Tesla's profits plunged 16% over a three-month stretch ending in June. Analysts discuss CEO Elon Musk's role in this dip.

Elon Musk’s electric vehicle maker posted the worst quarterly sales decline in more than a decade and profit that missed Wall Street targets, but its profit margin on making cars was better than many feared. Tesla shares were down 2.6% in after-hours trading.

Tesla revenue dropped 12%, and profits slumped 16% in the three months through June as buyers continued to steer clear, and in some cases, turn to more affordable competitors' offerings.

Elon Musk’s pitch to investors is the EV unit sales are not the primary way to measure Tesla’s (NASDAQ: TSLA) future success. The reason to own Tesla’s stock is that it will dominate the autonomous driving sector,

Elon Musk's electric vehicle company Tesla delivered 13% fewer cars in the second quarter of 2025 compared to a year earlier.

Elon Musk, chief executive officer of Tesla Inc., departs from court for the SolarCity trial in Wilmington, Delaware, U.S., on Monday, July 12, 2021. Al Drago/Bloomberg/Getty Images

Tesla’s boss handed Samsung Electronics a contract worth $16.5bn over eight years to produce the electric-car maker’s next generation of custom artificial intelligence chips, the biggest deal ever secured by the South Korean group from a single customer.