Tesla had a very weird third quarter. Its net income fell 37% in the three months leading up to September 30 to $1.39 billion. However, revenue rose sharply as buyers in the U.S. flocked to dealers, looking to take advantage of the expiring $7,500 EV tax credit that Musk’s old friend, President Donald Trump, personally killed.
The Austin, Texas-based automaker delivered a record 497,099 vehicles in Q3, raising Tesla’s revenue 12% to $28.1 billion. Automotive revenue rose 6% to $21.2 billion, and energy revenue rose 44% to $3.42 billion. Services and other revenues also rose $25% to $3.48 billion, but it’s not all sunshine and rainbows for Tesla. From Automotive News:
Tesla said its total gross margin fell to 18 percent from 19.8 percent in the same quarter last year.
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“While we face near-term uncertainty from shifting trade, tariff and fiscal policy, we are focused on long-term growth and value creation,” Tesla said in its third-quarter earnings report.
Analysts had expected Tesla to report revenue of $26.2 billion in the July-September quarter, according to data compiled by LSEG cited by Reuters.
Musk didn’t just use the forum to beg for money. He also talked about the lofty (and fairly unattainable) autonomy goals he has set for the company.Â
CEO Elon Musk on the Oct. 22 earnings call said that vehicle production will expand once Tesla can offer customers a fully autonomous option that no longer requires the driver to pay attention to the road. That will happen shortly with its still-incomplete Full Self-Driving software, he said.
“Really what it comes down to is: can you text while in the car? And if you tell someone yes, that the car is now so good you can be on your phone and text the entire time while you’re in the car, anyone who can buy the car, will buy the car,” Musk said.
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Musk said on the call that demand next year will also be bolstered by the launch of its dedicated CyberCab robotaxi, which won’t have human controls. The CyberCab will be used in Tesla’s ride-hailing fleet and go on sale to customers, Musk has said.
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“We are expecting to have no safety drivers in at least large parts of Austin by the end of this year,” Musk said on the call. “And then we do expect to be operating robotaxis in I think about eight to 10 metro areas by the end of the year.”
Musk said in July that he expected fully autonomous Tesla robotaxis to serve half the U.S. population by the end of this year.
Musk says the robotaxi rollout is going to be dependent on regulatory approval. Yeah, bud. I’d certainly hope so.
He also talked about the Optimus robot, but it’s such a pie-in-the-sky idea, I’m not going to waste your time going over it.
Tesla’s deliveries for 2025 are expected to slip to about 1.6 million vehicles — down about 200,000 from 2024.
