Flying Roadsters can’t lift Tesla’s flat Q3 revenues

TransportationTechElectric CarsFlying Roadsters can’t lift Tesla’s flat Q3 revenues. Flat revenue and a 4 percent profit drop show that no amount of rocket thrusters can disguise Tesla’s troubles.

交通科技电动汽车：飞行跑车无法提振特斯拉平淡的第三季度营收。营收持平与利润下滑4%表明，再多的火箭推进器也无法掩盖特斯拉面临的困境。

As the smoke clears from its outrageous Roadster demo, Tesla reported Q3 earnings on Wednesday — and the cold reality is that revenue has flatlined. Tesla said it earned $1.7 billion in net income on $28.0 billion in revenue in the quarter that ended in September 2026.

随着其令人咋舌的跑车演示烟雾散去，特斯拉于周三发布了第三季度财报，而冷酷的现实是营收已经陷入停滞。特斯拉表示，在截至2026年9月的季度中，其营收为280亿美元，净利润为17亿美元。

Revenues were flat, while profits dropped 4 percent compared to the third quarter of 2025, when the company earned $1.4 billion in net income on $28.1 billion in revenue. Tesla’s revenue came in above Wall Street expectations of $27.9 billion, according to data compiled by LSEG. Tesla’s own company-compiled expectations predicted Q3 revenues of $28.3 billion.

与2025年第三季度相比，营收持平，而利润下降了4%，当时该公司营收为281亿美元，净利润为14亿美元。根据伦敦证券交易所集团（LSEG）汇编的数据，特斯拉的营收高于华尔街预期的279亿美元。特斯拉公司内部汇编的预期则预测第三季度营收为283亿美元。

The earnings come on the heels of a disappointing Q3 sales report, in which Tesla reported a 2.1 percent drop in customer deliveries compared to the blockbuster third quarter of 2025. (For a direct-to-consumer company like Tesla, deliveries are a proxy for sales.)

这份财报发布之前，特斯拉刚公布了令人失望的第三季度销售报告，其客户交付量较2025年表现强劲的第三季度下降了2.1%。（对于像特斯拉这样直接面向消费者的公司来说，交付量是销售额的替代指标。）

The drop in sales was widely expected thanks to the expiration of the $7,500 federal tax credit for electric vehicles on September 30, 2025. Elon Musk himself said that the company was in for “a few rough quarters” thanks to the expiring incentive and other macroeconomic factors.

由于针对电动汽车的7500美元联邦税收抵免于2025年9月30日到期，销售额的下滑在预料之中。埃隆·马斯克本人也曾表示，由于激励措施到期及其他宏观经济因素，公司将面临“几个艰难的季度”。

Tesla reported automotive revenues of $20.5 billion, a 3 percent decrease year over year — a sign that the company’s car business is floundering after the elimination of the tax credit. But there were troubling signs for Tesla’s other businesses too; the company reported $2.9 billion in energy generation and storage revenue, a staggering 16 percent drop year over year.

特斯拉报告汽车业务营收为205亿美元，同比下降3%，这表明在取消税收抵免后，该公司的汽车业务正陷入困境。但特斯拉的其他业务也出现了令人不安的迹象；该公司能源生产和存储业务营收为29亿美元，同比大幅下降16%。

“Services and other revenue,” such as money the company takes in from EV charging, maintenance, parts, and insurance, was up 33 percent to $4.6 billion – a rare bright spot in an otherwise dour earnings report.

“服务及其他收入”（例如公司从电动汽车充电、维修、零部件和保险中获得的收入）增长了33%，达到46亿美元，这在原本惨淡的财报中是一个罕见的亮点。

Tesla’s capital spending — also known as capex — soared 110 percent year over year to $4.7 billion this quarter, as the company continue to pour money into AI, autonomous vehicles, and robotics. Musk has said to expect “a massive capex year” of at least $25 billion in capital spending as Tesla continues to transition into an AI and robotics company.

特斯拉本季度的资本支出（即Capex）同比激增110%，达到47亿美元，因为该公司继续向人工智能、自动驾驶汽车和机器人领域投入资金。马斯克曾表示，随着特斯拉继续向人工智能和机器人公司转型，预计将迎来“资本支出巨大的一年”，支出至少达到250亿美元。

But the company only spent $13 billion in the first three quarters of the year, suggesting that Tesla may fall short of that $25 billion target. Operating expenses — the day to day costs of running Tesla’s business — was up 39 percent year over year to $4.8 billion, while its income from operations — the profit Tesla generates from those day-to-day dealings — was down 56 percent year over year to just $718 million.

但该公司在前三个季度仅支出了130亿美元，这表明特斯拉可能无法达到250亿美元的目标。运营费用（即特斯拉日常业务运营成本）同比上升39%，达到48亿美元，而其运营收入（即特斯拉从日常经营中产生的利润）同比下降56%，仅为7.18亿美元。

On the brighter side, Tesla reported a free cash flow of $1.5 billion, after dipping into negative territory last year. Still, that figure represents a 62 percent drop year over year, a sign that Tesla’s operating revenues were still struggling to cover its capital expenditures.

从好的一面来看，特斯拉报告自由现金流为15亿美元，此前去年曾陷入负值。尽管如此，这一数字同比下降了62%，表明特斯拉的运营收入仍难以覆盖其资本支出。

The possibility of a Tesla-SpaceX merger gained new momentum after Musk’s revelation this week that the two companies had formed special committees to discuss the possibility. Musk said a merger would be a “good idea,” even though he claimed he wouldn’t be involved in the process.

在本周马斯克透露两家公司已成立特别委员会讨论合并可能性后，特斯拉与SpaceX合并的可能性获得了新的动力。马斯克表示合并将是一个“好主意”，尽管他声称自己不会参与这一过程。

Beyond merger talks, this past quarter also saw the highly anticipated re-reveal of the next-generation Tesla Roadster, nine years after it was initially announced. The demo in Waco, Texas, featured a redesigned two-seat prototype flying and flipping through the air using cold-gas thrusters provided by SpaceX.

除了合并谈判外，上个季度还见证了下一代特斯拉Roadster备受期待的重新亮相，距离其最初宣布已过去九年。在德克萨斯州韦科市的演示中，一辆重新设计的双座原型车利用SpaceX提供的冷气推进器在空中飞行和翻转。

While the event generated its own cottage industry of online reactions, it did little to assuage skeptics that the vehicle would actually go into production in 2028, as promised.

虽然该活动在网上引发了各种讨论，但对于怀疑论者而言，这几乎无法消除他们对该车能否如约在2028年投入生产的疑虑。