Tesla revenue climbs 26% while quarterly profit slips
Tesla reported $28.2 billion in quarterly revenue and $1.11 billion in net income, pairing stronger deliveries with weaker profit than a year earlier.
By Maya Lindqvist · Senior Technology Correspondent
3 min read
Tesla’s revenue rose sharply in the second quarter of 2026, but its profit fell from a year earlier, according to results the company released for the period ended June 30. The figures point to a rebound in vehicle sales while pressure remains on earnings and margins.
Tesla said it generated $28.2 billion in revenue and $1.11 billion in net income during the quarter. In the same period of 2025, the company reported $22.5 billion in revenue and $1.17 billion in net income, making this year’s revenue 26 percent higher while profit was down by about 5 percent.
The company also outperformed Wall Street revenue expectations, which The Verge reported were about $26.4 billion. Tesla’s delivery numbers had already signaled stronger demand: the company said it delivered 480,126 vehicles in the quarter, roughly 25 percent more than in the second quarter of 2025.
The Verge reported that deliveries are a key sales indicator for Tesla because the company sells directly to customers. The publication also reported that Tesla has been trying to recover after two years marked by weaker demand, lower sales and damage to the brand tied to Elon Musk’s political activity.
Margins remain a key measure
Tesla said its automotive gross margin, excluding revenue from regulatory credits, was 16.3 percent in the quarter. That was above the 15 percent margin Tesla reported in the second quarter of 2025, but below the 19.2 percent margin it posted in the first quarter of 2026.
The Verge reported that automotive gross margin remains closely watched because it helps fund Tesla’s spending on artificial intelligence, autonomous driving and robotics. The same margin also gives Tesla more room to cut vehicle prices when demand weakens.
Regulatory-credit revenue is also set to become less relevant, according to The Verge, after the Trump administration eliminated penalties for automakers that exceed emissions standards. Tesla’s margin figure excluding those credits offers a cleaner look at the profitability of its car business.
Robotaxi plans still face questions
Musk has said he wants to remake Tesla into a leader in artificial intelligence and robotics, The Verge reported, though the company’s latest results still show the car business driving its finances. Tesla’s autonomous-vehicle work remains under scrutiny as the company expands robotaxi service more slowly than Musk had forecast.
The Verge reported that Musk previously predicted Tesla’s robotaxi service would cover 50 percent of the U.S. population by the end of 2025. The company has recently started robotaxi operations in Orlando and Tampa, Florida, but The Verge cited a crowdsourced tracker showing only a small number of vehicles available.
Tesla has also released a Full Self-Driving update called v14 Lite, which The Verge reported adds personalized driving preference learning for individual vehicles. Separately, Electrek reported that crashes involving Tesla drivers using Autopilot and Full Self-Driving reached 207 in May 2026.
This story draws on original reporting from The Verge.