Tesla shares fell 4% on January 6, 2026, following Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s keynote at CES in Las Vegas, where he introduced Alpamayo, an open‐source AI reasoning model family for autonomous vehicle development. Market participants viewed this as a direct challenge to Tesla’s heavily promoted Full-Self-Driving software, which remains an assisted-driving system rather than true autonomy. Concerns over faster community-driven development cycles for open-source solutions and Nvidia’s dominant position in AI hardware led investors to trim positions, marking Tesla among the weakest performers on the day.

New data from CNEVPost and Teslarati indicate that Tesla’s Shanghai plant delivered 97,171 wholesale vehicles in December 2025, a 12.1% increase from November and a 3.6% rise year-over-year—the second-highest monthly total in the company’s history for the Chinese market. The December figure comprised both domestic retail and export units, suggesting renewed demand toward year-end. However, while this performance hints at recovery following a slower November, analysts warn it may reflect inventory build-up ahead of a planned Model Y changeover rather than sustained sales momentum.

Despite a strong December, Tesla’s full-year 2025 wholesale volume in China declined by 7.1% to 851,732 units, marking the first annual drop in the company’s history within its largest individual market. Domestic China shipments fell to 531,855 units versus 657,105 in 2024. Executives attribute the decline to production line retooling at the Shanghai Gigafactory and increased pressure from domestic manufacturers launching competitive EV models. Investors and strategists note that while vehicle deliveries remain important to Tesla’s financial health, the focus is shifting toward long-term growth drivers such as robotaxis and broader robotics initiatives.