On December 14, $Tesla (TSLA.US)$ the price of the Model S in the USA market increased from 74,990 dollars to 79,990 dollars, and the price of the Model S Plaid increased from 89,990 dollars to 94,990 dollars, with a price increase of 5,000 dollars for both.

In terms of stock price, as of the close on December 13 Eastern Time, Tesla's stock price reached 436.23 dollars per share, closing at a historic high with a Market Cap of 1.4 trillion dollars.

In the China market, "continually unveiling major moves"

Recently, Tesla has been "continually unveiling major moves" in the China market.

On December 13, Tesla's official Weibo announced the launch of the "Advanced Smart Summon (ASS)" feature, allowing vehicles to automatically park out from various parking spaces including horizontal, vertical, and diagonal, with users able to "summon" their vehicles remotely via a mobile app.

According to reports, the above functions are applicable to models equipped with EAP (Enhanced Autopilot) and FSD (Full Self-Driving capability). Owners of old cars who exchange them for a Tesla can enjoy a 90-day free trial of EAP.

On November 25, Tesla launched a final payment reduction event in China. From November 25 to December 31, the final payment for the Tesla Model Y rear-wheel drive version and the long-range all-wheel drive version is reduced by 10,000 yuan, starting at a price of 0.2399 million yuan, and a 5-year interest-free financing plan can also be chosen.

Tesla stated that under the "limited-time delivery, final payment reduction of 10,000 yuan" policy, combined with the 5-year interest-free financing plan and national and local new energy "trade-in" subsidies, purchasing an electric car directly saves at least 0.05 million yuan. According to incomplete statistics by reporters, Tesla has conducted at least 6 price reductions or promotional activities in the Chinese market this year.

Multiple price reductions in the Chinese market have also helped boost Tesla's sales. Data from the Passenger Car Association shows that in November 2024, Tesla's wholesale sales in China reached 0.0789 million vehicles, setting a new annual high. By December, Tesla's momentum continued; during the week of December 2 to December 8, Tesla's sales in the Chinese market reached 0.0219 million units, setting a record for the highest weekly sales since the fourth quarter of this year.

On December 13, Tesla Vice President Tao Lin announced that Tesla achieved four first-place rankings in the latest "2024 China New Energy Vehicle Industry User Satisfaction Index" (NEV-CACSI) evaluation released by the China Quality Association. Among them, the Model 3 became the most satisfying pure electric mid-sized sedan, and the Model Y became the most satisfying pure electric mid-sized SUV.

Musk's wealth has reached a new high.

With Tesla's stock price skyrocketing, Musk has also become the first entrepreneur in the world to surpass 400 billion dollars in wealth. According to Forbes' real-time ranking, on December 14, Musk's wealth reached 439.4 billion dollars (approximately 3.2 trillion yuan), solidifying his position as the world's richest person. Compared to the second-richest person in the world, Jeff Bezos, who has 241.2 billion dollars, Musk's wealth is almost "scattered by a cliff."

Musk's wealth surge is primarily due to Tesla's stock price hitting a new high. On December 10, U.S. time, Musk stated on social media: "If Tesla really becomes the highest valued company in the world, then these short positions could even bankrupt Bill Gates."

According to Walter Isaacson's biography of Musk published in 2023, Bill Gates once spent billions shorting Tesla. Musk also mentioned on social media that several years ago, when Tesla was at its weakest, Gates bet on Tesla's downfall, and such a large short position caused ordinary investors to suffer losses from the drop in stock price.

Compared to Tesla's low point of $212.11 per share on October 23, 2024, in less than two months, Tesla's stock price has achieved a gain of 105.66%.

The rise in Tesla's stock price mainly occurred after the dust settled on the U.S. elections in November. According to a document released by the Federal Election Commission on the evening of December 5, Musk, the CEO of Tesla and Space Exploration Technologies Corp (SpaceX), donated $0.259 billion to groups supporting Trump's 2024 campaign, becoming one of the largest presidential campaign sponsors in U.S. history.

Bloomberg believes that Musk's expectations are: for the federal government not to interfere in his business, to approve Tesla's autonomous taxi service; to legalize his neurotechnology company Neuralink's brain-machine implants; for NASA to launch a new Mars program and use SpaceX to send rockets; and for the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to approve Starlink's comprehensive coverage in urban and rural areas of the USA.

Editor/Somer