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Tesla's hiring ramp in 2019 bucks traditional auto trends as TSLA continues to soar
Tesla short sellers have been choking on over $2 billion in losses as Tesla share prices set record highs recently, even hitting over CEO Elon Musk’s once-take-private price of $420 per share on Monday morning. As the year closes, one can only wonder why Tesla continues to grow despite doubts from the company’s most dedicated critics. Over this time, Tesla has also engaged in a hiring ramp that increased its employee count significantly.
Thinknum Alternative Data finance editor Jon Marino zeroed in on how Tesla job postings are related to Tesla stock’s (NASDAQ:TSLA) soaring prices. Marino noted that the electric car maker’s job postings have increased 125% since the start of the second half of 2019. During the same timeframe, TSLA stock soared by as much as 75%.
“Musk has added more staffers to his manufacturing group in 2019 already, in part driven by 97% more postings since the year began. Across Tesla job posting categories, there are a handful of groups seeing more job postings since the year began, like supply chain, as well,” he wrote.
Tesla’s Gigafactory 3 in Shanghai and Gigafactory 4 in Brandenburg, Germany have the potential to add even more employees to the company as well. Aside from the role these facilities will play in spreading Tesla’s presence in the biggest automotive markets in the globe, they will also create new jobs. For example, Tesla is looking to hire more frontline workers for its Gigafactory 3 facility that aims to produce 250,000 and eventually 500,000 vehicles per year. Meanwhile, Tesla’s Gigafactory 4 will hire 3,000 workers to start and may later increase to 8,000 employees for the upcoming factory.
Tesla can be considered a trendsetter in the automotive industry. Beyond its amazing mission to achieve sustainable energy, it has been defying what has been happening to the rest of the automotive industry. As Tesla expands and hires more people, other American carmakers have slashed their workforces at a pace fastest since the recession about a decade ago. During the first half of 2019, car manufacturers have cut almost 22,000 jobs.
Tesla’s products are also well-loved by the market. In fact, the Model 3 is the best-selling electric vehicle in the United States this year and even bucked the EV sales slump in China, the world’s largest electric car market. Its products also redefine conventions, as evidenced by the Cybertruck. The polarizing design of the futuristic electric pickup truck has gained all kinds of opinion from all directions, but no one can deny how it almost instantaneously made autophiles go head over heels with it as the 250,000 preorders clearly suggest.
With everything in the pipeline, Tesla has not hit the ceiling. With new funding from Chinese banks to support its Gigafactory 3 in China, the smooth-sailing negotiations for the Gigafactory 4 in Germany, and the much-awaited Model Y and Cybertruck, one can only expect that more TSLA skeptics will be converted in the near future.
Disclosure: I have no ownership in shares of TSLA and have no plans to initiate any positions within 72 hours.
News
Tesla is shifting FSD to a subscription-only model, confirms Elon Musk
Tesla CEO Elon Musk confirmed the upcoming update in a post on social media platform X.
Tesla will be ending one-time purchases of its Full Self-Driving (FSD) system after Valentine’s Day, transitioning the feature to a monthly subscription-only model.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk confirmed the upcoming update in a post on social media platform X.
No more FSD one-time purchases
As per Elon Musk in his post on X, “Tesla will stop selling FSD after Feb 14. FSD will only be available as a monthly subscription thereafter.” This marks a shift in how Tesla monetizes its FSD system, which can now be purchased for a one-time fee or accessed through a monthly subscription.
FSD’s subscription model has been $99 per month in the United States, while its one-time purchase option is currently priced at $8,000. FSD’s one-time purchase price has swung wildly in recent years, reaching $15,000 in September 2022. At the time, FSD was proficient, but its performance was not on par with v14. This made its $15,000 upfront price a hard sell for consumers.
Tesla’s move to a subscription-only model could then streamline how the company sells FSD. It also lowers the entry price for the system, as even price-conscious drivers would likely be able to justify FSD’s $99 monthly subscription cost during periods when long-distance travel is prevalent, like the holidays.
Musk’s compensation plan and FSD subscription targets
Tesla’s shift to a subscription-only FSD model comes amidst Musk’s 2025 CEO Performance Award, which was approved by Tesla shareholders at the 2025 Annual Shareholders Meeting with roughly 75% support. Under the long-term compensation plan, Musk must achieve a series of ambitious operational milestones, including 10 million active FSD subscriptions, over the next decade for his stock awards to vest.
The 2025 CEO Performance Award’s structure ties Musk’s potential compensation to Tesla’s aggressive targets that span market capitalization, vehicle deliveries, robotics, and software adoption. Apart from his 10-million active FSD subscription target, Musk’s compensation is also tied to Tesla producing 20 million vehicles cumulatively, delivering 1 million Tesla bots, and having 1 million Robotaxis in operation. He must also lead Tesla to a market cap of $8.5 trillion.
If successful, Elon Musk’s 2025 CEO Performance Award could make him the world’s first trillionaire. It could also help Tesla become the world’s most valuable company by market cap by a notable margin.
Tesla is planning for a new 300+ stall Supercharger station that will be an expansion of an existing facility, and the company is planning to add a surprise for the Semi.
The Firebaugh, California Supercharger is currently 72 Superchargers, but Tesla filed for an expansion that will add 232 additional plugs for passenger vehicles, and it also plans to add 16 Semichargers.
This will be the biggest Supercharger station Tesla will have to date, just months after it finished the Supercharger Oasis in Lost Hills, California, which has 168 stalls. This will have 304 total Supercharger stalls, and then the additional 16 Megachargers.
🚨 This Supercharger station will have 304 total stalls and 16 Semichargers following this expansion
Absolutely INSANE size 🔥
This is located on I-5, so many semis will be traveling along this route https://t.co/hM9hdLcWwg
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) January 13, 2026
The Firebaugh Supercharger is located on I-5, which is a major reason for why Tesla has chosen the location for additional Megacharger plug-ins, as Tesla Semi Program Manager Dan Priestley said on X earlier today.
Lots of trucks to electrify on I-5
— Dan Priestley (@danWpriestley) January 13, 2026
The project was revealed by MarcoRP, a Supercharger tracker.
The expansion is a massive signal for charging demand, especially as Tesla’s Superchargers are opened to numerous automakers and are no longer exclusive to the company’s EVs. Additionally, the installation of Megachargers is a good sign to come for the Tesla Semi program, which aims to truly ramp up this year.
Tesla plans to launch production of the Semi later this year.
It could also mean Tesla is going to expand its footprint of large-scale Supercharger projects in the coming years, which would be a big boost as EV adoption continues to soar in the United States.
Tesla has made two big interior changes to several Model Y vehicles in its lineup, and the changes come just as the new model year begins production.
Last year, Tesla launched the Model Y Standard, which separated the previous models into the “Premium” category. The Standard vehicles lack several features, including more premium interior materials, acoustic-lined glass, and storage.
@teslarati There are some BIG differences between the Tesla Model Y Standard and Tesla Model Y Premium #tesla #teslamodely ♬ Sia – Xeptemper
The Model Y “Premium” trims are now getting several new upgrades, which come after the company launched a seven-seat configuration of the vehicle last night in the North American market for an upcharge of $2,500.
The new Model Y seven-seat configuration did not come with just an additional row of seating; it also came with a slew of other goodies that now come standard and were previously only available on the Model Y Performance, which was launched late last year.
All Black Headliner
The new Tesla Model Y Premium trims will now come standard with a black headliner, something that many owners have been requesting for some time.
The previous grey headliner and trim within the vehicle is now gone; it will be all black on all of the Premium trims from here on out, a welcome change:
Credit: Tesla
Larger and Higher Resolution Center Touchscreen
The center touchscreen in the new Model Y Premium configuration is now larger and has a higher resolution than the previous version.
In last year’s Model Y configurations (apart from the Performance), the center touchscreen was 15.4″. Now, Tesla has decided to go with the 16″ version across all Premium trims, which is a nice step up. It was nice to see this in the Performance, but it is really great to see Tesla include this in the Model Y’s more Premium trim levels.
Tesla Model Y Seven Seater
Tesla launched the latest iteration of the seven-seater for the Model Y on Monday night. Traditionally, the Model Y seats five passengers in total, but there were calls for a more spacious version several years ago.
Tesla released it, but it was extremely tight in the back, basically reserving those back seats for only small people or children.
Credit: Tesla
The new configuration looks to be slightly more spacious in the third row, but not as much space as most would require or want. Instead,
Tesla is shifting FSD to a subscription-only model, confirms Elon Musk
Tesla plans for new 300+ stall Supercharger with a special surprise for Semi
