No one buys a car from electric vehicle giant Tesla (TSLA) because it is cost-effective. But the disparity between regular cars and Teslas took on a whole new life recently as reports revealed that it is now slightly more cost-effective to lease a Cadillac Lyriq than it is a Tesla Model Y. This might have disturbed some, but investors seemed reasonably okay with this, giving Tesla shares a fractional boost in Wednesday afternoon’s trading.
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Cadillac recently released details on its January 2026 lease prices, and the Cadillac Lyriq’s prices were watched especially closely. That was when Cadillac dropped the bomb: a 24-month lease, with $4,879 due at signing, for $469 per month.
That might sound reasonable, but it actually looks good when compared to the lease price on a 2026 Model Y Standard. That one will hit you for less in the upfront price, but will actually ask more in the monthly rate. A Model Y Standard goes for $4,174 due at signing, but leases for $479 a month. So when you add it all up, a Model Y Standard is still slightly less expensive than an electric Cadillac, but not by much. You pay $705 more at signing for the Cadillac, but save $240 over the life of the lease. This does leave a net overage of $465, all things considered. However, for a Tesla to be that close to a Cadillac puts Tesla very much in the luxury car realm, cutting out a potentially huge bloc of sales.
Trapped at a Supercharger
Meanwhile, another tale of horror from the Tesla realm emerged, though a Ford (F) was involved this time. Someone purchased a Mustang Mach-E, and wrote up their experiences about it, including trying to recharge it at a Tesla Supercharger station. Everything went well, until it came time to disconnect. Apparently, the third party adapter that allowed a Ford to charge at a Supercharger station would not come undocked, leaving the car attached to the charger.
Online videos suggested the driver turn to a set of channel lock pliers to dislodge the adapter, but it turned out that a sufficiently frustrated 17-year-old girl could do the job with a little grunting and wrestling.
Is Tesla a Buy, Hold or Sell?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Hold consensus rating on TSLA stock based on 13 Buys, 10 Holds, and eight Sells assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 9.63% rally in its share price over the past year, the average TSLA price target of $396.12 per share implies 9.45% downside risk.
