Electric vehicle giant Tesla (TSLA) did not have a great day yesterday. In fact, Tesla stock was down nearly 4.5% in Friday’s trading. But there may be a silver lining in this very dark cloud, and that silver lining is called the Semi. It turns out that the Semi might be a bigger deal for Tesla, and for its investors, than anyone may have realized at first. A report from MIT Technology Review explains more thoroughly.
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The Semi comes at a great time for Tesla, right when it is really starting to lose its grip on the global electric vehicle market. Between plunging government incentives, and surging competition, Tesla’s basic car sales do not go as far as they once did. Certainly, Tesla is selling cars, but not to the degree it once did.
So the Semi, which addresses a completely different market with a very particular set of needs, gives Tesla the opportunity to work in a new, and only lightly contested, market. Corporations of all sizes put in orders for the Semi, and big numbers have been ordered. Though the costs are somewhat eye-watering—the Semi starts at $260,000, reports note, while diesel trucks go for $172,500 as of 2025—the notion of having minimal emissions and no diesel fuel costs is certainly attractive.
“Gobsmacking” Slow
A class-action case against Tesla in Australia is running into some issues, as Federal Court judge Tom Thawley warned Tesla lawyers that they would be in for “…a really bad time” if they refused to cooperate in discovery processes. The process has been going on for eight months so far, and only 2,000 documents have been produced.
The suit alleges that Tesla is misleading Australian consumers on things like battery range and self-driving capability. Tesla, meanwhile, retorts that it does not mischaracterize its product. The pace, though, is proving galling, as opposing counsel claims it cannot brief its experts without documentation. This led Thawley to say, “I find it gobsmacking that only 2,000 documents have been produced and I wonder whether the exercise has been treated seriously.”
Is Tesla a Buy, Hold or Sell?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Hold consensus rating on TSLA stock based on 12 Buys, 12 Holds, and five Sells assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 26.66% rally in its share price over the past year, the average TSLA price target of $403.86 per share implies 4.79% downside risk.
