Tesla's market value plummets by 500 billion yuan, and Musk's empty promises can't satisfy investors.

Musk loves to make grand promises, but when those promises become the focus of public attention, it's extremely difficult to deliver on them perfectly.

On October 22 local time, Tesla released its financial report for the third quarter of 2025. Its revenue increased by 12% year - on - year, ending a two - quarter decline and exceeding Wall Street's expectations. However, its net profit decreased by 37% year - on - year, falling short of expectations.

Both the revenue growth and the net profit contraction were anticipated in the pre - earnings reports from various parties. What the outside world, especially Tesla's investors, cared most about this time was Tesla's future - the promotion of Robotaxi across the United States, the mass - production progress of the self - driving taxi Cybercab and the Optimus humanoid robot, and the implementation progress of the Full Self - Driving system (FSD).

During the earnings conference call, these questions were all mentioned, but Musk's answers were rather vague.

For example, regarding Robotaxi, Musk said that it is expected to cover half of the U.S. population by the end of this year, which was also mentioned in the previous earnings conference. Another example is that the Cybercab will go into production in the second quarter of next year (2026), and the 2026 production timeline was given as early as the official images of the model were exposed the year before last. As for the Optimus humanoid robot, Musk said that the V3 "might" be released in the first quarter and highly praised it as being like a person in a robot suit.

As for FSD, Tesla CFO Vaibhav Taneja only stated that Tesla is working with regulatory authorities in China, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa to get FSD approved.

During the entire conference call, the most confident and enthusiastic moment for Musk was when he mentioned the "trillion - dollar compensation" controversy. On November 6, Tesla's shareholders' meeting will vote on Musk's one - trillion - dollar compensation plan. During the conference call, Musk angrily called two companies with critical views "corporate terrorists".

This conference call failed to satisfy the market.

After - hours trading of Tesla's stock once fell nearly 5%. Based on the closing market value of $1.46 trillion that day, Tesla's market value plummeted by nearly $73 billion (about 520 billion yuan) in one day.

Musk's half - baked promises couldn't prevent Tesla from losing nearly 500 billion yuan in value.

A

Let's first take a look at Tesla's specific performance in the third quarter.

Tesla's total revenue in the third quarter of 2025 was very impressive, reaching a record $28.095 billion, a significant 12% increase year - on - year.

The revenue growth was within analysts' expectations, but the growth rate slightly exceeded expectations. The expiration of the U.S. federal electric vehicle tax credit policy on September 30 drove Tesla to achieve its highest - ever quarterly delivery volume due to the "last - chance" effect.

In the delivery report released on the 2nd of this month, Tesla said that it delivered 497,000 vehicles in the quarter ending in September, a 7.4% increase year - on - year, far exceeding the market's expected 456,000 vehicles.

It's worth noting that Tesla's revenue is no longer solely contributed by the automotive business. Its energy business, charging business, and other services are also becoming increasingly important. Looking specifically at the automotive industry, Tesla's automotive revenue was $21.2 billion (a 6% increase year - on - year).

However, on the other hand, Tesla's revenue growth has a fragile side.

In the third quarter, Tesla's net profit was $1.37 billion, compared with $2.17 billion in the same period last year, a 37% year - on - year decrease.

On the one hand, the strong sales of Tesla were driven by price cuts, which squeezed profit margins. On the other hand, operating expenses also increased. Tesla said that this part increased by 50%, mostly related to AI and "other R & D projects".

In addition, the reasons for this phenomenon also include rising operating expenses, rising tariffs, an increase in the average cost per vehicle ("due to the lower fixed - cost coverage of certain models"), and relatively low revenue from carbon dioxide emission credit sales. From July to September, the revenue from carbon dioxide emission credit sales was "only" $417 million, while in previous quarters, this reliable income was sometimes even twice this amount.

It's worth noting that although the overall revenue increased, the situation in some regions is not optimistic. Due to Musk's increasingly intense political stances and remarks, as well as competition from rivals like BYD, Tesla's sales in the European market have continued to decline.

All in all, although Tesla returned to the growth track in the second quarter, the sustainability of this growth is a question.

Behind the impressive achievement of delivering 497,000 vehicles in a quarter, it can be seen that the vast majority (as before) were two mid - range models, the Model Y and Model 3. The total delivery volume of other model series, namely the Model S, Model X, and Cyber Truck, was less than 16,000 vehicles. Their economic significance remains negligible.

One of the measures Tesla took at the beginning of October was to launch the "Stripped - down Standard Version" of the Model Y and Model 3 sedans in North America. In fact, it can be understood as a "stripped - down version" - rear - wheel drive, smaller - capacity batteries, and lower - power motors, with some comfort features removed, priced at $39,999 and $36,990 respectively. In the European market, the standard version of the Model Y has been launched on the market websites of Norway, Germany, and Sweden and will be officially launched in November and December this year, with a price $5,000 lower than the previous cheapest price.

The "standard version" is an initiative by Tesla to further respond to market competition, but its effectiveness remains to be tested. At present, the situation is not optimistic. After the release of the North American "standard version", Tesla's stock price immediately fell by 4%. Consumers believe that the price is disappointing compared to the extent of the stripped - down features.

Farhan Badami, a market analyst at eToro, said: "The increase in cash flow was the saving grace this quarter... It provides some breathing room but does not solve the structural problems," he said. "Despite the increase in sales, Tesla's core automotive business is deteriorating. The company is selling more cars at lower profit margins, depleting inventory, and relying on a one - time surge in demand driven by tax credits."

B

"We are at a critical turning point for Tesla." During the conference call, Musk set the tone like this.

In September this year, Tesla released the "Fourth Chapter of the Master Plan", clearly stating that the company's business focus has shifted from electric vehicles and energy to artificial intelligence and robotics.

Musk has always emphasized that Tesla is more like an artificial intelligence company rather than a traditional automobile manufacturer. He has pointed out many times that humanoid robots and self - driving cars are the keys to Tesla's future growth.

With the release of this financial report, such a shift in focus has become even more obvious.

During the conference call, when talking about the growing potential of self - driving cars, Musk said: "For a car, it might be a bit too intelligent. I really wonder how much intelligence a car should have? It might actually get bored."

Musk also said that the next - generation AI5 chip will be produced by the end of 2026 and announced a $16.5 billion agreement to purchase AI6 chips from Samsung Electronics.

"The future" is indeed what investors care about most, and among them, the Robotaxi self - driving taxi project is the most eye - catching.

In July, Tesla launched the Robotaxi self - driving taxi service in Austin, Texas.

But so far, Robotaxi rides are still provided by Model Y cars supervised by safety drivers. Tesla has obtained operating licenses in California, Nevada, and Arizona and plans to further expand to other cities across the United States.

This time, Tesla still failed to provide a more detailed timeline, and everything still depends on the regulators.

During the conference call, Musk tried to give investors some confidence and released two pieces of information. First, he said that by the end of 2025, "at least most areas" of Austin will no longer have safety drivers in the cars, which is rather vague. Second, he said that by the end of the year, self - driving taxis will be operating in 8 - 10 major metropolitan areas, depending on "approvals from various regulatory authorities".

Reuters pointed out that this number will still exceed that of Waymo, the leader in self - driving taxis in the United States, which currently operates in five major metropolitan areas: Phoenix, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Austin, and Atlanta.

Since launching its first test service in Phoenix in 2017, it took Waymo more than eight years to reach this point.

In addition, Musk mentioned again that the service will be launched in California, Nevada, and Arizona this year, but this is not new news.

Besides Robotaxi, the Optimus humanoid robot is also a "star of the future" for Tesla and has attracted much attention.

During this earnings conference, Musk said: "We do have Optimus robots at our engineering headquarters in Palo Alto, California. They basically walk around our office 24 hours a day, seven days a week." He said that any visitor can come and ask an Optimus robot to take them somewhere, and it will take them to a meeting room or other office locations.

But the timeline for Optimus also seems very vague.

Musk said that with Optimus, Tesla "is on the verge of achieving something truly great". He said that Tesla is very happy to release Optimus V3, "possibly in the first quarter".

He described the V3 as not even "looking like a robot" but more like a human in a robot suit.

As for the mass production of Optimus, Musk said that a mass - production prototype might be shown in February or March next year, and a production line with a capacity of one million Optimus robots will be built, with mass production starting before the end of the year.

On the one hand, Musk said that Tesla has "the elements of real - world artificial intelligence and excellent electrical and mechanical engineering capabilities" and has the ability to scale up the production of Optimus.

But on the other hand, Musk also repeatedly emphasized the difficulties involved.

He said that manufacturing is a key challenge because there is no supply chain for humanoid robots. In particular, manufacturing a humanoid robotic hand as capable as a human hand is a "daunting engineering challenge".

All in all, Musk has made his promises, and Tesla will work hard on the humanoid robot project, but don't think it's easy.

Whether it's the Robotaxi project that "depends on the regulators" or the Optimus project that is "being worked on but is difficult", Musk seems to have left some leeway in his words. And these half - baked promises failed to meet the outside world's expectations. As the conference call progressed, Tesla's after - hours stock price continued to fall.

C

In Tesla's financial report and conference call this time, some issues that should have been discussed in detail were downplayed, while some issues unexpectedly received a strong response from Musk.

The issue of the Chinese market was downplayed.

During the entire conference call, China was only mentioned twice. Once, when talking about the strong growth in delivery volume, CFO Taneja gave an example by region, saying that the quarter - on - quarter growth in Greater China and the Asia - Pacific region was 33%.

The other time was when talking about FSD. Taneja said that some of Tesla's products are designed for FSD, which is also "an underestimated aspect of the current vehicle products": "We believe that as people experience regulated fully self - driving cars (FSD) on a large scale, as Elon said, the demand for our vehicles will increase significantly. We have continuously seen good progress in the popularization of FSD."

Furthermore, Taneja revealed that Tesla is working with regulatory authorities in China, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa to obtain approval to deploy FSD in these regions.

Compared with some previous financial report release points, this time Tesla almost bypassed the issue of Tesla's performance and prospects in the Chinese market. In contrast, when Tesla released its fourth - quarter financial report for 2024 in January this year, the word "China" was mentioned nearly 10 times during the conference call, and a detailed discussion was held on how Tesla uses Chinese street videos for FSD training.

According to preliminary statistics released by the China Passenger Car Association, Tesla's Shanghai factory delivered 90,812 vehicles in September, a 2.8% year - on - year increase, ending a two - month decline. This upward trend coincided with the launch and delivery of the six - seat Model Y L.

Next, the launch of the "stripped - down and price - cut version" in China is also being planned. 36Kr Auto reported on October 14 that Tesla China is promoting two new car projects, with internal codes E41 and D50, which are the stripped - down versions of the current Model Y and Model 3 respectively. Another report from National Business Daily said that based on the price - cut ratio of the North American models, the price of the domestic "affordable" Model 3 will be about 200,000 yuan, and the price of the domestic "affordable" Model Y will drop to about 235,000 yuan.

In this way, the "stripped - down version" of Tesla models will fall into the 200,000 - 250,000 - yuan competition range for pure - electric vehicles, which is already crowded with domestic manufacturers. The ability of Tesla to compete for customers in this lower - end market remains a question mark.

Whether it's the present or the future, there are too few definite good news and too many unstable factors. In this regard, it may be wise to downplay the issue of the Chinese market during the earnings conference.

When it comes to Tesla's future, there is one point that Musk can hardly avoid after the release of this financial report, and that is the "trillion - dollar compensation" controversy.

On September 5, Tesla officially announced a "CEO Performance Incentive" plan for Musk. According to the plan, if all the goals are achieved, Musk's shareholding ratio in Tesla will rise to 25%, and his total compensation will exceed $900 billion in the form of Tesla stocks.

Two major institutions, ISS and Glass Lewis, jointly recommended rejecting the plan, believing that its terms pose a "serious risk of equity dilution" (which may lead to an increase of more than 10% in Tesla's outstanding shares). Although a similar opposition failed in 2018, Tesla has launched a social media counter - attack before this shareholders' vote.

A coalition of unions and corporate watchdog groups launched the "Take Back Tesla" website, calling on investors to oppose the compensation plan at the shareholders' meeting on November 6.

Facing the opposition, Musk also fought back. He not only made statements on X multiple times but also placed Tesla advertisements. Some of these advertisements did not promote Tesla products but instead solicited votes and called for the approval of the compensation plan, saying that "the future of Tesla is in your hands".

Near the end of this earnings conference call, the "trillion - dollar compensation" controversy was indeed asked about, and a dramatic scene followed. When