Tesla(US:TSLA)2026-01-28 23:32Financial Data and Key Metrics Changes - In Q4 2025, automotive margins, excluding credits, improved sequentially from 15.4% to 17.9% despite a 16% decrease in deliveries [21] - Total gross margin ended the quarter at over 20.1%, a level not achieved in the last two years, despite lower fixed cost absorption and over $500 million in tariffs [24] - Net income was negatively impacted by a 23% depreciation in Bitcoin holdings and unfavorable foreign exchange effects [25] Business Line Data and Key Metrics Changes - Automotive gross profit remained flat sequentially despite lower deliveries, primarily due to a favorable regional mix with more deliveries in APAC and EMEA [21] - Energy segment achieved nearly $12.8 billion in revenue with a year-over-year growth of 26.6%, driven by high deployments of Megapack and Powerwall [22] - Services and others margin declined from 10.5% to 8.8% due to higher employee-related costs in service centers [23] Market Data and Key Metrics Changes - Record deliveries were noted in smaller countries like Malaysia, Norway, Poland, Saudi Arabia, and Taiwan, contributing to a larger backlog than in recent years [20] - The energy team reported strong growth rates and continued demand for energy products, indicating a robust market outlook [12] Company Strategy and Development Direction - The company is transitioning to a subscription-based model for Full Self-Driving (FSD), which is expected to impact automotive margins in the short term [21] - Significant investments are planned for 2026, with CapEx expected to exceed $20 billion, focusing on six factories and expanding production capacity [26][27] - The company aims to replace the Model S and X production lines with a factory for Optimus robots, targeting a production goal of 1 million units per year [7][14] Management's Comments on Operating Environment and Future Outlook - Management expressed optimism about the future, emphasizing a shift towards autonomy and the potential for universal high income driven by advancements in AI and robotics [2][4] - The company is cautious about the rollout of unsupervised FSD, ensuring safety while gradually increasing autonomy capabilities [54][55] - Management acknowledged the challenges posed by increased low-cost competition and policy uncertainties affecting margins in the energy sector [22] Other Important Information - The company is making substantial investments in AI chips and solar cell manufacturing, indicating a long-term strategic focus on these areas [5][13] - The transition to a fully autonomous vehicle market is expected to significantly alter the transportation landscape, with the Cybercab model designed specifically for this purpose [30][34] Q&A Session Summary Question: What is Tesla's view on the future global car sales and its impact on EV strategy? - Tesla believes that autonomy and Cybercab will significantly change the global market size and mix, with a focus on efficiency and manufacturing at scale [28][29] Question: Are there plans to launch new models for different price segments? - Tesla has launched its least expensive models recently and continues to expand globally, aiming to provide a premium ride experience with the Cybercab [34][35] Question: What is the current bottleneck for increasing robotaxi deployment? - The company is learning from the scaled robotaxi service and is focused on solving the unsupervised FSD problem while expanding the fleet size [41][42] Question: What are the constraints on memory procurement? - Tesla's AI is designed to be compute and memory efficient, and the company is confident in its ability to manage memory constraints in the near term [91][92]