Tesla (TSLA) on Solana

Tesla has registered a new subsidiary, Tesla Motors Vietnam Ltd, in Ho Chi Minh City, according to local business registration records. The entity is licensed for vehicle export, import, and wholesale distribution, along with the wholesale of auto parts, machinery, and equipment — signaling a formal commercial foothold in Southeast Asia's second-largest economy.

Tesla has not announced an operational launch date or dealer network plans. The move places the company in direct competition with VinFast, Vietnam's domestic EV manufacturer, which responded to anticipated Tesla pricing with promotional activity. Vietnam rounds out an Asia-Pacific footprint that already includes manufacturing in China and sales operations in South Korea, Malaysia, Thailand, Japan, Singapore, and the Philippines.

Morgan Stanley analyst Andrew Percoco raised his bull-case price target on Tesla (TSLA) to $840 from $820, citing the company's long-term potential in recurring software revenue from autonomous vehicles. The scenario projects more than 80,000 autonomous Tesla Semi trucks operating by 2040, each generating roughly $18,000 per month in full self-driving (FSD) fees — a pool that could exceed $17 billion in annual high-margin revenue. Morgan Stanley maintains an equal-weight rating on the stock, and the $840 figure represents the upside scenario rather than the firm's base-case target of $400.

With Tesla trading near $357 and at roughly 200 times estimated 2026 earnings, Percoco's note underscores that the current valuation is difficult to justify on vehicle sales alone. The bull case depends on Tesla successfully commercializing robotaxis, Cybercabs, and the Optimus humanoid robot program — businesses that remain in early or pre-revenue stages. Investors who do not assign significant value to those future revenue streams have limited fundamental justification for the stock at current prices, according to the analyst.

Tesla is soliciting fleet buyers to operate Cybercabs on its ride-hailing platform, pitching an arrangement where fleet owners supply capital and handle depreciation while Tesla provides the autonomous driving technology, network management, and takes a cut of fare revenue. The two-seat Cybercab carries a $30,000 advertised price and Tesla has begun offering rides in Austin, Texas, with CEO Elon Musk having promoted the vision since 2018 as a combination of Uber, Lyft, and Airbnb economics.

Critics argue the deal structure heavily favors Tesla. Electrek's Fred Lambert contends that because Tesla "sets the split," fleet owners bear the capital costs and depreciation while Tesla retains the software margin—meaning buyers "own the downside" without owning a true business. Lambert's sharper point: if operating these fleets were reliably profitable, Tesla would not sell them at all. Additional concerns include NHTSA scrutiny over whether Cybercabs meet federal safety standards, the camera-only autonomy system's limitations, and early Cybertruck trade-in data suggesting steeper-than-expected depreciation curves for Tesla's newer vehicles.

Tesla investor Gary Black attributes the company's growing US EV market share to two structural shifts rather than product superiority: a broad pullback by legacy automakers and the 2025 Model Y redesign. Black noted that ICE manufacturers significantly scaled back EV investments in 2025 to stem losses — Ford discontinued the F-150 Lightning, while GM, Honda, and others retreated similarly — leaving Tesla with less competition in a market that itself contracted roughly 30% year-to-date through August. Tesla's own US sales are down around 2% over the same period, meaning share gains reflect a shrinking field more than accelerating demand.

Black was notably skeptical about Full Self-Driving as a share driver, stating it is "implausible that FSD is driving $TSLA share gains when no one other than TSLA bulls on X are aware of FSD." He advocated for Tesla to spend approximately $100 million marketing FSD to a broader audience, arguing broader awareness would lift both US EV and overall market share meaningfully. TSLA shares were down about 1.3% to $360.48 at the time of reporting.

Elon Musk's $1 trillion Tesla compensation package — structured entirely as share grants with no salary — requires hitting an $8.5 trillion market capitalization as one of six major performance milestones over a 10-year window. The other targets include selling 20 million vehicles, deploying 1 million Optimus robots, reaching 10 million self-driving software subscriptions, launching 1 million robotaxis, and generating $400 billion in cumulative profit, according to a Motley Fool analysis published September 12, 2026.

Analyst Ryan Vanzo identifies the robotaxi business as the central engine that could make the valuation case: the global robotaxi market is estimated at $8–$10 trillion, and a successful Tesla fleet would simultaneously drive vehicle sales, high-margin ride-sharing fees, and self-driving subscription growth — interconnecting all six milestones. The analysis cautions, however, that realizing most of this opportunity is likely to play out over the full decade rather than the near term.

Tesla extended its China shipment growth streak to ten consecutive months of year-over-year gains in August 2026, but the pace slowed considerably. The company shipped 86,166 vehicles in China during the month, a 3.6% increase versus a year earlier — a steep deceleration from July's 38% year-over-year growth — and month-over-month volumes fell 7.9%. Domestic EV rival Leapmotor surpassed Tesla's monthly China sales for the second straight month, underscoring the intensifying pressure from local brands offering more affordable, feature-rich vehicles.

China's diminishing weight in Tesla's global mix also stood out: the market accounted for less than 30% of global deliveries in Q2 2026 for the first time since 2020, and domestic China deliveries have declined for five consecutive quarters. That softness is being offset at the global level — Tesla delivered 480,126 vehicles worldwide in Q2, a 25% year-over-year rise, with quarterly revenue hitting a record $28.2 billion — but operating income fell 57% in the most recent quarter, reflecting the margin cost of sustaining volume growth amid fierce competition.

BYD delivered 557,090 battery electric vehicles in Q2 against Tesla's 480,126, sustaining a roughly 77,000-unit lead for the second consecutive quarter. BYD's structural advantages — a wide price-point lineup, plug-in hybrid offerings, vertical integration across batteries, motors, and electronics, and a home market where EVs now represent 55% of Chinese car sales — have kept the gap persistent despite Tesla's global brand strength.

Wall Street analysts see the disparity growing rather than closing: BYD is projected to deliver around 2.4 million BEVs in full-year 2026 versus Tesla's estimated 1.65 million, widening further to roughly 4 million versus 2.65 million by 2030. Tesla's near-term portfolio remains concentrated, with over 97% of sales coming from the Model Y and Model 3 after the discontinuation of Model S/X production and disappointing Cybertruck volumes. Tesla's stated path forward is a pivot toward transportation-as-a-service rather than volume competition: Elon Musk has projected the Cybercab robotaxi could eventually exceed all other Tesla models combined at 2–4 million annual units, though regulatory approval and commercial rollout remain unresolved.

Einride, the AI-enabled freight company, has a phased delivery plan for its landmark 500-unit Tesla Semi order, with at least 75 trucks targeted for operation across its North American corridors by end of 2026 and the remaining 425 units scheduled for 2027 deployment. The arrangement marks the clearest commercial timeline yet for the Tesla Semi program and gives investors concrete milestones against which to measure the heavy-duty EV truck's commercial ramp.

The practical test arrives if Tesla and Einride hit the roughly 75-truck end-of-2026 operating target, which would establish proof points on volumes, uptime, and unit economics that could support broader fleet adoption. No per-unit pricing was disclosed, but a successful rollout at this scale would strengthen Tesla's case to other freight operators and provide clearer visibility on how large electric truck orders translate into recurring revenue for the company.