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Elon Musk has said that robotaxis are the company’s future, but most revenue still comes from cars.
July 23, 2025, 10:57 a.m. ET
Tesla is expected to report on Wednesday a slump in profit, the third quarterly decline in a row, as the company cut car prices in an attempt to revive sales.
Analysts estimate that the company earned $1.2 billion from April to June, according to Bloomberg, down from $1.4 billion a year ago. Sales are expected to have fallen to $22.6 billion from $25.5 billion in the second quarter of 2024. Tesla has not reported an increase in quarterly profit since the third quarter of 2024.
Tesla’s weak earnings are likely to reinforce concern among some investors that Elon Musk is neglecting the car business while he focuses the company’s resources on autonomous driving software, self-driving taxis and humanoid robots.
Mr. Musk has said those technologies will make Tesla the most valuable company in the world. Tesla has begun testing a limited self-driving taxi service in Austin, Texas. Wall Street has largely bought into that vision, and the company’s share price is up around 50 percent since early April.
But such taxis and robots are not yet generating significant revenue for Tesla, and the company remains reliant on the car business to finance Mr. Musk’s futuristic plans.
Tesla’s sales have been losing momentum because it is not offering more affordable and appealing new models even as other carmakers like BYD of China have rolled out many new vehicles while slashing prices. In addition, Mr. Musk’s support for right-wing political causes has alienated many electric car buyers in Europe and the United States and has distracted him from running the company. Last month, he announced plans to form a new political party in the United States after his relationship with President Trump deteriorated.
