Dive Brief:
- Tesla profits fell 45% to $1.48 billion in Q2, down from $2.7 billion a year ago according to the company’s earnings report released Tuesday.
- The automaker cited restructuring charges, declining deliveries and reduced price points for the drop in income. It also disclosed an increase in operating expenses, largely driven by artificial intelligence projects.
- CFO Vaibhav Taneja highlighted that two-thirds of Q2 deliveries were new Tesla customers, which he called “encouraging,” during the company’s earnings call.
Dive Insight:
Tesla delivered 443,956 vehicles during the quarter, down 5% year over year. However, the company’s Q2 performance was up compared to Q1, when deliveries sagged 8.5% YoY. The sequential rebound came as the carmaker launched new financing incentives to offset high interest rates, according to the company’s shareholder deck.
“As always, our focus is on providing the most compelling products at a reasonable price,” Taneja said during the Q2 earnings call. “We have stepped up our efforts to provide more trims that have an estimated range of more than 300 miles on a single charge.”
Tesla expects the price revision for its Full Self-Driving offerings in North America to also boost sales, Taneja continued.
“We've made a lot of progress with Full Self-Driving in Q2 and with version 12.5 beginning rollout, we think customers will experience a step change improvement in how well-supervised Full Self-Driving works,” CEO Elon Musk said on the call.
Musk declined to disclose much of the company’s product roadmap, but did say Tesla is on track to deliver a more affordable model in the first half of 2025.
