Tesla released its first-quarter 2026 financial results after the bell on Wednesday, April 22, reporting numbers that were close to Wall Street expectations as the company remains in a pitched battle with Chinese electric vehicle maker BYD.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk told investors on a live call that Tesla is going to be “substantially increasing capital investments” in anticipation of a big increase in production. He said the company would focus on improving its “core technologies” — battery, powertrain, AI software and training, chip design — and on laying the groundwork for significantly increased manufacturing output.
“You should expect to see a very significant increase in capital expenditures, but I think well justified for a substantially increased future revenue stream,” Musk said. “Obviously, Tesla’s certainly not alone in this. I think you’ve seen most, if not certainly the major technology companies are substantially increasing their capital investments, and we’re going to be doing the same. I think it’s going to pay off in a very big way.”
Tesla was overtaken by BYD in late 2025, but the Texas-based company bested its Chinese rival in the first quarter of 2026 with sales of 336,681 cars, compared to 310,389 EVs reportedly sold by BYD. The latest earnings figures also come as Tesla has announced major moves like ending production of its Model S and Model X vehicles to build more robots and expanding its Robotaxi service to additional Texas cities.
1. Where Did Tesla’s Earnings Land?
Tesla reported $22.39 billion in revenues and adjusted earnings per share of $0.41 in the first three months of 2026 — nearly identical to analyst projections of $22.34 billion in revenue and adjusted EPS of $0.36.
Tesla experienced a revenue decline earlier in 2025 while Musk led the Department of Government Efficiency alongside President Donald Trump. During last April’s earnings call, Musk announced he would allocate significantly less time to DOGE. He officially left the Trump administration in May 2025.
“I don’t think so,” Musk admitted when asked if he would repeat the DOGE experience, during a December appearance on “The Katie Miller Podcast.” “Instead of doing DOGE, I would’ve basically worked on my companies, essentially,” he said.
On April 2, Tesla said it had produced over 362,615 vehicles and delivered over 336,681 cars, which fell slightly below most Wall Street estimates.
2. Where Is Tesla Planning to Expand Its Robotaxi Service?
Tesla plans to expand its Robotaxi service to “a dozen or so states” by the end of the year, Musk told investors on the April 22 call.
“We’re taking a very cautious approach to the rollout here,” Musk said. “We have had no injuries and certainly no fatalities to date with the unsupervised FSD and robotaxi expansion. We want to keep it that way.”
Musk added: “I think probably unsupervised FSD or robotaxi revenue will not be super material this year. But I do think it will be material — probably in a significant way — next year.”
Tesla had already announced the expansion of its Robotaxi service to Dallas and Houston ahead of the earnings call.
3. When Will Tesla Ramp Up Its Cybercab and Semitruck Production?
Tesla has said it plans to begin mass production of the Cybercab in April 2026. Musk told investors “we have just started production of Cybercab and we’ll begin production of our semitruck soon.”
“Whenever we have a new product, with a clearly new supply chain, new everything, it’s always a stretched-out S curve,” he said. “So you should expect that initial production of Cybercab and semi will be very slow, but then ramping up and going kind of exponential towards the end of the year and certainly next year.”
4. When Will Elon Musk Unveil the Optimus 3 Robot?
Musk announced in January that Tesla plans to convert part of its Fremont, Calif. factory — currently used to build the Model S and X — into an Optimus robot assembly line. He reiterated on the April 22 call that the transition is underway.
“We’re preparing Fremont for the start of production later this year with Optimus,” Musk told investors. “Again, totally new supply chain, totally new technology — the production S curve is always very slow in the beginning, but we’ll ramp up to significant numbers next year.”
Tesla is also constructing a second Optimus factory at its Austin, Texas, location, which Musk said “will probably start production around summer next year.”
On timing for revealing the latest model, Musk explained why Tesla is keeping details under wraps: “When we have unveiled previous Optimus versions, our competitors literally do a frame-by-frame analysis and copy everything we’re doing. We want to push the Optimus 3 unveil maybe closer to production — summer production, we’re assuming, is somewhere around the late July, early August timeframe.”
5. How Long Will Tesla’s Model S and Model X Still Be Available?
Tesla has ended production of its Model S luxury sedan and Model X luxury SUV in favor of building robots, Musk confirmed on the earnings call.
“The last S/X production will be in early May,” he said. He also defended the speed of the Fremont plant conversion: “You start dismantling a line from the small parts first, not from the final assembly first. So frankly if we’re able to go from stopping production on one line, dismantling that entire line, reinstalling a new line, and then turning that on in four months — that is an insanely fast speed.”
