Tesla Board Chair Robyn Denholm has urged shareholders to approve CEO Elon Musk’s new 2025 Performance Award ahead of the November 6 Annual Meeting, warning that rejecting it could risk losing his leadership. 

In a letter posted on Tesla’s official handle on X, Denholm stated that the company must “foster an environment that motivates Elon to achieve great things,” or risk losing “his time, talent, and vision,” which she described as essential to Tesla’s success.

Retaining Musk amid Tesla’s critical transition

Denholm’s letter emphasized Tesla is at a “critical inflection point” as it scales AI-driven projects such as Full Self-Driving (FSD) and Optimus. She argued that Musk’s leadership remains vital as Tesla pushes toward becoming “the leading provider of autonomous solutions and the most valuable company in the world.” Without a new performance-based plan, Denholm warned, Musk could step away, potentially costing Tesla significant long-term value.

“If we fail to foster an environment that motivates Elon to achieve great things through an equitable pay-for-performance plan, we run the risk that he gives up his executive position, and Tesla may lose his time, talent, and vision, which have been essential to delivering extraordinary shareholder returns,” the Tesla Board Chair stated.

The board’s proposed 2025 Performance Award aligns Musk’s compensation with ambitious targets while extending his commitment for at least 7.5 more years. Denholm stated that the vote is a defining moment for Tesla’s future direction, adding that the plan was designed to keep Musk focused on innovation while maintaining governance discipline. “A vote here is both an endorsement of Elon’s vision and a vote for Tesla’s carefully tailored strategy,” she said.

Musk’s pay history is rooted in performance

Elon Musk’s pay history with Tesla has long been unconventional. For years, he has declined a regular salary, instead directly tying his earnings to Tesla’s ability to meet ambitious production and market-value goals. His 2018 performance award, approved by shareholders at a time when Tesla had a market cap of just about $59 billion, granted him stock options only when Tesla reached aggressive growth milestones, such as growing the company’s market cap to $650 billion. 

At the time, the milestones included $50 billion additions to Tesla’s market cap, which were considered by many to be unrealistic. Those goals were ultimately met by the electric vehicle maker, but a Delaware court later rescinded the plan in January 2024, calling it an “unfathomable sum.”

Tesla shareholders reaffirmed support for Musk’s pay in 2024, even as legal disputes continued. The board then issued an interim equity package valued around $29 billion while developing a new long-term plan earlier this year. Since then, Tesla’s Board has proposed Musk’s 2025 CEO Performance Award, which could be worth nearly $1 trillion, but only if Musk were to grow Tesla into the world’s most valuable company with a market cap of $8.5 trillion, among other aggressive and ambitious targets.

Cantor Fitzgerald has boosted its Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) price target from $355 to $510 per share, maintaining an “Overweight” rating over its continued confidence in the company’s long-term growth. 

Analyst Andres Sheppard cited upcoming production milestones for the Cybercab, Semi, and Optimus as key drivers behind Cantor Fitzgerald’s revised valuation, as well as expanding opportunities in Tesla’s Energy and Full Self-Driving initiatives.

Major growth from multiple Tesla programs

According to Sheppard, Tesla disclosed that volume production for the Cybercab, Semi, and Megapack 3 is on track for fiscal year 2026, with Optimus production lines also targeted to launch next year. The analyst highlighted these updates as “significant,” noting that Tesla’s diverse roadmap continues to reinforce its position as a vertically integrated energy and AI company.

Cantor Fitzgerald now expects Tesla’s capital expenditures at approximately $9.2 billion for FY2025 and around $12 billion for FY 2026, a substantial increase tied to the company’s efforts to further scale its operations. The analyst noted that these investments align with Tesla’s push into robotics, autonomous driving, and energy storage.

Confidence in AI-driven expansion

Tesla shares closed at $433.72 last Friday, giving Cantor Fitzgerald’s $510 price target an implied upside of roughly 17.6%. The revised forecast reflects the firm’s expectation that Tesla’s long-term value extends far beyond vehicle sales, with strong upside from the company’s FSD, Robotaxi/Cybercab, Semi, and Optimus initiatives, as noted in a StreetInsider report.

“Overall, we remain bullish on TSLA over the medium to long term,” Sheppard wrote. “We continue to see meaningful future upside from Energy Storage & Deployment, FSD, Robotaxis/Cybercab, Semis, and Optimus Bots.”

Tesla highlighted these key initiatives in its Q3 2025 Update Letter. “We continue to evolve and augment our product lineup with a focus on cost, scale and future monetization opportunities via services powered by our AI software. Cybercab, Tesla Semi and Megapack 3 are on schedule for volume production starting in 2026,” the company wrote.

Tesla is accelerating preparations for its upcoming Cybercab by rapidly expanding its hiring efforts in Austin, Texas. 

A check of the company’s Careers website shows 30 open positions tied to the Cybercab project, with 25 focused directly on vehicle manufacturing. The spike in listings suggests that Tesla may be gearing up for a production ramp of its fully autonomous two-seater at Giga Texas.

New Cybercab job listings

Tesla’s Careers page now features several new roles that appear crucial to the Cybercab’s buildout. Among the most recent additions are openings for Engineering Technicians for the Cybercab’s drive units, battery pack, and general assembly, as well as positions for Equipment Technicians for the vehicle’s production lines.

Earlier this month, Tesla only had three openings related to the autonomous two-seater’s manufacturing. Even then, it was already exciting as the Cybercab would be produced using Tesla’s “Unboxed” manufacturing process. This process is designed to make the Cybercab easier and quicker to produce. 

Similar to previous Cybercab-related job listings, all of the openings are currently based in Austin, Texas. This suggests that for now, at least, the production of the Cybercab will really be focused on Giga Texas to start.

Ultra-fast Cybercab production targets

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has described the Cybercab as the company’s highest-volume vehicle yet, targeting an annual production rate of around 2 million units. He added that the Cybercab line will operate more like a “high-speed consumer electronics” assembly process than a conventional car factory.

“If you’ve seen the design of the Cybercab line, it doesn’t look like a normal car manufacturing line,” Musk said earlier this year. “It looks like a really high-speed consumer electronics line. In fact, the line will move so fast that actually people can’t even get close to it.”