Charged: Tesla’s U.S. market share said to fall to lowest since 2017

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From the hotly-debated high-flier Tesla (TSLA), Wall Street’s newest darling Rivian (RIVN), traditional-stalwarts turned EV-upstarts GM (GM) and Ford (F) to the numerous SPAC-deal makers that have come public in this red-hot space, The Fly has you covered with “Charged,” a weekly recap of the top stories and expert calls in the sector.

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MARKET SHARE: Tesla’s market share in the U.S. fell to a near eight-year low last month as car purchasers went for electric vehicles from a widening slate of competitors over the aging lineup offered by Elon Musk’s car maker, Reuters’ Abhirup Roy reports, citing data from research firm Cox Automotive. The drop highlights the threat from rival car makers ramping up EV incentives at a tough time for the industry, with analysts anticipating an EV sales increase to continue through September in the U.S. then decline when federal tax credits expire at the end of the month, the author notes.

INCENTIVIZING MUSK: In a proxy statement filed with the SEC, members of the Special Committee of the Board of Directors of Tesla stated, “Simply put, retaining and incentivizing Elon is fundamental to Tesla achieving these goals and becoming the most valuable company in history… Tesla does not currently have a long-term CEO performance award in place to retain and incentivize Elon to focus his energies on Tesla and lead us through this pivotal moment in our history. It’s time to change that. We’re asking you to approve the 2025 CEO Performance Award… The 2025 CEO Performance Award similarly challenges Elon to again meet a series of even more aspirational goals, including operational milestones focused on reaching Adjusted EBITDA targets (thresholds that are up to 28 times higher than the 2018 CEO Performance Award’s top Adjusted EBITDA milestone) and rolling out new or expanded product offerings (including 1 million Robotaxis in commercial operation and delivery of 1 million AI Bots), all while growing the company’s market capitalization by trillions of dollars. Yes, you read that correctly: in 2018, Elon had to grow Tesla by billions; in 2025, he has to grow Tesla by trillions-to be exact, he must create nearly $7.5 trillion in value for shareholders for him to receive the full award… If Elon achieves all the performance milestones under this principle-based 2025 CEO Performance Award, his leadership will propel Tesla to become the most valuable company in history.”

Wedbush says Tesla’s board asked shareholders to approve a long-term incentive package for Elon Musk to retain and motivate him to remain CEO. The new performance award challenges Musk to reach a higher bar across multiple aspects of the business including new adjusted EBITDA and the rollout of new products, including 1M robotaxis in commercial operations and 1M Optimus robot deliveries, the firm tells investors in a research note. Wedbush adds that the package would also provide an additional 423M shares of common stock for Musk, which would increase his ownership of Tesla up to 25% voting power. The firm views the package as a “smart move” by the board sine Musk is the “biggest asset” for Tesla at a crucial time for the company with autonomous and robotics “front and center.” Wedbush keeps an Outperform rating on Tesla with a $500 price target.

After Tesla’s board proposed a pay package for CEO Elon Musk that could be worth $1T, Stifel called the milestones needed to reach that level “very aggressive” and said doing so would “clearly require sustained executional excellence” along with robust growth in auto deliveries, full self-driving success, Robotaxi traction, and “outstanding success” of the Optimus humanoid robot. The firm, which adds that the “unprecedented” long-term compensation plan “clearly incentivizes” Musk to lead Tesla for the long term, keeps a Buy rating and $440 price target on the shares, noting that this equates to “a mere ~$1.5 trillion market cap.”

MASS-MARKET MONA BRAND: In a wide-ranging interview, Xpeng (XPEV) CEO He Xiaopeng said the company’s international expansion is moving faster than he expected, stated that the company plans to launch its mass-market Mona brand in overseas markets next year and signaled that the company is open to acquiring other electric carmakers, reported CNBC‘s Arjun Kharpal. Other companies that compete in the Chinese electric vehicle market and trade publicly in New York include Li Auto (LI) and Tesla (TSLA). Other publicly traded automakers include Ford (F), General Motors (GM), Honda (HMC), Lucid Group (LCID), Mercedes-Benz (MBGYY), Nissan (NSANY), Rivian (RIVN), Stellantis (STLA), Toyota (TM) and Volkswagen (VWAGY).

SELF-DRIVING CARS: The Trump administration is planning to make it easier for automakers to deploy self-driving cars by removing requirements designed for human drivers, Keith Laing of Bloomberg reports. The U.S. Department of Transportation is planning to propose three new rules in spring 2026 “to modernize Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards for vehicles with automated driving systems.” These rules intend to relax mandates for vehicles without manual controls and don’t use gear shift sticks, defrosting buttons, or certain lighting equipment. Companies in the space include Tesla (TSLA), Google (GOOGL), Amazon (AMZN), Uber (UBER), and General Motors (GM).

LAY OFF: Rivian is laying off U.S. and Canadian workers as the company cuts costs ahead of the launch of a more affordable sport utility vehicle next year, reported The Wall Street Journal, noting that a spokesperson said the cuts represent less than 1.5% of Rivian’s force. “We have made some recent changes to the commercial team as part of an ongoing effort to improve operational efficiency for R2,” a Rivian spokesperson is quoted by The Journal’s Ryan Felton as having said.