According to a Form 4 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Tom Zhu received 520,021 stock options with an exercise price of $435.80 per share. Since the award will not fully vest until March 5, 2031, Zhu must remain at Tesla for more than five years to realize the award's full benefit. Considering that Tesla shares are currently trading at around the $445 to $450 per share level, Zhu will really only see gains in his equity award if Tesla's stock price sees a notable rise over the years, as noted in a Sina Finance report.
Tesla Inc. ( NASDAQ: TSLA) stock has been up and down over the past year. It plummeted from $428 in early 2025 to $217 in April, as Elon Musk spent time trying to fix the federal government. When he convinced the market that Tesla was a robotics and artificial intelligence company, not an electric vehicle (EV) maker, the stock hit $490 a month ago. Today, it trades at $450.
This new upgrade only costs $2,500 extra for all three features, bringing the cash price to $48,990. The move to add the seven-seat configuration with the black headliner and additional screen size is a welcome addition, as many Tesla fans have asked the company to come out with an SUV with more seating capacity. Although it is not a full-size SUV, the additional seating will certainly attract some buyers with bigger families.
Johnson pushed his Tesla price target from $19.05 to $25.28 on Wednesday, while maintaining the 'Sell' rating that has been present on the stock for a long time. GLJ has largely been recognized as the biggest skeptic of Elon Musk's company, being particularly critical of the automotive side of things. Tesla has routinely been called out by Johnson for negative delivery growth, what he calls "weakening demand," and price cuts that have occurred in past years, all pointing to them as desperate measures to sell its cars. Johnson has also said that Tesla is extremely overvalued and is too reliant on regulatory credits for profitability.
However, Musk, back in Trump's good graces, stands to get some assistance for Tesla from the White House moving forward, especially as he and the President are back to being friends and allies. Reduced Scrutiny from a Regulatory Standpoint Tesla has been the subject of several National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) probes, including ones that dive into Autopilot and Full Self-Driving and incidents involving the two. Trump has already initiated a more relaxed environment for autonomous vehicle oversight.
In Q4 2025, Tesla produced 422,652 Model 3/Y units and 11,706 other models, which are comprised of the Model S, Model X, and the Cybertruck, for a total of 434,358 vehicles. Deliveries stood at 406,585 Model 3/Y and 11,642 other models, for a total of 418,227 vehicles. Energy deployments reached 14.2 GWh, a new record. In comparison, analysts included in Tesla's company-compiled consensus estimate that Tesla would deliver 422,850 vehicles and deploy 13.4 GWh of battery storage systems in Q4 2025.
Tesla has achieved a new milestone, rolling out its nine millionth vehicle worldwide from Giga Shanghai. The achievement, announced by Tesla Asia on X, celebrated not just the Shanghai team's output but the company's cumulative production across all its factories worldwide. The milestone came as 2025 drew to a close, and it inspired praise from some of the company's key executives.
Tesla has captured the hearts of South Korea's 20s-30s demographic, emerging as the group's top-selling imported car brand in 2025. From January to November, young buyers purchased over 21,000 Teslas, putting it far ahead of fellow imported rivals like BMW and Mercedes-Benz. Industry experts cited by The Economist attributed this "Tesla frenzy" to fandom culture, where buyers prioritize the brand over traditional car attributes, similar to snapping up the latest iPhone.