Investor's Corner
Tesla’s Model 3 production ramp is here, and the US auto market is starting to feel it
Since hitting its Q2 target of producing 5,000 Model 3 per week, Tesla appears to have accelerated its efforts to build and deliver the electric car to as many reservation holders as possible. The vehicle’s ramp has been anything but smooth over the past year, but now that Tesla is focusing on sustaining its production of the car, it seems like the results of the Model 3 push are finally starting to bear fruit.
Tesla noted in its Q2 2018 production and delivery report that the Model 3 had a line of about 420,000 reservations as of the final week of June. Deliveries of the Model 3 rose steadily since Tesla started ramping the production of the vehicle. Over Q1 and Q2, sales of the electric sedan increased, culminating in July when Tesla is estimated to have sold as many as 14,250 Model 3 in one month.
With such numbers, the Model 3 became the best-selling electric car in the United States in July, bar none. The rise of the Model 3 was so prominent that last month, it was listed as 7th place in GoodCarBadCar‘s list of America’s Top 20 Best Selling Cars, which included gas-powered vehicles like the Toyota Camry and the Honda Civic. These are vehicles that have held their places in the US’s auto industry for years, and the vast majority of them are more affordable than the Model 3.
Yet, despite this, the Model 3’s sales show that more and more people are starting to commit to Tesla’s electric car. In the company’s Q2 2018 earnings call, Tesla global head of sales Robin Ren stated that the top five vehicles being traded in for a Model 3 were rather surprising, as they were comprised of mostly lower-priced cars such as the Toyota Prius, BMW 3 Series, Honda Accord, Honda Civic, and the Nissan Leaf. Among these vehicles, only the BMW 3 Series is an actual competitor in the midsize luxury segment. The other four are from a more affordable price point.
According to Elon Musk, these trends in the sales of the Model 3 suggest that customers are quite open to spending a little bit more than their usual budget to purchase the electric car. This, Musk believes, is encouraging overall.
“It’s just interesting that people are trading up into a Tesla, so they’re choosing to spend more money on a Tesla than their current car, just based on the trade-in values. A Civic is a very inexpensive car compared to particularly the Model 3 today. So that’s promising from a market access standpoint,” Musk said.
Tesla’s Model 3 ramp appears to be well on its way to sustaining the optimum manufacturing level displayed by the company during its “burst production week” at the end of June. Apart from Tesla announcing that it was able to maintain its 5,000/week Model 3 target in “multiple weeks” in July, the company has also registered an astounding 16,000 new Model 3 VINs in a seven-day period this August. That’s a number that took the company roughly eight months to achieve when the vehicle started production in mid-2017.
As the Model 3 continues to make its presence known in the US auto industry, Tesla appears to be looking into expanding the Model 3’s reach to other countries. Deliveries to Canada have already started in Q2, and just recently, Tesla also announced that it would be offering the Model 3 for viewing in Australia and New Zealand. The company also showcased the Model 3 at the 2018 Goodwood Festival of Speed, where it attracted a good deal of attention from the festival’s attendees.
What then, of competing electric vehicles from other manufacturers? The Model 3’s main rival, the well-reviewed Chevy Bolt, has appears to have plateaued its sales in 2018. Estimates of the Chevy Bolt’s sales this year show that the vehicle has likely sold around 1,100-1,700 units every month since January, putting it below the Model 3’s numbers in 2018 so far. By July, the Model 3 is estimated to have outsold the Chevy Bolt EV 12:1.
Particularly notable is that Tesla’s production ramp for the Model 3 is still just halfway towards its actual target. Tesla aims to eventually produce 10,000 Model 3 per week — a pace the company is seeking to achieve sometime next year. It took a very long time for Tesla to build up the Model 3’s lines to produce 5,000 vehicles per week, but with the milestone achieved, it appears that Tesla’s ramp for its most ambitious electric car is going nowhere but up. Once the Model 3 hits 10,000 per week, even America’s top-selling vehicles like the Toyota Camry could start seeing their sales get taken over by Telsa’s electric sedan.
Elon Musk
Tesla analysts believe Musk and Trump feud will pass
Tesla CEO Elon Musk and U.S. President Donald Trump’s feud shall pass, several bulls say.
Tesla analysts are breaking down the current feud between CEO Elon Musk and U.S. President Donald Trump, as the two continue to disagree on the “Big Beautiful Bill” and its impact on the country’s national debt.
Musk, who headed the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) under the Trump Administration, left his post in May. Soon thereafter, he and President Trump entered a very public and verbal disagreement, where things turned sour. They reconciled to an extent, and things seemed to be in the past.
However, the second disagreement between the two started on Monday, as Musk continued to push back on the “Big Beautiful Bill” that the Trump administration is attempting to sign into law. It would, by Musk’s estimation, increase spending and reverse the work DOGE did to trim the deficit.
Every member of Congress who campaigned on reducing government spending and then immediately voted for the biggest debt increase in history should hang their head in shame!
And they will lose their primary next year if it is the last thing I do on this Earth.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 30, 2025
President Trump has hinted that DOGE could be “the monster” that “eats Elon,” threatening to end the subsidies that SpaceX and Tesla receive. Musk has not been opposed to ending government subsidies for companies, including his own, as long as they are all abolished.
How Tesla could benefit from the ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ that axes EV subsidies
Despite this contentious back-and-forth between the two, analysts are sharing their opinions now, and a few of the more bullish Tesla observers are convinced that this feud will pass, Trump and Musk will resolve their differences as they have before, and things will return to normal.
ARK Invest’s Cathie Wood said this morning that the feud between Musk and Trump is another example of “this too shall pass:”
BREAKING: CATHIE WOOD SAYS — ELON AND TRUMP FEUD “WILL PASS” 👀 $TSLA
She remains bullish ! pic.twitter.com/w5rW2gfCkx
— TheSonOfWalkley (@TheSonOfWalkley) July 1, 2025
Additionally, Wedbush’s Dan Ives, in a note to investors this morning, said that the situation “will settle:”
“We believe this situation will settle and at the end of the day Musk needs Trump and Trump needs Musk given the AI Arms Race going on between the US and China. The jabs between Musk and Trump will continue as the Budget rolls through Congress but Tesla investors want Musk to focus on driving Tesla and stop this political angle…which has turned into a life of its own in a roller coaster ride since the November elections.”
Tesla shares are down about 5 percent at 3:10 p.m. on the East Coast.
Elon Musk
Tesla investors will be shocked by Jim Cramer’s latest assessment
Jim Cramer is now speaking positively about Tesla, especially in terms of its Robotaxi performance and its perception as a company.
Tesla investors will be shocked by analyst Jim Cramer’s latest assessment of the company.
When it comes to Tesla analysts, many of them are consistent. The bulls usually stay the bulls, and the bears usually stay the bears. The notable analysts on each side are Dan Ives and Adam Jonas for the bulls, and Gordon Johnson for the bears.
Jim Cramer is one analyst who does not necessarily fit this mold. Cramer, who hosts CNBC’s Mad Money, has switched his opinion on Tesla stock (NASDAQ: TSLA) many times.
He has been bullish, like he was when he said the stock was a “sleeping giant” two years ago, and he has been bearish, like he was when he said there was “nothing magnificent” about the company just a few months ago.
Now, he is back to being a bull.
Cramer’s comments were related to two key points: how NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang describes Tesla after working closely with the Company through their transactions, and how it is not a car company, as well as the recent launch of the Robotaxi fleet.
Jensen Huang’s Tesla Narrative
Cramer says that the narrative on quarterly and annual deliveries is overblown, and those who continue to worry about Tesla’s performance on that metric are misled.
“It’s not a car company,” he said.
He went on to say that people like Huang speak highly of Tesla, and that should be enough to deter any true skepticism:
“I believe what Musk says cause Musk is working with Jensen and Jensen’s telling me what’s happening on the other side is pretty amazing.”
Tesla self-driving development gets huge compliment from NVIDIA CEO
Robotaxi Launch
Many media outlets are being extremely negative regarding the early rollout of Tesla’s Robotaxi platform in Austin, Texas.
There have been a handful of small issues, but nothing significant. Cramer says that humans make mistakes in vehicles too, yet, when Tesla’s test phase of the Robotaxi does it, it’s front page news and needs to be magnified.
He said:
“Look, I mean, drivers make mistakes all the time. Why should we hold Tesla to a standard where there can be no mistakes?”
It’s refreshing to hear Cramer speak logically about the Robotaxi fleet, as Tesla has taken every measure to ensure there are no mishaps. There are safety monitors in the passenger seat, and the area of travel is limited, confined to a small number of people.
Tesla is still improving and hopes to remove teleoperators and safety monitors slowly, as CEO Elon Musk said more freedom could be granted within one or two months.
Investor's Corner
Tesla gets $475 price target from Benchmark amid initial Robotaxi rollout
Tesla’s limited rollout of its Robotaxi service in Austin is already catching the eye of Wall Street.
Venture capital firm Benchmark recently reiterated its “Buy” rating and raised its price target on Tesla stock (NASDAQ: TSLA) from $350 to $475 per share, citing the company’s initial Robotaxi service deployment as a sign of future growth potential.
Benchmark analyst Mickey Legg praised the Robotaxi service pilot’s “controlled and safety-first approach,” adding that it could help Tesla earn the trust of regulators and the general public.
Confidence in camera-based autonomy
Legg reiterated Benchmark’s belief in Tesla’s vision-only approach to autonomous driving. “We are a believer in Tesla’s camera-focused approach that is not only cost effective but also scalable,” he noted.
The analyst contrasted Tesla’s simple setup with the more expensive hardware stacks used by competitors like Waymo, which use various sophisticated sensors that hike up costs, as noted in an Investing.com report. Compared to Tesla’s Model Y Robotaxis, Waymo’s self-driving cars are significantly more expensive.
He also pointed to upcoming Texas regulations set to take effect in September, suggesting they could help create a regulatory framework favorable to autonomous services in other cities.
“New regulations for autonomous vehicles are set to go into place on Sept. 1 in TX that we believe will further help win trust and pave the way for expansion to additional cities,” the analyst wrote.
Tesla as a robotics powerhouse
Beyond robotaxis, Legg sees Tesla evolving beyond its roots as an electric vehicle maker. He noted that Tesla’s humanoid robot, Optimus, could be a long-term growth driver alongside new vehicle programs and other future initiatives.
“In our view, the company is undergoing an evolution from a trailblazing vehicle OEM to a high-tech automation and robotics company with unmatched domestic manufacturing scale,” he wrote.
Benchmark noted that Tesla stock had rebounded over 50% from its April lows, driven in part by easing tariff concerns and growing momentum around autonomy. With its initial Robotaxi rollout now underway, the firm has returned to its previous $475 per share target and reaffirmed TSLA as a Benchmark Top Pick for 2025.
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