Tesla will stop offering the "Lifetime Ownership" plan for FSD starting February 14... "Fully shifting to a subscription-based economy"

Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, will overhaul the sales approach for Tesla’s core software “Full Self-Driving (FSD).” This means the elimination of the one-time purchase option, shifting solely to a monthly subscription model. This is not just a simple change in revenue structure but is also interpreted as a strategic move directly related to Musk’s multi-billion-dollar compensation package.

Starting February 14, “one-time purchase” will become a thing of the past

Elon Musk announced last Wednesday (local time) on X (formerly Twitter): “Tesla will cease selling FSD after February 14,” and stated, “From then on, FSD will only be available as a monthly subscription service.”

Tesla will stop selling FSD after Feb 14.

FSD will only be available as a monthly subscription thereafter.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 14, 2026

This decision means Tesla owners will no longer be able to purchase and own FSD functionality outright for life. It is interpreted as Tesla’s attempt, amid slowing growth in electric vehicle sales, to shift its business model from hardware sales to a software-centric “recurring revenue” structure.

The key to a $1 trillion compensation package: “10 million subscribers”

Industry analysts believe that the full shift to a subscription model is driven by Musk’s new “performance-based compensation package.”

To earn the full share of a compensation plan valued at approximately $1 trillion (about 1,300 trillion Korean Won), Tesla needs to achieve several key performance indicators. The most notable condition is “reaching 10 million FSD subscriptions.”

Additionally, Musk must accomplish the following ambitious goals to unlock the compensation package:

Vehicle deliveries: Achieve 20 million units

Autonomous ride-hailing taxis: Deploy 1 million vehicles

Humanoid robots (Optimus): Deliver 1 million units

Financial metrics: Achieve specific market capitalization and profitability targets

In other words, the strategy behind this is: compared to the high-threshold, expensive one-time sales (original price roughly 15 million Korean Won), rapidly increasing users through a more accessible monthly subscription model to reach the “10 million subscriptions” milestone as soon as possible.

Market reaction: “Profitability improvement” vs “Limited consumer choice”

Reactions from the market are mixed. Investors are optimistic about the stable cash flow and profit margin improvements brought by software subscription revenue. However, community users, including on X, are concerned that “the concept of vehicle ownership is being weakened.”

Some users compare this move to the subscription-oriented models adopted by competitors like BYD in China, commenting that Tesla is accelerating its transformation from a hardware manufacturer to a “mobility-as-a-service” company.