Tesla released fiscal data for the first quarter of 2024 yesterday. After a long time, negative data was expected. In fact, turnover fell by 9%, – with the auto sector down 13% – with a sharper decline in gross operating margin, -21%. Two negative data, which however did not have a major impact on the stock market. In fact, shareholders seem to appreciate Tesla’s intention to increasingly focus on autonomous driving. And in the documents we begin to talk about the new generation platform for the first time.
Let’s go in order: Tesla’s revenue in the first quarter of 2024 was $21.30 billion, 9% less than the same period last year. The decline is even more marked if we look solely at the auto sector, which went from 19.96 billion dollars in the first three months of 2023 to the current 17.38 billion. A drop of 13%. Gross operating margin (EBITDA) fell from 4.27 billion in the first quarter of 2023 to the current 3.38 billion dollars. The drop, in this case, is 21%.
In presenting the financial data, Tesla mentioned various circumstances that contributed to this negative result. Vehicle production – never so low in recent years – was in fact affected by the conflict in the Red Sea which extended the delivery times of materials, the arson in the GigaFactory in Berlin and the adaptation of the Fremont production line for the restyling of Tesla Model 3.
Tesla then photographs a general moment of difficulty for electric cars, with less than exciting sales and more and more car manufacturers giving priority to hybrid over electric. In this unfavorable climate, Tesla is working to make its cars more attractive thanks also to advantageous purchasing conditions.
The future lies in autonomous driving and in new models that will arrive sooner but will be less economical
As mentioned at the beginning, Tesla’s stock on the stock markets was not affected by these negative fiscal data. Analysts and investors seem to like Tesla’s vision for the future, a vision where electric goes hand in hand with autonomous driving. The company itself puts it down in black and white, announcing a significant price cut for American users intending to use Full Self-Driving. It will now cost $8,000, or $99 a month.
The intention is clear to broaden the audience of users as much as possible, so as to be able to count on a much greater quantity of data collected. According to what the company itself writes, autonomous driving and Artificial Intelligence technologies can only develop by exploiting an enormous amount of data for training. Tesla also announced that it is in talks with a major automaker to license the use of its autonomous driving technology.
Tesla will present its self-driving robotaxi in August. But doubts about the Model 2 are growing
Another very important data is that relating to future models. Despite what Reuters wrote a few weeks ago, Tesla still seems intent on presenting a cheaper model. Indeed, he announces an acceleration in this field, speaking of an earlier arrival than expected – the second half of 2025.
This is because, explains Tesla, the new economic models will not be produced with the new platform for robotaxis, a project that will be presented on August 8 and which involves an innovative “unboxed” production process, but with a new platform that will mix elements of the new generation and the current one, in order to allow their manufacturing on the current production lines. This, Tesla suggests, it also means that the new models will be less “cheap” than initially promised.
The wording “in development” suggests that work on this evolution is already well underway, and its importance for the company’s future is demonstrated by the fact that more GigaFactories will be producing vehicles on this new platform.
