Elon Musk listens as reporters ask U.S. President Donald Trump and South Africa President Cyril Ramaphosa questions during a press availability in the Oval Office at the White House on May 21, 2025 in Washington, DC.
There was a lot missing from Tesla's third-quarter earnings call.
CEO Elon Musk said nothing about demand for the company's electric vehicles after a key federal tax credit expired last month. There was no mention of the Cybertruck or the impact of tariffs on auto parts. Investors got no sign for how the fourth quarter is shaping up.
That all helps explain why the stock sank almost 4% in extended trading.
Rather than focus on sales, margins and earnings (which missed estimates), Musk took a familiar path, making bold promises and laying out his futuristic vision for the business. It starts with robotaxis, and Musk's view that skeptical investors and much of the public fail to see what's coming.
"People just don't don't quite appreciate the degree to which this will take off — where it's honestly — it's going to be like a shock wave," Musk said in his opening remarks. "We have millions of cars out there that, with a software update, become full self-driving cars and, you know, we're making a couple million a year."
Musk has for years promised that Tesla's EVs will be able to do work for their owners, making them money while they sleep by ferrying passengers or goods around without a driver. But while Alphabet's Waymo is aggressively entering new markets with its commercial robotaxi service, and Baidu's Apollo Go is taking off in China and elsewhere, Tesla is still limited to a few pilot projects.
During Tesla's prior earnings call in July, Musk predicted that the company would have autonomous ride hailing available to "probably half the population of The U.S. by the end of the year." The company still doesn't produce or sell cars that are safe to use without a human ready to steer or brake at all times.