Tesla earnings live — latest on EV sales, AutoPilot feature change, and more
Elon Musk expected to reveal latest earnings to investors
Tesla is expected to hold its Q4 earnings call later today at 5:30 p.m. ET (2:30 p.m. PT), which could shed light on the EV maker’s intentions to curb dwindling EV demand. It’s been a tough market of late, with Tesla reporting just last week that it’s no longer going to be offering its AutoPilot feature with new vehicles sold in the U.S. and Canada — choosing instead to put one key aspect of this feature behind a subscription paywall.
While things may have drastically changed since the federal EV tax credit expired last October, which enticed prospective EV shoppers with a $7,500 credit for new EVs, Tesla’s going to need to look at other avenues to remain competitive. One of them could lie in Tesla’s Energy division, but it remains to be seen whether it’s a viable option to sustain its growth.
Tesla Q4 2025 earnings: How to listen live
We’ll be live-blogging all the key announcements to come from Tesla’s Q4 2025 earnings call, but you can catch up with everything by listening to the livecast in real time. Once the Q&A session is over, an archive of the entire thing will be available online.
EV slump is forcing other car makers to look elsewhere
It doesn't help that EV prices remain prohibitively expensive for most shoppers to even consider. The current market slump is forcing automakers to radically rethink their strategies — and Ford is leading the retreat.
The Michigan-based company recently announced it would discontinue manufacturing the all-electric F-150 Lightning, pivoting instead to EREVs (Extended Range Electric Vehicles). This next-generation Lightning will utilize a gas engine as an onboard generator to power the electric motors, extending the vehicle's range to a staggering 700 miles.
While Ford pivots to this middle-ground technology, Tesla remains all-in on pure battery power, setting up a massive showdown for consumer preference in 2026.
Tesla Optimus bot could play a critical roll in the company's future
Tesla’s assembly lines could change dramatically in the coming years as the company's humanoid Optimus bot begins performing real-world factory tasks. Just last week, Elon Musk alluded to a future where "work is optional" and jobs are merely a hobby, driven by the rapid advancement of AI and robotics.
While the public has only seen the v2.5 prototypes, the upcoming Optimus V3 is already being hailed by insiders as a game-changer that could eventually eclipse Tesla's EV business entirely. The company could use its Q4 2025 earnings call today to shed more light on the production timeline for this next-generation bot.
Possible expansion of Robotaxi to other markets
You might not know it, but Tesla recently reached a major milestone by launching its unsupervised Robotaxi service in Austin, Texas. Passengers can now hail a Tesla Model Y through the app for a ride without a safety monitor behind the wheel. This shift to a truly driverless experience marks a turning point for the company, moving from human-supervised testing to fully autonomous trips.
Tesla is expected to use tonight's Q4 2025 earnings call to discuss expanding this unsupervised service to other major markets, which could further showcase the scale of its AI-driven ride-sharing network.
Heated competition, including affordable EVs
In just the last year alone, there's been a lot of competition around affordable EVs. For the longest time, the Tesla Model 3 has been heralded as the benchmark for its tech-forward features and low price point, but the landscape has shifted tremendously.
We've been able to test out a handful of the most affordable electric vehicles, including the 2026 Nissan Leaf that starts at $29,900. That puts the Tesla Model 3 at a disadvantage for those looking to spend as little possible to reap the long term savings of EVs. There's also the Chevrolet Equinox EV, a compact SUV that gets 315 miles of range and costs $35,995.
Subscription models could be the future
One of the biggest incentives of buying a Tesla EV is Autopilot, a feature that offers Level 2 partial automation when it comes to driving. This essentially acts to provide the necessary braking and acceleration while in cruise control, but it also keeps the vehicle centered in a lane.
Tesla announced last week that future Tesla electric cars won't have all of Autopilot by default. They'll come with the usual cruise control functions of braking and accelerating automatically, but getting the lane centering feature will now require them to pay $99 a month.
It does beg the question about profitability, as this could be seen as a new revenue stream for the EV maker.
Expired federal tax credit is a huge headache
Tesla's grasp on the EV market is fundamentally linked to the federal EV tax credit, which served as a primary incentive for shoppers to choose electric over traditional gas-powered vehicles. Now that it has expired, prospective buyers may be reluctant to pull the trigger on even the most affordable models, such as the Tesla Model 3.
Purchasing one today would cost you $36,990. For many, the $7,500 federal tax credit would have helped alleviate the financial burden of that price tag — but that safety net is gone.
Revenue growth last quarter
Interestingly, Tesla reported revenue growth with its Q3 2025 earnings report, recording a 12% year-over-year increase — but it came at a cost with dwindling margins from its electric vehicles. Despite this, the company did manage to deliver a record 497,099 vehicles for the third quarter alone. That's actually the highest quarterly total in the company's history.
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