Tesla expects to invest more than US$25 billion this year, said the company’s chief financial officer (CFO) this Wednesday (22) — an increase of US$5 billion compared to the previous estimate.
Shares fell 0.5% at 5:59 p.m. (New York time) after the close of regular trading, erasing gains recorded earlier. The stock has fallen 21% since the all-time high recorded in mid-December.
Earlier on Wednesday, the company released results that beat Wall Street’s profit expectations at the start of the year, saying demand for its electric vehicles is recovering around the world. Adjusted profit was US$0.41 per share in the first quarter, according to a statement, above the average of US$0.34 projected by analysts consulted by Bloomberg. It was the second consecutive quarter in which Tesla’s earnings were above expectations.
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Tesla said it has seen “continued growth in demand for our vehicles” in parts of Asia and South America, as well as a recovery in North America and the Europe-Middle East region. The comments, considered surprisingly optimistic, come just weeks after the automaker reported one of its worst quarters in years.
Tesla CFO Vaibhav Taneja said the company has seen increased interest from consumers amid rising fuel prices. “We observed a slight growth, quarter by quarter, in deliveries, from the point of view of the order book,” he stated.
The report “confirms that while the traditional electric vehicle business is no longer growing rapidly, it is stable enough to fund Tesla’s heavy investments in robotics and autonomous driving technology,” Zacks Investment Research analyst Andrew Rocco wrote in a note.
The trajectory of Tesla’s core automotive business has been a point of interest for investors as CEO Elon Musk has refocused the company on new lines of business, including robotics and self-driving cars. The company is working to increase production as part of a spending plan exceeding US$20 billion this year.
Tesla will “substantially increase” its vehicle production and investments going forward, Musk said on a conference call with analysts. “You should expect to see a very significant increase in capital expenditures,” he said.
In the first three months of 2026, however, Tesla spent less than US$2.5 billion — about half the average amount per quarter needed to reach the annual investment target. This contributed to the company recording positive free cash flow of US$1.4 billion in the period, much better than the expectations of analysts, who predicted a cash burn of almost US$1.9 billion.
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The first quarter was the second worst for vehicle deliveries since mid-2022, second only to the same period the previous year, when Tesla suspended production of the Model Y and faced strong backlash over Musk’s political activities.
The company said it remains on schedule to begin production of key products such as the Cybercab, the Semi truck and an updated version of the Megapack battery system for energy storage.
Tesla’s energy and storage division reported revenue of $2.4 billion in the first quarter, down 12% from the same period last year. Although the company did not detail the reasons for the slowdown in a unit that had been in the spotlight in recent years, Taneja stated that “the energy storage business is inherently irregular.” Tesla still projects energy deployments in 2026 to exceed those in 2025.
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The automaker reiterated plans for its nascent ride-hailing business, Robotaxi, saying the operation remains on track to expand to Phoenix, Miami, Orlando, Tampa and Las Vegas in the first half of this year. Robotaxi, originally conceived as a fully autonomous service, began operating in Austin last year and has been gradually expanding. This month, it also launched in Houston and Dallas.
The company did not detail the operation’s revenue or the size of the fleet, nor did it say how many vehicles are driven without a safety monitor on board. Tesla also offers a ride-hailing service in the San Francisco Bay Area, but in this case the model is more similar to that of Uber and Lyft.
© 2026 Bloomberg L.P.
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