Tesla released its first-quarter 2026 financial results after the bell on Wednesday, April 22, which were close to Wall Street expectations, as the company remains in a tough battle with Chinese electric vehicle maker BYD.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk told investors on a live call that Tesla is going to “significantly increase capital investment” in hopes of a big increase in production. He said the company will focus on improving its “core technologies” – batteries, powertrains, AI software and training, chip design – and laying the groundwork for a significant increase in manufacturing output.
“You should expect to see a very significant increase in capital spending, but I think a significant increase in revenue flow in the future is reasonable,” Musk said. “Obviously, Tesla is certainly not alone in this. I think you’ve seen most, if not certainly all, major technology companies are significantly increasing their capital investments, and we’re going to do the same. I think it’s going to have a very massive benefit.”
Tesla was overtaken by BYD in late 2025, but the Texas-based company overtook its Chinese rival in the first quarter of 2026 with sales of 336,681 cars, while 310,389 EVs were reportedly sold by BYD. The latest earnings figures also come as Tesla has announced major moves such as ending production of its Model S and Model
1. Where did Tesla’s earnings reach?
Tesla reported revenue of $22.39 billion and adjusted earnings of $0.41 per share in the first three months of 2026 – roughly the same as analyst estimates of revenue of $22.34 billion and adjusted EPS of $0.36.
Tesla experienced a decline in revenue as early as 2025, while Musk headed the government efficiency department with President Donald Trump. During last April’s earnings call, Musk announced that he would be allocating significantly less time to DOGE. He officially left the Trump administration in May 2025.
When Musk was asked during a December appearance on “The Katie Miller Podcast” whether he would repeat the DOGE experience, he admitted, “I don’t think so.” “Instead of doing DOGE, I basically would have worked on my own companies,” he said.
On April 2, Tesla said it had produced more than 362,615 vehicles and delivered more than 336,681 cars, 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 more states” by the end of the year, Musk told investors on April 22.
“We’re taking a very cautious approach to the rollout here,” Musk said. “To date we have had no injuries and certainly no deaths from unsupervised FSD and robotaxi expansion. We want to keep it that way.”
Musk said: “I think maybe unsupervised FSD or robotaxi revenue won’t be super material this year. But I think it will be material next year – probably in a significant way.”
Tesla had already announced plans to expand 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. “We just started production of the CyberCab and we will soon start production of our semitruck,” Musk told investors.
“Whenever we have a new product, obviously new supply chain, new everything, it’s always a stretched S curve,” he said. “So you should expect initial production of the Cybercab and Semi to be very slow, but then to ramp up rapidly by the end of the year and certainly into next year.”
4. When will Elon Musk unveil the Optimus 3 robot?
Musk announced in January that Tesla planned to convert a portion of its Fremont, California factory — which is currently used to build the Model S and X — into an Optimus robot assembly line. He reiterated on the April 22 call that change is underway.
“We are preparing Fremont to begin production with Optimus later this year,” Musk told investors. “Again, completely new supply chain, completely new technology – the production S curve is always very slow at the beginning, but we will ramp up to significant numbers next year.”
Tesla is also building a second Optimus factory at its Austin, Texas location, which Musk said will “probably start production around summer next year.”
At the time of revealing the latest model, Musk explained why Tesla is keeping details under wraps: “When we’ve unveiled previous Optimus versions, our competitors literally do a frame-by-frame analysis and copy everything we’re doing. We want to get the unveiling of Optimus 3 probably closer to production – summer production, we’re assuming, is around the late July or early August time frame.”
5. How long will Tesla’s Model S and Model
Tesla has stopped production of its Model S luxury sedan and Model X luxury SUV in favor of building robots, Musk confirmed on an earnings call.
“Final S/X production will take place in early May,” he said. He also defended the speed of the Fremont plant conversion: “You start dismantling a line with small parts first, not final assembly first. So clearly if we’re able to stop production on one line, knock out that entire line, reinstall a new line, and then get it up and running in four months – that’s an extremely fast pace.”