Investor's Corner
The Model Y represents a wiser Tesla and it should wake up the auto industry
It is now just a matter of time before Tesla unveils the next vehicle in its product roadmap — the Model Y. Aimed at the auto industry’s most lucrative segment today, the all-electric SUV and its potential success could definitively establish Tesla’s reputation as a successful carmaker. With this in mind, the Model Y’s 2019 release could be seen as a strategic move for Tesla, since the company is now at a point where it has matured enough to produce a vehicle of such magnitude and caliber as the all-electric SUV.
A competitive segment
The compact SUV segment in the United States is an incredibly competitive market. In 2018 alone, auto sales tracking website CarSalesBase noted that the Toyota Rav4 — the reigning king of compact SUVs — sold 427,168 units in the United States. In second place was the Nissan Rogue with 412,110 vehicles sold, and in third place was the Honda CR-V, which sold 379,013 units during 2019. Each of these vehicles sold so well, their individual sales exceeded Tesla’s record-breaking 2018 sales of 245,240 electric cars, which included 145,846 Model 3.
That said, Tesla’s 2018 sales for the Model 3 were no joke. With more than 145,000 units sold over the year, the electric sedan ended 2018 as the US’ best-selling luxury vehicle, far outselling its closest competitor — the Lexus RX, which also happens to be an SUV. It should be noted that the Model 3 accomplished this feat despite the United States generally preferring SUVs and pickup trucks over passenger cars. With the Model Y, Tesla would be removing this handicap, as the company would be competing in the SUV segment with an all-electric SUV that is bred to dominate.
From the Model 3 to the Model Y
The success of the Model 3 and the tribulations Tesla passed through during the vehicle’s ramp all contribute to help in the production of the Model Y. When Tesla started producing the Model 3, it was a carmaker whose experience was limited to the production of two relatively low-volume premium vehicles, and CEO Elon Musk was still prone to hyper-ambitious goals that border on the unrealistic. As Tesla went through the Model 3’s production challenges, and as the company hit its stride with the vehicle’s manufacturing, the electric car maker matured. This maturity became evident in Tesla’s Q2 2018 earnings call, when Elon Musk showed a notable amount of restraint and humility. Musk’s timelines since then have remained ambitious — though a lot more realistic — as shown in the company’s timetable for Gigafactory 3.
With a more mature Tesla and a more experienced Elon Musk leading the Model Y charge, the electric car maker could escape a considerable amount of the challenges it faced with the Model 3. Musk had expressed his optimism with Model Y production during the recently held fourth-quarter earnings call, when he noted that the vehicle would require much lower CAPEX than the electric sedan. Discussing the upcoming vehicle’s production further, Musk stated that the Model Y would likely see a seamless buildout, considering that it would likely be built in Gigafactory 1. This would be a notable advantage for the Model Y, considering that its battery packs would be made in the same site.
“Three-quarters of the Model Y is common with the Model 3, so it’s a much lower CAPEX per vehicle than Model 3, and the rest is also quite low. Model Y is, I think, 76% was when it got in common with the Model 3. And we’re most likely going to put Model Y production right next to — in fact, it’s part of our main Gigafactory in Nevada. So, it will just be right there. Batteries and powertrains will come out and go straight into the vehicle. So that also reduces our risk of execution and reduces the cost of having to transfer parts from California to Nevada. It’s not a for sure thing, but it’s quite likely, and it’s our default plan. I would expect Model Y will probably be — the thematic Model Y will be maybe 50% higher than Model 3, could be even double,” Musk said.
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- A Tesla Model Y rendering. (Credit: Reese Wilson/Teslarati)
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- Tesla Model Y rendering via AutoExpress
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- Tesla Model Y rendering from Peisert Design
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- An artist’s render of the Tesla Model Y. [Credit: Miguel Massé/Twitter]
The Tesla Model Y as imagined by concept artists. (Credit: Reese Wilson, AutoExpress, Peisert Design and Miguel Masse)
An impending disruption
The Model Y’s dominance will not be focused solely on the United States, either, considering that Tesla’s Gigafactory 3 in China is expected to manufacture the affordable versions of the all-electric SUV, which would be distributed to the Chinese market. Just like the United States, China is also a market that has a soft spot for SUVs. Such is the reason why the Tesla Model X — rather expensive vehicle that Musk describes as the “Fabergé egg of cars,” — is popular in China. With a lower-cost car like the Model Y in the market, Tesla’s potential in the Asian economic superpower would likely see a boost as well.
It could be said that much of Tesla’s challenges over the years were the result of its own hubris, as evidenced by the Model X’s overloaded tech and the Model 3 ramp’s over-reliance on automation. That said, there’s a good chance that Tesla would not make these same mistakes with the Model Y. With this in mind, it would be wise for veterans in the auto industry to take the upcoming vehicle seriously, and maybe come up with compelling electric cars of their own — not like seemingly converted vehicles like the Mercedes-Benz EQC either, but more like the Porsche Taycan, which was designed from the ground up as EV.
Just as the Model S and Model X caused a disruption on the higher end of the auto market, so would the Model 3 and Model Y. Provided that Tesla manages to produce both vehicles at scale, and provided that the company can release lower-cost variants that can attract a broader audience, the Model Y and its sedan sibling could ultimately become the electric cars that cement the company’s place in the hyper-competitive auto industry.
Elon Musk
Tesla confirmed HW3 can’t do Unsupervised FSD but there’s more to the story
Tesla confirmed HW3 vehicles cannot run unsupervised FSD, replacing its free upgrade promise with a discounted trade-in.
Tesla has officially confirmed that early vehicles with its Autopilot Hardware 3 (HW3) will not be capable of unsupervised Full Self-Driving, while extending a path forward for legacy owners through a discounted trade-in program. The announcement came by way of Elon Musk in today’s Tesla Q1 2026 earnings call.
🚨 Our LIVE updates on the Tesla Earnings Call will take place here in a thread 🧵
Follow along below: pic.twitter.com/hzJeBitzJU
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) April 22, 2026
The history here matters. HW3 launched in April 2019, and Tesla sold Full Self-Driving packages to owners on the understanding that the hardware was sufficient for full autonomy. Some owners paid between $8,000 and $15,000 for FSD during that period. For years, as FSD’s AI models grew more demanding, HW3 vehicles fell progressively further behind, eventually landing on FSD v12.6 in January 2025 while AI4 vehicles moved to v13 and then v14. When Musk acknowledged in January 2025 that HW3 simply could not reach unsupervised operation, and alluded to a difficult hardware retrofit.
The near-term offering is more concrete. Tesla’s head of Autopilot Ashok Elluswamy confirmed on today’s call that a V14-lite will be coming to HW3 vehicles in late June, bringing all the V14 features currently running on AI4 hardware. That is a meaningful software update for owners who have been frozen at v12.6 for over a year, and it represents genuine effort to keep older hardware relevant. Unsupervised FSD for vehicles is now targeted for Q4 2026 at the earliest, with Musk describing it as a gradual, geography-limited rollout.
For HW3 owners, the over-the-air V14-lite update is welcomed, and the discounted trade-in path at least acknowledges an old obligation. What happens next with the trade-in pricing will define how this chapter ultimately gets written. If Tesla prices the hardware path fairly, acknowledges what early adopters are owed, and delivers V14-lite on the June timeline it committed to today, it has a real opportunity to convert one of the longest-running sore subjects among early adopters into a loyalty story.
Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) reported its earnings for the first quarter of 2026 on Wednesday afternoon. Here’s what the company reported compared to what Wall Street analysts expected.
The earnings results come after Tesla reported a miss on vehicle deliveries for the first quarter, delivering 358,023 vehicles and building 408,386 cars during the three-month span.
As Tesla transitions more toward AI and sees itself as less of a car company, expectations for deliveries will begin to become less of a central point in the consensus of how the quarter is perceived.
Nevertheless, Tesla is leaning on its strong foundation as a car company to carry forward its AI ambitions. The first quarter is a good ground layer for the rest of the year.
Tesla Q1 2026 Earnings Results
Tesla’s Earnings Results are as follows:
- Non-GAAP EPS – $0.41 Reported vs. $0.36 Expected
- Revenues – $22.387 billion vs. $22.35 billion Expected
- Free Cash Flow – $1.444 billion
- Profit – $4.72 billion
Tesla beat analyst expectations, so it will be interesting to see how the stock responds. IN the past, we’ve seen Tesla beat analyst expectations considerably, followed by a sharp drop in stock price.
On the same token, we’ve seen Tesla miss and the stock price go up the following trading session.
Tesla will hold its Q1 2026 Earnings Call in about 90 minutes at 5:30 p.m. on the East Coast. Remarks will be made by CEO Elon Musk and other executives, who will shed some light on the investor questions that we covered earlier this week.
You can stream it below. Additionally, we will be doing our Live Blog on X and Facebook.
Q1 2026 Earnings Call at 4:30pm CT https://t.co/pkYIaGJ32y
— Tesla (@Tesla) April 22, 2026
Elon Musk
Tesla Earnings: financial expectations and what we should to hear about
In terms of discussions, Tesla earnings calls are usually a great time to get some clarification on the company’s outlook for its current and future projects.
Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) will report its earnings for the first quarter of 2026 this evening after the market closes, and analysts have already put out their expectations from a financial standpoint for the company’s first three months of the year.
Additionally, there will be plenty of things that will be discussed, including the recent expansion of the Robotaxi program, the Roadster unveiling, and Full Self-Driving (Supervised) approvals across the globe.
Financial Expectations
Wall Street consensus expectations put Tesla’s Earnings Per Share (EPS) at $0.36, while revenues are expected to come in around $22.35 billion.
This would compare to an EPS of $0.27 and $19.34 billion compared to Tesla’s Q1 2025. Last quarter, EPS came in at $0.50 on $29.4 billion of revenue.
Tesla beat analyst expectations last quarter, but the next trading day, the stock fell nearly 3.5 percent. We never quite can gauge how the market will respond to Tesla’s earnings; we’ve seen shares rise on a miss and fall on a beat.
It really goes on the news, and investor consensus, it seems.
What to Expect
In terms of discussions, Tesla earnings calls are usually a great time to get some clarification on the company’s outlook for its current and future projects. Right now, the big focus of investors is the Robotaxi program, the Roadster unveiling, and what the outlook for Full Self-Driving’s expansion throughout Europe and the rest of the world looks like.
Robotaxi
Tesla just recently expanded its unsupervised Robotaxi program to Dallas and Houston, joining Austin as the first cities in the U.S. to have access to the company’s ride-hailing suite.
Tesla expands Unsupervised Robotaxi service to two new cities
Some saw this move as a quick effort to turn attention away from a delivery miss and an anticipated miss on earnings. However, we’ve seen Tesla be more than deliberate with its expansion of the Robotaxi suite, so it’s hard to believe the company would make this move if it were not truly ready to do so.
The company is also working to expand its U.S. ride-hailing service outside of Texas and California, and recently filed paperwork to build a Robotaxi-exclusive Supercharger stall.
Expansion is planned for Florida, Nevada, and Arizona at some point this year, with more states to follow.
Roadster Unveiling
The Roadster unveiling was slated for April 1, and then pushed back (once again) to “probably late April,” according to Elon Musk.
It does not appear that the Roadster unveiling will happen within that time frame, at least not to our knowledge. Nobody has received media or press invites for a Roadster unveiling, and given the lofty expectations set for the vehicle by Musk and Co., it seems like something they’d want to show off to the public.
The Roadster has become a truly frustrating project for Tesla and its fans; evidently, there is something that is not up to the expectations Musk and others have. Meanwhile, fans are essentially waiting for something that is six years late.
At this point, also given the company’s focus on autonomy, it almost seems more worth it to just cancel it, remove any and all timelines and expectations, and surprise people with something crazy down the line, maybe in two or three years. There should be no talk of it.
Full Self-Driving Global Expansion
We expect Musk and Co. to shed some details on where it stands with other European government bodies, as it recently was able to roll out FSD (Supervised) to customers in the Netherlands.
Spain is also working with Tesla to assess FSD’s viability as a publicly available option for owners.
With that being said, there should be some additional information for investors as they listen to the call; no talk of it would be a pretty big letdown.
Optimus
There will likely be a date set for the Gen 3 Optimus unveiling, and we’re hopeful Tesla can keep that date set in stone and meet it. Not reaching timelines is a relatively minor issue, but a company can only do this for so long before its fans and investors start to lose trust and disregard any talk about dates.
It seems this is happening already.
Optimus has been pegged as Tesla’s big money maker for the future. The goals and expectations are high, but it is a privilege to have that sort of pressure when investors know the company’s capability.
Tesla is showing us that Cybercab mass production is well underway
Elon Musk’s last manually driven Tesla will do something no other production car will do
