Elon Musk says Tesla is ‘pedal to the steel’ even with attainable recession looming

SpaceX Leader Engineer Elon Musk takes phase in a joint information convention with T-Cellular CEO Mike Sievert (no longer pictured) on the SpaceX Starbase, in Brownsville, Texas, U.S., August 25, 2022.

Adrees Latif | Reuters

Elon Musk sees parts of a recession in China and Europe and says that the U.S. Federal Reserve is elevating rates of interest via an excessive amount of.

But if requested on Tesla’s third-quarter profits name on Wednesday how his electrical automobile corporate will fare in a possible recession, the arena’s wealthiest individual expressed little fear.

“To be frank, we are very pedal to the steel come rain or shine,” Musk stated in keeping with an analyst’s query. “We aren’t lowering our manufacturing in any significant method, recession or no longer recession.”

Tesla reported adjusted profits of $1.05 in step with proportion, topping analysts’ estimates of 99 cents in step with proportion. The inventory dropped 5% in prolonged buying and selling as income got here in at $21.45 billion, lacking analysts’ expectancies of $21.96 billion. The corporate has misplaced 45% of its worth this 12 months.

Musk has been important of the Fed, which has been lifting its benchmark rate of interest to take a look at and tamp down hovering inflation. He persevered with that theme on Wednesday.

“The Fed’s choices make sense if you are having a look within the rear-view replicate no longer if you are having a look out the windshield,” Musk stated.

Nonetheless, even with the price of capital on the upward thrust along the costs for items, Musk sees Tesla doing OK as electrical automobiles exchange gas-powered vehicles.

“The general public at massive realizes that international’s shifting against electrical automobiles, and it is silly to shop for a brand new fuel automobile at this level for the reason that residual worth of that fuel automobile goes to be very low,” Musk stated. “So, we are in an excellent spot.”

Musk added, “I would not say it is recession-proof however it is recession-resilient, as a result of principally the folk of Earth have made the verdict largely to transport clear of fuel vehicles.”

The Tesla CEO additionally commented on his pending $44 billion acquisition of Twitter. He is these days enmeshed in a felony combat with the social media corporate despite the fact that he lately modified path and stated he would apply via together with his acquire settlement.

Musk stated he’s “fascinated about the Twitter scenario” and that the corporate has “kind of languished for a very long time however has implausible attainable.”

“The long-term attainable for Twitter is an order of magnitude more than its present worth,” Musk stated.

WATCH: Gene Munster breaks down Tesla profits