TESLA SHARES ROCKET AFTER PLEDGE TO BRING FORWARD LAUNCH OF 'MORE AFFORDABLE' MODELS

Tesla shares surged more than 12 per cent after it pledged to bring forward the launch of ‘more affordable’ cars.

The electric car maker said production could start this year, as the group run by tech billionaire Elon Musk suffered its biggest drop in revenue in over a decade as demand stalls.

On Tuesday it posted sales of £17billion for the three months to the end of March, a 9 per cent fall from the year before and the largest slump since 2012.

Profits fell 86 per cent to £910million compared to £6.4billion a year ago.

But shares in the world’s most valuable car maker climbed 11.3 per cent yesterday as investors pinned their hopes on lower-cost motors.

Tesla said it has ‘updated our future vehicle line-up to accelerate the launch of new models ahead of our previously communicated start of production in the second half of 2025’.

Musk said this meant production beginning ‘by early 2025, if not late this year’. 

But the billionaire remained tight-lipped on specific details about these ‘more affordable’ vehicles, although reports suggested they would cost £20,000 or less.

Tesla cars cost from around £55,000 to over £130,000 but earlier this month it revealed its first year-on-year fall in sales since 2020.

It sold 386,810 vehicles in the three months to the end of March, 9 per cent less than in the same period of 2023 – and well below Wall Street expectations of 454,000.

Musk also plans to axe 10 per cent of staff which would result in 14,000 job losses.

Filtronic takes off 

Shares in British telecoms equipment maker Filtronic jumped nearly 50 per cent after it penned a new deal with Elon Musk’s Space X.

The Durham company has closed several ‘significant’ contracts recently, including a £15.8million agreement with the US space behemoth.

The partnership includes supplying radio amplifiers to support Space X’s Starlink platform. 

Filtronic will also give Space X a conditional option to take a stake of up to 10 per cent. This sent shares up 48.5 per cent, or 16p, to 49p.

Starlink, which is owned by Space X, transmits internet signals from satellites orbiting the Earth. 

It has been used throughout the war in Ukraine as it provides internet access in remote places affected by disasters or war.

2024-04-24T21:19:47Z dg43tfdfdgfd