On Super Bowl Sunday this past February, Tesla did not run television advertisements. The $6.5 million price tag for a 30-second slot during the Bengals-Rams thriller had other takers, though. Polestar was one of them.
Polestar took shots at Tesla and others with a spicy ad during the big game that indirectly called out Elon Musk’s other ventures, including SpaceX. The ad did rank as the most-engaging commercial of the Super Bowl commercials that did run, performing twenty-three times better than the median Super Bowl LVI spot.
While Polestar did see some benefit with engagement, Tesla saw the real benefits from the commercial, as detailed in its Q1 2022 Shareholder Deck released last Wednesday just before the company’s Earnings Call. Tesla saw an increase in order volume the day after Super Bowl Sunday — its highest order concentration since the beginning of 2022, according to the graph released.
Credit: Tesla
Tesla has never run a commercial or advertisement, seeking to funnel funds elsewhere, mostly toward Research and Development purposes. CEO Elon Musk has said in the past that he “hates advertising,” and on other occasions, has said money spent to run commercial ads should be put into product development instead.
Strange how these things are bucketed. I think of the whole company as being R&D.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 24, 2022
Other automakers have known for quite some time that Tesla is very different. While everyone still focused on combustion engine projects for the past ten years, Tesla was challenging the norm and attempting to build sustainable and long-lasting electric powertrains and nearly went bankrupt doing it. However, it all worked out, and even though the company’s plans and timelines are not necessarily predictable due to major supply chain issues, delays in development, or other reasons, the same basic tenet exists in Tesla’s fundamentals: accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy.
Tesla’s Fremont factory workforce is growing and the automaker is preparing for it
Tesla has been able to do this without running expensive advertisements due to several things. First, the company’s band of loyal owners are perhaps the best PR firm money can’t buy. With perhaps millions of owners globally, people are becoming more knowledgeable and informed when it comes to EVs, and Tesla enthusiasts, regardless of your opinion of them, are perhaps the most passionate automobile owners in the world. They are incredibly knowledgeable and spread their love for the company far and wide, which is better than any commercial. Personal experiences with a product of any kind are more likely to give potential buyers of that product a better idea of what the ownership experience will be like. It helps the company increase sales, and it helps consumers become more comfortable with ditching gas, in an EV’s case, even if it is only temporarily.
Despite companies taking shots at the undisputed leader in electric vehicles, Tesla still remains ahead of its rivals. With commercials obviously not doing the trick, perhaps the companies gunning for Tesla’s spot as number 1 will adopt the same strategy: put all of the money into making the product better.
I’d love to hear from you! If you have any comments, concerns, or questions, please email me at joey@teslarati.com. You can also reach me on Twitter @KlenderJoey, or if you have news tips, you can email us at tips@teslarati.com.
Investor's Corner
Tesla needs to confront these concerns as its ‘wartime CEO’ returns: Wedbush
Tesla will report earnings for Q2 tomorrow. Here’s what Wedbush expects.

Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) is set to report its earnings for the second quarter of 2025 tomorrow, and although Wall Street firm Wedbush is bullish as the company appears to have its “wartime CEO” back, it is looking for answers to a few concerns investors could have moving forward.
The firm’s lead analyst on Tesla, Dan Ives, has kept a bullish sentiment regarding the stock, even as Musk’s focus seemed to be more on politics and less on the company.
However, Musk has recently returned to his past attitude, which is being completely devoted and dedicated to his companies. He even said he would be sleeping in his office and working seven days a week:
Back to working 7 days a week and sleeping in the office if my little kids are away https://t.co/77cc6sRCFZ
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 20, 2025
Nevertheless, Ives has continued to push suggestions forward about what Tesla should do, what its potential valuation could be in the coming years with autonomy, and how it will deal with the loss of the EV tax credit.
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These questions are at the forefront of what Ives suggests Tesla should confront on tomorrow’s call, he wrote in a note to investors that was released on Tuesday morning:
“Clearly, losing the EV tax credits with the recent Beltway Bill will be a headwind to Tesla and competitors in the EV landscape looking ahead, and this cash cow will become less of the story (and FCF) in 2026. We would expect some directional guidance on this topic during the conference call. Importantly, we anticipate deliveries globally to rebound in 2H led by some improvement on the key China front with the Model Y refresh a catalyst.”
Ives and Wedbush believe the autonomy could be worth $1 trillion for Tesla, especially as it continues to expand throughout Austin and eventually to other territories.
In the near term, Ives expects Tesla to continue its path of returning to growth:
“While the company has seen significant weakness in China in previous quarters given the rising competitive landscape across EVs, Tesla saw a rebound in June with sales increasing for the first time in eight months reflecting higher demand for its updated Model Y as deliveries in the region are starting to slowly turn a corner with China representing the heart and lungs of the TSLA growth story. Despite seeing more low-cost models enter the market from Chinese OEMs like BYD, Nio, Xpeng, and others, the company’s recent updates to the Model Y spurred increased demand while the accelerated production ramp-up in Shanghai for this refresh cycle reflected TSLA’s ability to meet rising demand in the marquee region. If Musk continues to lead and remain in the driver’s seat at this pace, we believe Tesla is on a path to an accelerated growth path over the coming years with deliveries expected to ramp in the back-half of 2025 following the Model Y refresh cycle.”
Tesla will report earnings tomorrow at market close. Wedbush maintained its ‘Outperform’ rating and held its $500 price target.
Investor's Corner
Tesla (TSLA) Q2 2025 earnings call: What investors want to know

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) is set to report its second-quarter 2025 financial results on Wednesday, July 23, after markets close. With this in mind, Tesla investors have aggregated their top questions for the company at its upcoming Q&A session.
The upcoming earnings report follows a mixed delivery quarter. Tesla produced over 410,000 vehicles and delivered more than 384,000 units globally. In the energy segment, Tesla deployed 9.6 GWh of storage products, continuing momentum for its Megapack business. Tesla’s vehicle sales are currently down year-over-year, though a good part of this was due to the Model Y changeover in the first quarter.
Following are Tesla investors’ top questions for management, as aggregated in Say.
- Can you give us some insight (into) how robotaxis have been performing so far and what rate you expect to expand in terms of vehicles, geofence, cities, and supervisors?
- What are the key technical and regulatory hurdles still remaining for unsupervised FSD to be available for personal use? Timeline?
- What specific factory tasks is Optimus currently performing, and what is the expected timeline for scaling production to enable external sales? How does Tesla envision Optimus contributing to revenue in the next 2–3 years?
- Can you provide an update on the development and production timeline for Tesla’s more affordable models? How will these models balance cost reduction with profitability, and what impact do you expect on demand in the current economic climate?
- When do you anticipate customer vehicles to receive unsupervised FSD?
- Are there any news for HW3 users getting retrofits or upgrades? Will they get HW4 or some future version of HW5?
- Have any meaningful Optimus milestones changed for this year or next, and will thousands of Optimus be performing tasks in Tesla factories by year-end?
- Will there be a new AI day to explain the advancements the Autopilot, Optimus, and Dojo/chip teams have made over the past several years? We still do not know much about HW4.
- Cybertruck ramp is now a year in, but sales have lagged other models. How are you thinking through boosting sales of such an incredible product?
- When will there be a new CEO compensation package presented and considered for the next stage of the company’s growth?
Tesla will release its Q2 update letter on its Investor Relations website after markets close on Wednesday. A live Q&A webcast with management will then follow at 4:30 p.m. CT (5:30 p.m. ET) to discuss the company’s performance and outlook.
News
Tesla Model Y becomes dual champ in China’s vehicle sales rankings
The Model Y’s recent accomplishments suggest that Tesla really has created something special with the all-electric crossover.

The Tesla Model Y was recently deemed a double champion in China, with the all-electric crossover topping two notable sales charts in the country’s automotive sector.
The Model Y’s recent accomplishments suggest that Tesla really has created something special with the all-electric crossover, as it has continued to outsell even vehicles that are newer and more affordable.
Tesla China’s announcement
In a post on Weibo, Tesla China VP Grace Tao highlighted that the Model Y topped China’s sales of SUVs, as well as vehicles that are priced in the 200,000-400,000 yuan range. This is quite remarkable, as the Model Y is one of the more costly entries in both lists. She also invited everyone to try out the vehicle for themselves. “You will know the champion strength after a try,” the Tesla VP wrote.
For the first half of the year, the Tesla Model Y sold 171,491 units domestically in China. This number was enough to make it the country’s best-selling SUV and vehicle priced in the 200,000-400,000 yuan range, but it could still easily be higher in the second half of 2025.
This was because Tesla initiated a changeover in Gigafactory Shanghai to shift the facility’s Model Y line to the vehicle’s new iteration. Had Tesla sold the Model Y in full force during the first half of 2025 in China, the vehicle’s domestic sales figures would have been even more impressive.
Model Y L coming
Tesla China’s Model Y sales could see a notable boost in the second half of the year due to the addition of the Model Y L, an extended wheelbase version of the all-electric crossover. Tesla is yet to announce the details for the Model Y L, though the vehicle was listed in the MIIT regulatory catalog as a six-seater. This is game-changing, as the Model Y’s previous seven-seat configurations have caught criticism for being far too cramped and unusable for adults.
With the six-seat Model Y in the company’s lineup, Tesla would be able to compete with popular vehicles from rivals like BYD, which have made it a point to release spacious three-row vehicles that are designed to carry the whole family. Provided that the Model Y L is priced correctly, it could very well raise Tesla’s vehicle sales this year.
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