Turbulent Tesla

New York, United States (AFP) — Tesla reported lower than expected profits Wednesday but confirmed key 2025 benchmarks, saying it will return to sales volume growth and move forward with fully autonomous driving.

The results — the first since the return of Tesla CEO Elon Musk's ally Donald Trump to the White House — capped a mixed year for Tesla in which Musk's big bet on US electoral politics was countered by profit pressures as Tesla's streak of annual car volume growth came to an end.

The electric car company reported fourth-quarter profits of $2.3 billion, down 71 percent from the year-ago quarter, where profits were boosted by a one-time tax benefit.

Revenues rose two percent to $25.7 billion, also missing analyst estimates, but reflecting a more than doubling of sales in energy generation and storage.

Musk has sought to temper expectations about Tesla's near-term financial growth, while employing superlatives in touting Tesla's autonomous driving and robotic ventures, saying they could make Tesla "the most valuable company in the world by far," worth more than the "next five companies combined."

Musk, who spent some $270 million or more to help Trump win the White House, largely steered clear of political subjects during the 65-minute conference call.

The company has been confronted by intensifying EV competition in leading markets, including China and the United States, where General Motors and Ford have introduced more models.

Another factor has been lower sales than expected from the Cybertruck, Musk's futuristic auto giant that has won cheers from Tesla fans and jeers from critics.

But Tesla expects growth in 2025, saying in its earnings release that "with the advancements in vehicle autonomy and the introduction of new products, we expect the vehicle business to return to growth in 2025."

The company confirmed plans to unveil new, more affordable vehicles in 2025 and said its launch of a new robotaxi venture in parts of the United States was on track to begin this year.

Full autonomy soon?

Tesla named its driver-assistance programs "autopilot" and "full self-driving" (FSD), even though the programs require the driver to maintain attention, while rival robotaxi venture Waymo has achieved full driverless functionality in three US cities so far.

Musk has repeatedly missed earlier targets towards full autonomy, quipping during Wednesday that he was like the boy who cried wolf.

"But I'm telling you, there's a damn wolf this time, and you can drive it," Musk said. "In fact, it can drive you. It's a self-driving wolf."

Musk said he intends to launch FSD as a paid service in Austin, Texas this year, where the company also plans to introduce robotaxi services.

"Teslas will be in the wild," he said, describing a gradual expansion of service once the company can demonstrate its autonomous service is "unequivocally safer" than a human driver.

Musk did not directly comment on how his alliance with Trump will affect Tesla.

The billionaire's widening influence and activism on behalf of far-right political movements has drawn rising attention and blowback. Polling data released Wednesday by YouGov showed Musk with a 44 percent favorable public opinion compared with a 48 percent negative.

That's a worse ratio than Trump, who came in at three points net-positive, according to YouGov.

A coalition that includes a public workers union has filed a lawsuit to block Musk's Department of Government Efficiency, arguing the panel flouts federal laws and is "beset" by the conflicts of interest of an extremist "libertarian billionaire class."

And only days after being criticized for a hand gesture at Trump's inauguration that resembled a Nazi salute, Musk drew scrutiny last weekend for reiterating support for Germany's far-right, anti-immigrant AfD party, including comments that young Germans should feel able "to move beyond" expressing regret for the Holocaust.

During the call, Musk's most overtly political comment concerned what he described as the cumbersome process to introduce FSD in Europe, calling Europe "a layer cake of regulations and bureaucracy, which really needs to be addressed."

Shares of Tesla rose 4.4 percent in after-hours trading.