Despite Tesla's performance "collapsing" and Robotaxi "skipping tickets", Tesla CEO Elon Musk still released multiple key information points to the public.
On July 24th Beijing time, Tesla released its Q2 2024 financial report. The report shows that Tesla's net profit attributable to shareholders in the second quarter was only $1.48 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 45%. Meanwhile, its Robotaxi launch event will be postponed to October 10th, two months later than originally planned.
However, Musk also revealed on the conference call that FSD (Tesla Fully auto drive system) may be licensed in China by the end of this year, and its humanoid robot Optimus is expected to be mass produced and delivered in 2026.
The gross profit margin of automobiles continues to decline
According to financial report data, Tesla achieved a revenue of $25.5 billion in the second quarter of this year, an increase of 2.3% compared to the same period last year, exceeding market expectations. Looking at this data alone, Tesla's performance is decent.
In terms of segmentation, Tesla achieved revenue of $890 million in the second quarter through the sale of carbon credits, more than doubling year-on-year; And the revenue from energy generation and storage business was 3.01 billion US dollars, doubling year-on-year; After sales, used car, car insurance and other service revenue also increased by 21%.
But the most core car sales business achieved a revenue of 18.53 billion US dollars, a year-on-year decrease of 9.3%. In terms of vehicle delivery, Tesla delivered a total of 444000 vehicles worldwide in the second quarter of this year, a decrease of 22000 vehicles compared to the same period last year.
What attracts more market attention is the change in Tesla's gross profit margin. Tesla's overall gross profit margin for the second quarter was 18%, although slightly lower than the level of nearly 30% in previous years, it has increased compared to the past three quarters.
However, the gross profit margin of Tesla's automotive business is worrying. The gross profit margin of automobile sales in the second quarter has fallen to 13.9%, the lowest in history. In the fourth quarter of last year and the first quarter of this year, Tesla's gross profit margin for car sales was 16.6% and 15.6%, respectively.
Tesla's vehicle gross profit margin has significantly declined, which will ultimately be reflected in profitability. In the second quarter, Tesla's operating profit was 1.61 billion US dollars, a year-on-year decrease of 790 million US dollars; Net profit was 1.48 billion US dollars, a decrease of 1.23 billion US dollars, with a decline of up to 45%. After the release of the financial report, Tesla's after hours stock price plummeted by over 10%.
In fact, the pressure on Tesla vehicle sales is visible to the naked eye, especially in the two major markets of China and the United States. In the first half of 2024, Tesla's sales in the United States decreased by 9.6% year-on-year. And in the second quarter of this year, Tesla's market share in the US electric vehicle market fell below 50% for the first time.
In the Chinese market, according to data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, Tesla's wholesale sales in China were 426600 units in the first half of 2024, a year-on-year decrease of 10.5%. In order to boost sales, Tesla launched a five-year interest free financial policy in July and announced that it will continue until August 31st.
FSD will be approved by the end of the year or in China
During the earnings conference call, Musk also revealed many information that the market is concerned about. Previously, it was widely expected in the industry that the next winners or losers for Tesla's comeback would be Robotaxi and FSD.
However, in terms of the launch time of Robotaxi, Tesla had no choice but to "skip the ticket". Musk revealed that Robotaxi is scheduled to be released on October 10th.
Previously, Musk had posted on his personal social media platform that Tesla Robotaxi would be launched on August 8th. He explained that the reason for the delayed release of the car was his request for changes to the vehicle design. It will definitely achieve autonomous driving by the end of this year at the earliest, and by next year at the latest.
However, in terms of FSD, Musk has provided a "timetable" for the first time. It has always been a concern when FSD can be implemented in China. Musk revealed that Tesla may obtain FSD licenses in other markets, such as Europe and China, by the end of this year.
Recently, there have been continuous reports of Tesla FSD entering China. On June 3rd, Baidu Maps officially released a video of Tesla testing the V20 version, announcing that "Baidu Maps lane level navigation will soon be launched on Tesla".
After entering July, there were reports that the Shanghai Lingang New Area is promoting the pilot landing of Tesla FSD, involving 10 Tesla vehicles that will undergo road tests in Shanghai. In the industry's view, the entry of Tesla FSD into the Chinese market has reached a critical moment.
In the second quarter of this year, Tesla released a new version of its FSD (Supervised Edition) that mainly relies on eye tracking software to monitor the driver's attention. At the same time, emphasis was also placed on reducing intervention and improving driver comfort.
Optimus 2026 mass production delivery
In addition, in the field of humanoid robots, Musk also provided a timeline. He stated that the second-generation humanoid robot Optimus is already handling battery tasks in factories, and it is expected that thousands of Optimus will perform tasks at Tesla factories by the end of next year, and then increase production in 2026 to begin deliveries to external customers.
At the 2024 shareholders' meeting, Tesla showcased the latest progress of Optimus in terms of control and execution capabilities. The Optimus in the video walks smoothly, can flexibly grasp and drop objects, and its movements and controls are closer to those of humans, demonstrating a higher level of intelligence.
For the current Tesla, Optimus robots are not only a showcase for technological innovation, but also an important part of future business models. Musk expects that Optimus will significantly improve the production efficiency of Tesla factories in the future and is expected to occupy a place in the global labor market.
Musk boldly predicted at the 2024 shareholder meeting that the ratio of humanoid robots to humans in the future will exceed 1:1, and even reach an astonishing 2:1 ratio, indicating that the global humanoid robot market will have a huge capacity of 10 billion to 20 billion units, with an annual output of up to 1 billion units.
The industry expects that if Tesla can occupy 10% of the market share, its annual production will reach 100 million Optimus units, and the cost of a single robot is expected to be controlled at around $10000. Calculated at a price of $20000, Tesla is expected to achieve a profit margin of $1 trillion per year.
