Tesla’s (NASDAQ:TSLA) fourth-quarter earnings call comes on the heels of yet another blockbuster quarter that saw the electric car maker posting $7.38 billion in revenue and an earnings per share of $2.14, beating the Street’s estimates.
As revealed in the company’s Q4 and Full Year 2019 Update Letter, Tesla is GAAP profitable once more and is likely on track towards even more stable financial ground. The company generated $1.1 billion of free cash flow for the year, propelled in part by the sustained, stable demand for the Tesla Model 3.
For today’s earnings call, Tesla executives are expected to address questions surrounding the company’s plans for the coming year, as well as the electric car maker’s upcoming projects such as Giga Berlin and the ongoing expansion of Giga Shanghai.
The following are live updates from Tesla’s Q4 2019 earnings call. I will be updating this article in real-time, so please keep refreshing the page to view the latest updates on this story.
16:29 PT – Joseph Osha from JMP Securities inquired about Tesla’s acquisition of Maxwell technologies. Musk referred once more to the company’s upcoming Battery Day, where the company will discuss its plans with the company’s technologies, including its supercapacitors and dry electrode innovations, which Musk said will play an important part in Tesla’s future plans.
16:26 PT – While answering an inquiry from Pierre Ferragu of New Street Research, Musk remarked that Tesla has gone way deep in battery technology. “Wow, we really know a lot about batteries,” he said.
16:25 PT – Dan Levy of Credit Suisse reiterates the idea that Tesla should raise capital now to acquire more companies. Elon Musk jokingly asked the analyst which company should Tesla acquire now. Levy seemed flustered.
To be fair, Musk has a point here, and Kirkhorn discussed this point too. There’s not a lot of sense in raising money right now since Tesla is already spending its funds as much as it can.
16:20 PT – Elon Musk and Kirkhorn noted that at this point, Tesla’s priority is all about lowering its costs and increasing its margins. This will apply to the Model 3 and Model Y ramp, with the latter likely enjoying a lot of demand. The Tesla executives also mentioned that Tesla is now testing the waters when it comes to products that are low cost and high margin, which are represented by paid software upgrades such as the Model 3’s Acceleration Boost Upgrade.
16:15 PT – Gene Munster of Loup Ventures takes the floor and asks a question about the Cybertruck, particularly its expected demand and costs for production. Elon Musk declined to release specific figures, though he noted that demand is healthy for the all-electric truck. He also stated that the focus with the Cybertruck is all about battery production. This makes sense, especially since the Cybertruck, as well as vehicles like the Semi, require a lot of batteries. This is a challenging endeavor, and it will be discussed in Tesla’s upcoming Battery Day.
Elon did state that Battery Day could probably happen after this quarter.
16:05 PT – Adam Jonas of Morgan Stanley issues his inquiry, asks if Teslas will be compatible with Starlink. Musk stated that this is something that can happen in the future, explaining that Starlink is a high-bandwith system. It’s a lot of bandwith for a car, but it can be done, though the antenna to receive Starlink signals are about the size of a pizza box. Musk then added that he doesn’t really think about it very much.
16:00 PT – Addressing retail investors’ questions, Kirkhorn noted that the vehicles produced in Giga Shanghai will be just as, if not more profitable than vehicles produced in the United States. Musk added that it’s mostly a matter of costs. There’s just far more optimizations that can be done if a factory could produce vehicles for that specific region.
When asked if it is wise to raise money now, Musk stated that Tesla at this point is actually spending what it can right now. “We’re spending money efficiently, and we’re not artificially limiting our progress. In line with that, it does not make sense to raise money at this level,” Musk said. Kirkhorn believes this strategy, explaining that Tesla has gotten smarter about how the company is when it comes to spending money.
But what’s the most encouraging part here is that both Musk and Kirkhorn promised that there will be no slowdown when it comes to Tesla’s growth.
15:55 PT – Tesla starts taking questions from retail investors. First up, solar installations. Musk stated that Tesla is working with firms to take on the roofing market for the Solarglass Roof. In the future, the CEO stated that homeowners would simply have the choice of having a roof that generates power, or a roof that’s simply a roof.
Another question from retail shareholders involved the Tesla Network, and if it can be deployed even before FSD is fully approved. Elon Musk stated that such an idea makes sense. Kirkhorn added that Tesla intends to allow customers to have the choice to enter their vehicle to a ride-sharing network.
When it comes to Tesla Insurance and its existing coverage, Kirkhorn stated that the priority right now is to expand the service. “There’s a significant amount of innovation in this space,” the CTO said. Musk also stated that there will be a discount in Tesla Insurance if owners use Autopilot. Higher use of Autopilot would mean lower insurance costs.
Musk also noted that Tesla’s feature complete FSD will likely happen within the next few months. He added that he was very optimistic about its target timeframe, which was initially set for the end of 2019.
15:45 PT – Kirkhorn sets expectations for Q1, describing that the company’s profitability may be impacted due to unexpected headwinds in China such as the outbreak of the Coronavirus. Ongoing projects such as Giga Berlin and Giga Shanghai would also play a part.
15:43 PT – CTO Zach Kirkhorn stated that 2019 was a key year for Tesla. The company transitioned from meeting a reservation backlog to generating more demand for the Model 3. Capacity-wise, Tesla learned a lot in the Model 3 ramp in Fremont and Giga Nevada. These were aggregated and applied to facilities such as Giga Shanghai.
Kirkhorn also mentioned something notable — Tesla is starting to earn from its software services. This is huge, as the company could generate quite a lot of profit from its software-based services. The Acceleration Boost alone is notable.
The CTO added that the Model Y’s margins will likely be better than the Model 3. This bodes very well for the electric car maker. The MIC Model 3 is also seeing healthy demand in China.
15:38 PT – Elon further notes the company’s rationale with the Cybertruck, and how Tesla opted to stay out of the box with the vehicle’s design. The CEO added that the brutalist vehicle actually has quite a lot of demand.
“The demand has been incredible. I think we can make for as many as we can sell for many years. It’s going to be pretty nuts,” he said, adding that the product is better than what many people realize. This totally makes me want a Cybertruck even more.
“(We’re) super fired up where Tesla will be in the next ten years,” Musk said.
15:33 PT – Martin Viecha opens the call and introduces the participants of the call. Elon Musk takes over and mentions Tesla’s strong demand. He focuses on Tesla having the highest demand EVs in the world with zero advertising spend. Musk also noted that Fremont is already at a production pace comparable to NUMMI’s peak before. And this is before the Model Y.
Elon specifically mentions Giga Shanghai and congratulates the China team. “I think it’s going to be an incredible asset for the company. There’s a lot of good progress there,” he said.
Musk also revealed that Model Y initial production has begun. The crossover is efficient like a beast — 315 miles per charge. This is more than what the company initially stated during its unveiling last year.
15:30 PT – And it’s time for the earnings call to begin. But so far, it seems like the call will be starting a bit later than expected. Elon Time V2? Let’s see.
15:20 PT – Hello and good day, everyone, and welcome to yet another Live Blog coverage of Tesla’s earnings report. With the electric car maker posting yet another profitable quarter. I’m no prophet, but there’s a good chance that 2020 will be far kinder to TSLA shareholders than in 2019.
Other Tesla Q4 and Full Year 2019 Highlights
Investor's Corner
Tesla unfolded its first European “folding Supercharger”
Tesla’s folding Supercharger just arrived in Europe and it changes how fast charging expands.
Tesla’s Folding Unit Supercharger has officially landed in Europe, with the company teasing a new installation in its effort for a broader rollout targeting major motorway rest stops across the European continent in Q3 2026. The arrival marks a notable shift in how Tesla is thinking about network expansion, moving from hardware performance alone to engineering the logistics chain itself.
While Tesla did not reveal the exact location for the new folding Supercharger in Europe, the photo shared on X heavily suggests that this maybe somewhere in Norway. Historically, whenever Tesla rolls out an entirely new infrastructure architecture in Europe, whether it was the original Supercharger stalls years ago or these brand-new modular V4 “Folding Units”, Norway is almost always the designated launch pad because of its unmatched EV adoption rate and supportive infrastructure
The Folding Unit, introduced in March 2026, is a factory pre-assembled V4 charging station built on an industrial hinge system mounted to a heavy-duty concrete base. The entire assembly arrives on site ready to unfold and connect. Tesla confirmed the units feature telescopic light poles specifically designed for easy transportation and fast on-site deployment, a detail that signals how carefully the logistics chain has been engineered alongside the hardware itself. The design allows 33% more stalls per delivery truck, cuts installation time roughly in half, and reduces overall deployment costs by more than 20% compared to traditional installations.
Tesla’s newest “Folding V4 Superchargers” are key to its most aggressive expansion yet
Tesla also noted telescopic light poles which provide benefits over traditional Supercharger installations that require fixed-height poles that are awkward to ship, slow to position on site, and often require separate crews and equipment to erect before charging hardware can even be staged. By engineering poles that compress for transit and extend on arrival, Tesla has removed one of the quieter bottlenecks in the physical deployment process. Every hour saved on a light pole installation is an hour redirected toward getting stalls energized. At scale, across dozens of new sites per quarter, those hours add up to a meaningful acceleration in how quickly a location goes from approved permit to serving its first customer.
Each Folding Unit pairs a single V4 power cabinet with eight charging posts. The V4 cabinet delivers up to 500 kW per stall for passenger vehicles and up to 1.2 MW for the Tesla Semi, supporting twice the stalls per cabinet at three times the power density of its predecessor. Longer cables make every new station immediately usable by non-Tesla vehicles, a priority as Tesla continues opening its network to Ford, GM, Rivian, Hyundai, Stellantis, and others.
As Teslarati reported when the Folding Unit was first unveiled, Tesla’s Gigafactory New York produced its final V3 Supercharger cabinet in March 2026 after more than seven years and 15,000 units, completing a full pivot to V4 production. The European arrival of the folding design is the next chapter in that transition.
Faster and cheaper deployment means Tesla can justify building in markets and corridors that were previously too expensive to serve, filling the coverage gaps that have slowed EV adoption outside major urban centers.
First Folding Unit Superchargers in Europe 🇪🇺 https://t.co/KNfYWJukkL pic.twitter.com/YR1udIpH1i
— Tesla Charging (@TeslaCharging) June 10, 2026
Tesla Full Self-Driving (Supervised) is currently listed as a Level 2 suite in terms of its passenger cars. As its Robotaxi platform continues to move quickly, it has been recognized as a Level 4 ride-sharing program by the State of Texas, as Tesla recently self-certified itself.
However, a Wall Street analyst is arguing that Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) has effectively achieved Level 4 autonomy in most conditions in all of its vehicles, drawing on personal experience and data released by the company.
Alex Potter of Piper Sandler said in a note to investors on Wednesday that “Tesla has solved the self-driving puzzle,” pointing to decisions to offer insurance discounts for FSD-enabled policies as a signal of confidence, which is backed up by stellar safety records compared to human driving.
Investing.com initially reported on Potter’s new note.
Additionally, Potter looks at the recent start of Cybercab production at Giga Texas as a potential indication that Tesla is ready to offer some level of unsupervised driving at least in the near future. The Cybercab has no steering wheel or pedals, completely eliminating the ability for human input.
He also sees Tesla’s allocation of “several hundred million USD (if not $1B+)” as confidence internally, seeing as it would be tough to set aside that amount of capital toward a project that the company does not see as relatively near-term.
Forward thinking, especially as Cybercab has no human controls, it would make sense that Tesla is at least close to self-driving. How close is another question.
Tesla has routinely teased that unsupervised FSD is close, but there are still a lot of things it feels as if the company has to roll out some more capability, including unsupervised parking features, known as “Banish,” better operation with regional self-driving performance, and other improvements.
That is not to say that Tesla FSD is super impressive already. It has already completed coast-to-coast drives across the United States and Canada, it routinely takes the stress out of driving for most people, and it has proven through Tesla Safety Reports that it is safer and involved in accidents less frequently than humans.
🚨 These are the first-ever FSD safety statistics out of the Netherlands, showing it was over 3.5x safer than human driving on Dutch roads.
The most recent numbers out of Tesla for North America show:
-Over 5.5 million miles between accidents for Teslas using FSD
-660k miles… https://t.co/XKlRzgSGEh pic.twitter.com/HX6kzh0ZKc— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) June 9, 2026
Even Potter believes it is capable, as he used it to go from Missoula, Montana, to Minneapolis, Minnesota, back in April.
“There’s no substitute for personal experience,” he wrote.
Investor's Corner
Tesla just did something in South Korea that no foreign carmaker has ever done
Tesla’s Model Y just became South Korea’s best-selling car, beating every domestic model in May.
Tesla did something last month that no foreign car has ever done in South Korea by outselling every vehicle in the country, domestic or imported, finishing the month with Model Y as the single best-selling car across the entire Korean market. According to data from the Korea Automobile Importers and Distributors Association released on June 4, the Model Y recorded 8,762 units sold in May, pushing the Kia Sorento into second place at 7,836 units and the Hyundai Grandeur into third at 5,183 units. It is the first time an imported vehicle has outsold every domestic model on a single-month basis.
Tesla imported 10,866 cars into South Korea in May, making it the top import brand for the fourth consecutive month. BMW followed at 6,555 units, less than two-thirds of Tesla’s total, while BYD registered just 1,032 units. The combined domestic sales of GM Korea, Renault Korea, and KG Mobility last month totaled just 7,019 units, meaning a single Tesla model outsold three Korean automakers combined.
Tesla FSD earns high praise in South Korea’s real-world autonomous driving test
South Korea has historically been one of the hardest markets for foreign automakers to crack. Hyundai and Kia together control close to 70% of the overall market and carry deep consumer loyalty built over decades. Tesla’s path into this market was an uphill battle due to high import duties, limited service infrastructure, and early skepticism about charging networks. In 2024, the Model Y was the best-selling imported car in South Korea with 18,717 units for the full year. By 2025, after the Juniper refresh, it cleared 50,000 units and took the top spot among all EVs.
Year to date, Tesla has a 250.8% increase in the country over the same period last year, and now holds a 30.8% share of the entire imported car segment for 2026. EVs as a category represented 48.6% of all imported passenger car registrations in May. As Teslarati has reported, the Juniper refresh brought meaningful improvements to range, interior quality, and ride refinement that addressed the most common criticisms of earlier Model Y versions. Those upgrades appear to be resonating in markets like South Korea where buyers compare Tesla directly against high end domestic competitors.
Tesla unfolded its first European “folding Supercharger”
Tesla stuns with another FSD approval in Europe, its second in two days
