- Tesla delivered 480,000 vehicles in this year’s second quarter, beating Wall Street expectations.
- However, shares were trading 6% lower on Thursday.
- This was the EV maker’s best second quarter in terms of raw delivery numbers
Tesla's stock dropped over 6% on Thursday despite the Elon Musk-owned EV maker reporting a strong sales jump in the second quarter, beating Wall Street expectations.
Shares of the company were trading 6.72% lower on Nasdaq at $396.73 as of 11:32 AM ET.
Tesla delivered 480,000 vehicles in this year's second quarter, a jump of over 120,000 from the previous quarter, TechCrunch reported. The increase indicates the firm is still attracting new buyers for its electric vehicles despite a downturn in the US market.
Analysts were expecting around 406,600 deliveries, as per StreetAccount's consensus. Tesla's total Q2 production was 451,758.
Of the total vehicles it manufactured, 442,936 were Model 3 sedans and Model Y SUVs, Tesla said. It delivered 467,762 of those vehicles and the remaining 12,364 were “other models” such as the Cybertruck and the final-production Model X SUVs.
This was the company's best second quarter in terms of raw delivery numbers. Tesla had earlier shipped just almost 500,000 vehicles in the third quarter of 2025. The soaring gas prices after the start of the war between the US and Iran provided a boost to Tesla's sales over the past few months, CNBC reported.
The fall in the stock price indicates how investors have changed the way they view Tesla's production figures, Eastern Herald reported. For investors what matters is whether the EV maker can ship vehicles without compressing the per-vehicle economics that once made it the most profitable automaker globally. The company's earnings report will be vital in proving that.
Production was almost 28,000 units lower than deliveries, indicating that Tesla drew down existing inventory to reach the sales figures rather than build stock for future quarters. The gap complicates the narrative the EV maker is trying to establish about recovery in demand.
Tesla had earlier faced consecutive annual declines in vehicle sales partly due to a consumer backlash against Musk, as well as by the loss of a federal tax credit in the US. The figures could prove that the worst of the backlash against Musk is now a thing of the past.
The firm also faced stiff competition from cheap models by Chinese automakers like BYD, Nio and Xiaomi.
The figures suggest Tesla's auto business could provide the spending cushion needed to achieve its ambitions in artificial intelligence and autonomous driving.
Tesla could spend more than $25 billion on capital expenditure in 2026, as per The Guardian. The amount is almost triple the $8.5 billion it used last year. The main focus of the firm would be to expand AI infrastructure, Cybercab manufacturing, battery production and Optimus robots.
