NEW YORK, March 26, 2026, 09:24 EDT
Tesla looked set for a weaker start Thursday, sliding 1.1% to $381.62 ahead of the bell as of 7:24 a.m. EDT, according to Yahoo Finance. That follows Wednesday’s $385.95 finish.
The hiccup is significant because the real hurdle ahead is still vehicle deliveries—actual cars reaching customers—not the surrounding noise. Reuters noted earlier this month that Wall Street has slashed its 2026 delivery growth outlook to roughly 3.8%, down from 8.2% back in January, even as Tesla gears up to boost spending past $20 billion. Morningstar’s Seth Goldstein warned that with “two of the three largest markets” showing softness, Tesla might be staring at yet another year with declining deliveries. Reuters
Wednesday’s session saw shares move higher after a Reuters report suggested SpaceX might file for an IPO as early as this week. Tesla gained roughly 1.7% in premarket trading, indicating that news tied to Elon Musk’s other ventures can still ripple through Tesla’s stock.
European numbers provided another boost. According to ACEA, Tesla’s registrations in February—viewed as a stand-in for sales—jumped 11.8% year-on-year across the EU, Britain and the EFTA, breaking a 13-month losing streak. BYD kept a slight edge, while Volkswagen and Stellantis both managed increases of their own.
If fuel prices remain high, that shift could have an impact. Online car platforms told Reuters on Thursday that used EV sales are climbing across Europe. Petrol prices jumped 12% between Feb. 23 and March 16 after the Iran war disrupted oil flows. “The shock had accelerated a transition already under way,” Olx CEO Christian Gisy said. Reuters
Musk is still pushing his vision for the long haul. Over the weekend, he told investors that Tesla and SpaceX plan to set up two advanced chip factories in Austin. “We either build the Terafab or we don’t have the chips,” he said. One facility is geared for Tesla vehicles and Optimus robots, the other aimed at AI data centers in space. Reuters
Still, risks are hard to ignore. Tesla shares dropped 3.2% last week after U.S. regulators ramped up their investigation into 3.2 million cars equipped with Full Self-Driving, the company’s driver-assistance tech, citing worries it might not alert drivers properly in low-visibility conditions, according to Reuters.
Driverless taxi rivals are crowding in. According to Reuters, Amazon’s Zoox plans to ramp up operations in San Francisco and Las Vegas, adding test runs in Austin and Miami. Alphabet’s Waymo holds the top spot, while Tesla faces the challenge of showing its small Austin deployment can keep up as competitors entrench themselves further.
Related articles: NASDAQ:TSLA
