Tesla Retakes Top Slot in Fuel Economy, Tesla Stock (NASDAQ:TSLA) Slumps Regardless

Under normal circumstances, being the top of the heap in fuel economy would be considered a good thing for any automaker. Electric vehicle giant Tesla (TSLA) managed to recently dethrone Honda (HMC) and take back the top slot on one such list. Oddly, this did not sit well with investors, based on the nearly 2% loss Tesla shares posted in Friday afternoon’s trading.

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The latest report from the Environmental Protection Agency in the United States noted that, thanks to the sheer number of pure electric cars in Tesla’s stable, Tesla’s cumulative average gas mileage managed to hit 118 miles per gallon across its fleet in 2024. That was up from 117.1 miles per gallon in 2019.

At the time, rules in place allowed automakers to get extra credit for every pure electric and plug-in hybrid vehicle they sold, which they could turn around and sell to other companies who were focused on gas-powered vehicles. Tesla managed to pull in $401 million worth of regulatory credits just in 2025, though there are signs the Trump administration plans to pull more of these credits going forward.

This is What Elon Musk Actually Believes

Even as Tesla continues to sell cars, and prepares to expand into robotics, artificial intelligence (AI), and beyond, CEO Elon Musk has some very specific ideas about where humanity as a whole is going. It’s called a “post-scarcity” world, and Musk believes advancements like the ones his companies offer will do the job.

He calls it “sustainable abundance,” which features a world beyond the need for labor, reports note. “Sustainable abundance via AI and robotics. That’s the future we’re headed for,” he noted back during a shareholder meeting last November. Given that, almost 10 years prior, Musk was calling for AI to ultimately wipe out the human race, it is sort of a heel-face turn. The exact mechanics of such a play, though, elude many, including business school professors who wonder who owns the capital in such an environment.

Is Tesla a Buy, Hold or Sell?

Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Hold consensus rating on TSLA stock based on 12 Buys, 11 Holds, and seven Sells assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 39.46% rally in its share price over the past year, the average TSLA price target of $396.80 per share implies 0.71% downside risk.

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