery numbers of 100,000 vehicles per quarter, the company could finally reach a point where it could be sustainably profitable.
#Tesla registered 4,609 new #Model3 VINs. ~85% estimated to be dual motor. Highest VIN is 122517. https://t.co/TBGgTxH3DS
— Model 3 VINs (@Model3VINs) October 3, 2018
It should be noted that Tesla’s production ramp for the Model 3 is only partly done. Tesla eventually aims to produce 10,000 units of the electric sedan every week, and so far, the company is only producing around half this number on average. Despite this, the Model 3’s disruption of the US auto market has started becoming notable, particularly in the sales figures of rival automakers in September. The Tesla Model 3 has slowly risen through the ranks of the US’ best-selling passenger cars over the past months. This became particularly notable in August, when the Model 3 was listed by auto sales tracking website GoodCarBadCar as the 5th best-selling passenger car in the United States.
The Model 3 went up GCBC‘s best-selling passenger cars list once more in September. Tesla sold an estimated 22,250 Model 3 in during the month, beating the Toyota Corolla Family for the No.4 spot. What’s particularly notable was that with the Model 3’s rise, the sales of the three vehicles above it — the Toyota Camry, the Honda Civic, and the Honda Accord — all saw a notable dive. Looking at September’s sales figures, the gap between the Model 3 and America’s best-selling passenger cars continues to get smaller.
The Tesla Model 3’s rankings at the auto sales tracking website’s overall list also improved. Last August, the Model 3 was listed by GoodCarBadCar as the 15th best-selling vehicle in the United States. In September, the Model 3 moved up two places, ranking as the 13th best-selling vehicle in the country, in a list that includes mainstream trucks and SUVs like the Ford F-150, Honda CR-V, and the Toyota Rav4.
Tesla’s fourth quarter seems poised to take the company towards even more milestones. Gigafactory 1, the company’s expansive facility in Nevada, is set to receive upgrades in the form of three new battery cell assembly lines from Panasonic. The new lines, which were initially estimated to be completed near the end of 2018, are now expected to be finished ahead of schedule. New Grohmann machines, which are designed to make module production three times cheaper and three times faster, are also set to be operational in Q4.
The Model 3 ramp has moved forward since the electric car’s production began last year. That said, there is still a lot that needs to be done. Other variants of the vehicle, such as the $35,000 base Model 3, as well as Right-Hand-Drive versions of the electric car, are yet to enter production. Both the Model 3 in Standard trim, as well as RHD versions, are expected to hit production next year.
There are a lot of Tesla bulls out there who have astronomical expectations for the company, especially as its arm of reach has gone well past automotive and energy and entered artificial intelligence and robotics.
However, some of the most bullish Tesla investors believe the company could become worth $100 trillion, and CEO Elon Musk does not believe that number is completely out of the question, even if it sounds almost ridiculous.
To put that number into perspective, the top ten most valuable companies in the world — NVIDIA, Apple, Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon, TSMC, Meta, Saudi Aramco, Broadcom, and Tesla — are worth roughly $26 trillion.
Will Tesla join the fold? Predicting a triple merger with SpaceX and xAI
Cathie Wood of ARK Invest believes the number is reasonable considering Tesla’s long-reaching industry ambitions:
“…in the world of AI, what do you have to have to win? You have to have proprietary data, and think about all the proprietary data he has, different kinds of proprietary data. Tesla, the language of the road; Neuralink, multiomics data; nobody else has that data. X, nobody else has that data either. I could see $100 trillion. I think it’s going to happen because of convergence. I think Tesla is the leading candidate [for $100 trillion] for the reason I just said.”
Musk said late last year that all of his companies seem to be “heading toward convergence,” and it’s started to come to fruition. Tesla invested in xAI, as revealed in its Q4 Earnings Shareholder Deck, and SpaceX recently acquired xAI, marking the first step in the potential for a massive umbrella of companies under Musk’s watch.
SpaceX officially acquires xAI, merging rockets with AI expertise
Now that it is happening, it seems Musk is even more enthusiastic about a massive valuation that would swell to nearly four-times the value of the top ten most valuable companies in the world currently, as he said on X, the idea of a $100 trillion valuation is “not impossible.”
It’s not impossible
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 6, 2026
Tesla is not just a car company. With its many projects, including the launch of Robotaxi, the progress of the Optimus robot, and its AI ambitions, it has the potential to continue gaining value at an accelerating rate.
Musk’s comments show his confidence in Tesla’s numerous projects, especially as some begin to mature and some head toward their initial stages.
Elon Musk
Tesla director pay lawsuit sees lawyer fees slashed by $100 million
The ruling leaves the case’s underlying settlement intact while significantly reducing what the plaintiffs’ attorneys will receive.
The Delaware Supreme Court has cut more than $100 million from a legal fee award tied to a shareholder lawsuit challenging compensation paid to Tesla directors between 2017 and 2020.
The ruling leaves the case’s underlying settlement intact while significantly reducing what the plaintiffs’ attorneys will receive.
Delaware Supreme Court trims legal fees
As noted in a Bloomberg Law report, the case targeted pay granted to Tesla directors, including CEO Elon Musk, Oracle founder Larry Ellison, Kimbal Musk, and Rupert Murdoch. The Delaware Chancery Court had awarded $176 million to the plaintiffs. Tesla’s board must also return stock options and forego years worth of pay.
As per Chief Justice Collins J. Seitz Jr. in an opinion for the Delaware Supreme Court’s full five-member panel, however, the decision of the Delaware Chancery Court to award $176 million to a pension fund’s law firm “erred by including in its financial benefit analysis the intrinsic value” of options being returned by Tesla’s board.
The justices then reduced the fee award from $176 million to $70.9 million. “As we measure it, $71 million reflects a reasonable fee for counsel’s efforts and does not result in a windfall,” Chief Justice Seitz wrote.
Other settlement terms still intact
The Supreme Court upheld the settlement itself, which requires Tesla’s board to return stock and options valued at up to $735 million and to forgo three years of additional compensation worth about $184 million.
Tesla argued during oral arguments that a fee award closer to $70 million would be appropriate. Interestingly enough, back in October, Justice Karen L. Valihura noted that the $176 award was $60 million more than the Delaware judiciary’s budget from the previous year. This was quite interesting as the case was “settled midstream.”
The lawsuit was brought by a pension fund on behalf of Tesla shareholders and focused exclusively on director pay during the 2017–2020 period. The case is separate from other high-profile compensation disputes involving Elon Musk.
Investor's Corner
Tesla (TSLA) Q4 and FY 2025 earnings call: The most important points
Executives, including CEO Elon Musk, discussed how the company is positioning itself for growth across vehicles, energy, AI, and robotics despite near-term pressures from tariffs, pricing, and macro conditions.
Tesla’s (NASDAQ:TSLA) Q4 and FY 2025 earnings call highlighted improving margins, record energy performance, expanding autonomy efforts, and a sharp acceleration in AI and robotics investments.
Executives, including CEO Elon Musk, discussed how the company is positioning itself for growth across vehicles, energy, AI, and robotics despite near-term pressures from tariffs, pricing, and macro conditions.
Key takeaways
Tesla reported sequential improvement in automotive gross margins excluding regulatory credits, rising from 15.4% to 17.9%, supported by favorable regional mix effects despite a 16% decline in deliveries. Total gross margin exceeded 20.1%, the highest level in more than two years, even with lower fixed-cost absorption and tariff impacts.
The energy business delivered standout results, with revenue reaching nearly $12.8 billion, up 26.6% year over year. Energy gross profit hit a new quarterly record, driven by strong global demand and high deployments of MegaPack and Powerwall across all regions, as noted in a report from The Motley Fool.
Tesla also stated that paid Full Self-Driving customers have climbed to nearly 1.1 million worldwide, with about 70% having purchased FSD outright. The company has now fully transitioned FSD to a subscription-based sales model, which should create a short-term margin headwind for automotive results.
Free cash flow totaled $1.4 billion for the quarter. Operating expenses rose by $500 million sequentially as well.
Production shifts, robotics, and AI investment
Musk further confirmed that Model S and Model X production is expected to wind down next quarter, and plans are underway to convert Fremont’s S/X line into an Optimus robot factory with a capacity of one million units.
Tesla’s Robotaxi fleet has surpassed 500 vehicles, operating across the Bay Area and Austin, with Musk noting a rapid monthly expansion pace. He also reiterated that CyberCab production is expected to begin in April, following a slow initial S-curve ramp before scaling beyond other vehicle programs.
Looking ahead, Tesla expects its capital expenditures to exceed $20 billion next year, thanks to the company’s operations across its six factories, the expansion of its fleet expansion, and the ramp of its AI compute. Additional investments in AI chips, compute infrastructure, and future in-house semiconductor manufacturing were discussed but are not included in the company’s current CapEx guidance.
More importantly, Tesla ended the year with a larger backlog than in recent years. This is supported by record deliveries in smaller international markets and stronger demand across APAC and EMEA. Energy backlog remains strong globally as well, though Tesla cautioned that margin pressure could emerge from competition, policy uncertainty, and tariffs.
Tesla reveals major info about the Semi as it heads toward ‘mass production’
Ferrari Luce EV: Italian supercar maker reveals interior and interface design
