Tesla Says Profits, Car Sales Have Rebounded

Tesla's profit rose in the first quarter as its car sales rebounded from a sharp slump in 2025. The electric vehicle maker said Wednesday that it earned $477 million in the quarter, up 17% from a year ago, the AP reports. Revenue rose to $22.39 billion, led by a 16% increase in automotive revenues. Still, profits and revenue are far below their peak when its cars were grabbing market share. Now that is in reverse as European and Chinese rivals take its customers. The company last year lost its crown as the world's largest EV maker to China's BYD.

• CEO Elon Musk has repeatedly emphasized that Tesla's future lies less in selling cars than getting people to take rides in them as self-driving taxis, and in the robots that the company makes for homes and businesses.
• Tesla said robotaxi miles doubled in the first quarter compared to the fourth quarter of last year. Tesla hopes to expand its robotaxi services in major cities this year. It has also begun making its so-called Cybercabs, robotaxis without pedals or a steering wheel.

• In an earnings call Wednesday, Musk said the company is working on "a lot of large, ambitious projects," Reuters reports. "They're all very, very challenging, but I think they're going to be revolutionary," he said.
• Musk highlighted the company's shift to selling robotaxis and humanoid robots. "Long-term, the only manually driven car will be the new Tesla Roadster," he said. Musk said the new model could debut in a month or so.
• The Optimus robot, Musk said, "will be our biggest product, not just Tesla's biggest product ever but probably the biggest product ever." He talked about breaking ground for a new factory in Texas for the robots, with a potential capacity of making 10 million a year.
• Tesla's stock, which jumped almost 4% in after-hours trading after the earnings report, gave up the gain and fell around 1% after CFO Vaibhav Taneja said the company plans to increase capital expenditure this year to more than $25 billion.