Connect with us

Investor's Corner

Elon Musk addresses Tesla Model 3 production delays in CBS interview

[Credit: CBS This Morning/YouTube]

Published

on

Elon Musk recently talked about the ongoing Model 3 production delays in an interview with CBS This Morning’s Gayle King. During his conversations with the news anchor, Musk addressed the Model 3’s delays and even touched on the issue of reservation holders who have canceled their orders for the car.

King noted that Musk knows he has fallen way behind the production goal for the Model 3. In an exchange, King asked Musk if customers should be worried about Tesla’s capability to deliver their orders.

“Should customers be worried about what’s happening with their Model 3, and when they will get their Model 3?” King asked.

“It’s best to look at those not in an exact numerical way, but on a calendar basis. It shouldn’t be a question of whether somebody’s gonna get their car. It’s just, ‘Yes, you’re definitely gonna get your car. It’s gonna to be 6-9 months later than expected,” Musk responded.

“Are you saying people don’t really need to be worried?” King asked.

Advertisement

“It’s a 6-9 month time shift, and three of those have already passed,” Musk said.

Musk also addressed King’s inquiry about cancellations of Model 3 orders. According to Musk, most of the customers who opted out of their reservations needed a car quickly. Unfortunately, it was a car that Tesla could not provide in a timeline that the customer required.

In one exchange, Musk described how the Model 3 ramp had been a difficult and painful process for the past several months. When prompted by King, Musk stated that recently, he has been sleeping on the factory floor, which the CEO says is not a fun place to sleep in. Musk said that he does not think it is right for the Tesla team to take on the challenge of building the Model 3 while he is relaxing somewhere.

“I don’t believe like people should be experiencing hardship while the CEO is like off on vacation.”

In post-interview statement on CBS This Morning, King noted that Musk ultimately admitted that manufacturing the Model 3 has been harder than he initially thought. Despite this, however, the CEO stated that he has several strategies in mind that he believes will make a difference and accelerate the production ramp of the mass market compact electric car.

Musk’s decision to go back to sleeping on the Fremont factory’s floor echoes much of Tesla’s challenges during the initial days of the Model X’s production. As we noted in a report from May 2016, Musk revealed in an earnings call that he literally had a sleeping bag at the end of the Model X production line.

Advertisement

“I’m personally spending an enormous amount of time on the production line. I have a sleeping bag and desk at the end of the production line which I use quite frequently. The whole team is focused on achieving a high [production] rate and quality,” Musk said then.

As the following years would ultimately prove, Tesla would eventually iron out its kinks with the Model X’s production. Today, the electric SUV is being produced at roughly the same rate as the company’s iconic sedan — the Model S. Thus, if there is anything that can be determined from Tesla’s challenges with the Model 3 and Musk’s way of addressing them, it seems like the carmaker is closing in on exiting its proverbial “production hell.”

Watch Elon Musk’s conversation with CBS This Morning‘s Gayle King in the video below.

Advertisement

Simon is an experienced automotive reporter with a passion for electric cars and clean energy. Fascinated by the world envisioned by Elon Musk, he hopes to make it to Mars (at least as a tourist) someday. For stories or tips--or even to just say a simple hello--send a message to his email, simon@teslarati.com or his handle on X, @ResidentSponge.

Advertisement
Comments

Investor's Corner

Tesla Q2 2025 earnings: What Wall Street expects

The company has faced mounting pressure this year, with TSLA stock down 19% year-to-date.

Published

on

Credit: Tesla Asia/X

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) is set to release its second-quarter 2025 financial results after markets close on Wednesday, July 23. The company has faced mounting pressure this year, with TSLA stock down about 19% year-to-date. 

What Wall Street expects

As noted in a TipRanks report, Wall Street has remained cautious about the electric vehicle maker due to concerns about the EV segment in general, competition, reduced margins, federal EV regulations, and CEO Elon Musk’s political activities. 

Overall, Wall Street expects Tesla to post earnings per share of $0.39, down 25% from a year ago. Tesla’s revenue is forecasted to fall 13% to $22.19 billion, and analysts also expect the electric vehicle maker to post lower margins this quarter.

Analyst expectations

Tesla delivered approximately 384,120 vehicles in Q2, a 13.5% drop year-over-year, as per Main Street Data. The company also produced over 410,000 vehicles and deployed 9.6 GWh of energy storage products during the quarter. 

Ahead of the earnings call, Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Andres Sheppard reiterated a Buy rating and a $335 per share price target. He also adjusted his Q2 revenue forecast to $21 billion, down from his previous estimate of $24.1 billion. Despite short-term softness, Sheppard maintained his 2025 and 2026 projections, citing confidence in Tesla’s high-margin Robotaxi business model.

Advertisement

Barclays analyst Dan Levy kept a Hold rating with a $275 price target. He stated that the company faces “increasingly weaker fundamentals,” but he also suggested that Tesla’s Robotaxi story could drive optimism. Levy expects modest gross margin improvement quarter-over-quarter and flagged the full-year EPS estimate drop from $3.20 to $1.84. Delays in launching the affordable Tesla model remain a downside risk, Levy noted.

Continue Reading

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.

Published

on

Credit: Tesla

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:


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.

Tesla preps to expand Robotaxi geofence once again, answering Waymo

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.

Continue Reading

Investor's Corner

Tesla (TSLA) Q2 2025 earnings call: What investors want to know

Published

on

Credit: Tesla Asia/X

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.

  1. 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?
  2. What are the key technical and regulatory hurdles still remaining for unsupervised FSD to be available for personal use? Timeline?
  3. 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?
  4. 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?
  5. When do you anticipate customer vehicles to receive unsupervised FSD?
  6. Are there any news for HW3 users getting retrofits or upgrades? Will they get HW4 or some future version of HW5?
  7. 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?
  8. 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.
  9. 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?
  10. 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.

Continue Reading

Trending