Current:Home > StocksAfter Tesla layoffs, price cuts and Cybertruck recall, earnings call finds Musk focused on AI -ValueMetric
After Tesla layoffs, price cuts and Cybertruck recall, earnings call finds Musk focused on AI
View
Date:2025-04-13 14:10:01
Elon Musk doubled down on Tesla's Full Self-Driving (FSD) program and the electric car market in Tesla's earnings call Tuesday after reporting a decline in revenue.
The CEO argued that the company should be considered an artificial intelligence technology company over being an electric car manufacturer.
"If someone does not believe that Tesla can solve autonomy, I don't think they should be an investor in the company," Musk said. Musk said that the company would solve autonomy for vehicles if he left the company and that Tesla was in negotiations with an unnamed major car maker to license the FSD software.
Tesla put forward its vision of a future dominated by the electric car, as other manufacturers have shifted their focus to hybrids.
"Global EV sales continue to be under pressure as many carmakers prioritize hybrids over EVs," Tesla's investor deck read. "While positive for our regulatory credits business, we prefer the industry to continue pushing EV adoption, which is in-line with our mission."
Musk defended his commitment to the Tesla when asked by an analyst if his ownership of multiple companies was spreading him too thin.
"I make sure Tesla is very prosperous," Musk said.
Tesla earnings
Tesla reported a 9% drop in revenues compared to the first quarter of 2023. Automotive revenues dropped 13% while revenue per car dropped nearly 5%, without including the most recent round of Tesla price cuts.
The investor deck pointed towards the ramp up of the Cybertruck, an increase in research and development and the Model 3 update in the company's Fremont, California factory as causes for the revenue declines.
The company had a negative free cash flow of $2.5 billion in the quarter and net profit of $1.3 billion, down 55% from last year.
Company puts forward affordable model without details
A theme throughout the deck and call was the importance of attainability.
"We have updated our future vehicle line-up to accelerate the launch of new models ahead of our previously communicated start of production in the second half of 2025," the investor deck reads. "These new vehicles, including more affordable models, will utilize aspects of the next generation platform as well as aspects of our current platforms, and will be able to be produced on the same manufacturing lines as our current vehicle line-up."
Rueters reported that the company had moved away from plans for a less expensive model earlier this month but Musk denied that on X, his social platform formerly known as Twitter , saying "Reuters is lying (again)."
When asked directly about a $25,000 model, Vice President of Vehicle Engineering Lars Moravy did not directly answer the question and referred to earlier statements about affordability.
Musk, CFO defend layoffs
Musk and Tesla CFO Vaibhav Taneja addressed layoffs in the company on the day after a layoff notice for 2,688 employees at Tesla's Austin, Texas factory was posted and the San Fransisco Chronicle reported that 2,735 workers in the Bay Area would be laid off.
"Any tree that grows needs pruning," Tesla CFO Vaibhav Taneja said.
Last week, Tesla announced that it would cut 10% of its global workforce.
"We're not giving up anything that significant that I'm aware of," Musk said.
At the end of the call Martin Viecha, Tesla's Vice-President of Investor Relations, announced his departure from the company.
Viecha is the third executive announce a departure in just over a week after Drew Baglino, senior vice president of powertrain and electrical engineering, and Rohan Patel, vice president of public policy and business development.
Tesla 1st quarter report
Tesla Stock
Tesla ended after-hours trading up 13%, closing the regular day at $144.68 and the overtime session at $163.96.
veryGood! (4)
Related
- Costco membership growth 'robust,' even amid fee increase: What to know about earnings release
- Want no caller ID? Here's how to call private without using Star 67.
- Noah Lyles gets coveted sprint double at worlds; Sha'Carri Richardson wins bronze in 200
- Alex Murdaugh to plead guilty in theft case. It would be the first time he admits to a crime
- Newly elected West Virginia lawmaker arrested and accused of making terroristic threats
- Watch the touching moment this couple's cat returns home after going missing for 7 days
- Transgender woman in New York reaches landmark settlement with county jail after great discrimination
- Montana Indian reservation works to revive bison populations
- Taylor Swift makes surprise visit to Kansas City children’s hospital
- Man arrested after going door to door looking for Drew Barrymore's home, police say
Ranking
- IRS recovers $4.7 billion in back taxes and braces for cuts with Trump and GOP in power
- 'I don’t like the situation': 49ers GM John Lynch opens up about Nick Bosa's holdout
- When the family pet was dying, 'I just lost it.' What to do when it's time to say goodbye
- White man convicted of killing Black Muslim freed after judge orders new trial
- The GOP and Kansas’ Democratic governor ousted targeted lawmakers in the state’s primary
- New COVID variant BA.2.86 spreading in the U.S. in August 2023. Here are key facts experts want you to know.
- Zendaya Proves Tom Holland Is a Baller Boyfriend in Rare Photo
- A former foster kid, now a dad himself, helps keep a family together by adopting 5 siblings
Recommendation
Rylee Arnold Shares a Long
These Are the 10 Avec Les Filles Fall Jackets That Belong in Every Closet
The Justice Department is suing SpaceX for allegedly not hiring refugees and asylees
Robert Irwin and Heath Ledger's Niece Rorie Buckey Go Instagram Official
North Carolina justices rule for restaurants in COVID
Man dies after NYPD sergeant hurls cooler, knocks him off motorbike; officer suspended
Maine man, 86, convicted of fraud 58 years after stealing dead brother's identity
Armed with traffic cones, protesters are immobilizing driverless cars