Tesla has a message for Americans: If you want our cars, buy them now.
On Wednesday’s earnings call, Tesla’s chief financial officer, Vaibhav Taneja, said that President Donald Trump’s tax law could affect the availability of its cars. One of the law’s changes is the removal of the $7,500 EV credit by the end of the quarter.
“Given the abrupt change, we have limited supply of vehicles in the US this quarter,” Taneja said. “If you are in the US and looking to buy a car, place your order now as we may not be able to guarantee delivery orders placed in the later part of August and beyond.”
Earlier this month, the House passed the final version of the bill, which extends the president’s 2017 tax cuts and makes key changes to the tax system. The law also ends the $7,500 EV tax credit awarded to buyers on September 30, which analysts saw as a win for smaller rivals such as Lucid and Rivian, who are less dependent on the credit.
The Tesla CFO said that the company would start “paring” back planned incentives as cars start to sell.
After the tax law was passed, Tesla began offering perks such as free supercharging on select models, a one-month free trial of Full Self‑Driving, and a $1,000 discount for “American heroes” like military members, teachers, and first responders.
Tesla said it delivered over 384,000 vehicles in the quarter that ended in June.
On the call, CEO Elon Musk said Tesla is in a “weird transition period” as it navigates the expiration of incentives and the wider regulatory environment for autonomous vehicles.
The Trump administration’s tariffs are also raising costs for the automaker, the CFO said.
“While we are doing our best to manage these impacts, we are in an unpredictable environment on the tariff front,” Taneja said. He estimated that the cost of the tariffs increased by around $300 million this quarter.
On Wednesday, the EV giant reported second-quarter revenue of $22.5 billion, compared to expectations of $22.64 billion — its sharpest quarterly revenue decline in at least the last 10 years.
It reported earnings per share, a key measure of profitability, were 40 cents, compared to Wall Street’s estimates of 42 cents.
Tesla’s stock fell over 4% after hours on Wednesday. It is down 17.6% so far this year.
Read the full article here
