Tesla profits slumped 45 per cent in the second quarter as the world’s largest electric vehicle maker faced slower sales, soaring costs from employee lay-offs and ever-greater investments in its artificial intelligence infrastructure.
Elon Musk, Tesla’s billionaire chief executive, also used the company’s quarterly earnings announcement on Tuesday to officially postpone the planned unveiling of Tesla’s first “robotaxis” — a fleet of self-driving taxis.
Despite the two-month delay from August to October, Musk claimed the project to turn all Tesla vehicles into a “giant autonomous fleet” could take the company’s valuation as high as $5tn — about six times its current market value.