Tesla Inc reported lower-than-expected profits on Wednesday, but confirmed key benchmarks for this year, saying it will return to sales volume growth and move forward with fully autonomous driving.
The results capped a mixed year for Tesla in which CEO Musk’s big bet on US electoral politics was countered by profit pressures as the electric car company’s streak of annual car volume growth came to an end.
Tesla reported fourth-quarter profit of US$2.3 billion, down 71 percent from the year-ago quarter, where profit was boosted by a one-time tax benefit.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Revenue rose 2 percent to US$25.7 billion, also missing analyst estimates, but reflecting a more than doubling of sales in energy generation and storage.
Musk has sought to temper expectations about Tesla’s near-term financial growth, while employing superlatives in touting Tesla’s autonomous driving and robotic ventures, saying they could make Tesla “the most valuable company in the world by far,” worth more than the “next five companies combined.”
The company has been confronted by intensifying electric vehicle competition in leading markets, including China and the US, where General Motors Co and Ford Motor Co have introduced more models.
Another factor has been lower sales than expected from the Cybertruck, Musk’s futuristic auto giant that has won cheers from Tesla fans and jeers from critics.
However, Tesla expects growth this year, saying in its earnings release that “with the advancements in vehicle autonomy and the introduction of new products, we expect the vehicle business to return to growth in 2025.”
The company confirmed plans to unveil new, more affordable vehicles this year and said its launch of a new robotaxi venture in parts of the US was on track to begin this year.
Tesla named its driver-assistance programs “autopilot” and “full self-driving” (FSD), even though the programs require the driver to maintain attention, while rival robotaxi venture Waymo has achieved full driverless functionality in three US cities so far.
Musk has repeatedly missed earlier targets towards full autonomy, quipping during the conference call on Wednesday that he was like the boy who cried wolf.
“But I’m telling you, there’s a damn wolf this time, and you can drive it,” Musk said. “In fact, it can drive you. It’s a self-driving wolf.”
Musk said he intends to launch FSD as a paid service in Austin, Texas this year, where the company also plans to introduce robotaxi services.
“Teslas will be in the wild,” he said, describing a gradual expansion of service once the company can demonstrate its autonomous service is “unequivocally safer” than a human driver.
During the call, Musk’s most overtly political comment concerned what he described as the cumbersome process to introduce FSD in Europe, calling Europe “a layer cake of regulations and bureaucracy, which really needs to be addressed.”
Shares of Tesla rose 4.4 percent in after-hours trading.
Semiconductor business between Taiwan and the US is a “win-win” model for both sides given the high level of complementarity, the government said yesterday responding to tariff threats from US President Donald Trump. Home to the world’s largest contract chipmaker, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), Taiwan is a key link in the global technology supply chain for companies such as Apple Inc and Nvidia Corp. Trump said on Monday he plans to impose tariffs on imported chips, pharmaceuticals and steel in an effort to get the producers to make them in the US. “Taiwan and the US semiconductor and other technology industries
SMALL AND EFFICIENT: The Chinese AI app’s initial success has spurred worries in the US that its tech giants’ massive AI spending needs re-evaluation, a market strategist said Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) start-up DeepSeek’s (深度求索) eponymous AI assistant rocketed to the top of Apple Inc’s iPhone download charts, stirring doubts in Silicon Valley about the strength of the US’ technological dominance. The app’s underlying AI model is widely seen as competitive with OpenAI and Meta Platforms Inc’s latest. Its claim that it cost much less to train and develop triggered share moves across Asia’s supply chain. Chinese tech firms linked to DeepSeek, such as Iflytek Co (科大訊飛), surged yesterday, while chipmaking tool makers like Advantest Corp slumped on the potential threat to demand for Nvidia Corp’s AI accelerators. US stock
The US Federal Reserve is expected to announce a pause in rate cuts on Wednesday, as policymakers look to continue tackling inflation under close and vocal scrutiny from US President Donald Trump. The Fed cut its key lending rate by a full percentage point in the final four months of last year and indicated it would move more cautiously going forward amid an uptick in inflation away from its long-term target of 2 percent. “I think they will do nothing, and I think they should do nothing,” Federal Reserve Bank of St Louis former president Jim Bullard said. “I think the
SUBSIDIES: The nominee for commerce secretary indicated the Trump administration wants to put its stamp on the plan, but not unravel it entirely US President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the agency in charge of a US$52 billion semiconductor subsidy program declined to give it unqualified support, raising questions about the disbursement of funds to companies like Intel Corp and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電). “I can’t say that I can honor something I haven’t read,” Howard Lutnick, Trump’s nominee for commerce secretary, said of the binding CHIPS and Science Act awards in a confirmation hearing on Wednesday. “To the extent monies have been disbursed, I would commit to rigorously enforcing documents that have been signed by those companies to make sure we get
RSS