Read: Tesla shares soar after first robo-taxi rides hit the road Pricing and margins are important as Tesla wrestles with demand and faces falling government support. Tesla global deliveries dropped 13.5% in the second quarter, and the US government later this year is cutting $7 500 tax credits for EV buyers. “We probably could have a few rough quarters,” Musk said, when asked about the credits. “I’m not saying we will, but we could — you know, Q4, Q1, maybe Q2, but once you get to autonomy at scale in the second half of next year, certainly by the end of next year, I think I’d be surprised if Tesla’s economics are not very compelling.” Tesla’s Cybertruck Tesla had said in April it would start producing the more affordable model by the end of the first half and sources had told Reuters the vehicle, a stripped-down version of its Model Y SUV, would be delayed by at least months. Tesla on Wednesday did not disclose any details of the model, how many units it had made, or how it would be priced. Musk responded to a question of what the vehicle would look like by saying, “It’s just a Model Y,” joking that he “let the cat out of the bag there”. Tesla’s line-up is relatively old, despite a recent refresh of the flagship Model Y, and it faces rising competition from cheaper EVs, especially in China, and a persistent backlash against Musk’s far-right political views. The company also said it continued to expect volume production of its custom-built robo-taxi — called the Cybercab — and Semi Truck in 2026. A series of high-profile executive exits, including a longtime Musk confidant, is also adding to the concerns Much of the company’s trillion-dollar valuation hangs on its bet on its robo-taxi service — a small trial of which was started in Austin, Texas last month with about a dozen Model Y SUVs — and on its development of humanoid robots. “Autonomy is the story,” Musk said on the conference call, describing plans to roll out autonomous ride hailing to about half of the US population by the end of this year. Tesla is looking for robo-taxi regulatory approval in the San Francisco Bay Area, Nevada, Arizona, Florida and other places, he said, and the company is close to getting regulatory approval for supervised Full Self-Driving driver assistance software in the Netherlands. The robo-taxi business was likely to have a material impact on financials around the end of next year, Musk said. Investors are concerned about whether Musk will be able to devote enough time and attention to Tesla after he locked horns with Trump by forming a new political party this month. He had promised weeks earlier that he would cut back on government work and focus on his companies.