Tesla’s Berlin Hiring Spree and Robotaxi Setbacks Paint a Picture of a Company Under Pressure

Tesla hires 1,000 at Grünheide, beats Q1 earnings, but $25B capex plan and robotaxi delays fuel investor caution.

Tesla is sending mixed signals to the market. The automaker is pouring resources into European expansion and autonomous driving, yet its stock has shed more than 14% since the start of the year, closing Friday at €320.70. The disconnect between operational ambition and investor sentiment has rarely been starker.

A 1,000-Worker Push in Grünheide

From May, Tesla will begin hiring roughly 1,000 new employees at its Gigafactory Berlin-Brandenburg, with production volumes set to rise by 20% from July. The focus will be on boosting output of the Model Y in the second half of the year. Alongside the recruitment drive, management is converting several hundred temporary contracts into permanent positions.

The factory just posted a record quarter, churning out more than 61,000 vehicles. Its official annual capacity now stands at over 375,000 units. The expansion is designed to better utilise existing infrastructure and serve European demand more directly.

Earnings Beat, Then a Capex Shock

The expansion plans are underpinned by a surprisingly strong first quarter. A recovery in North American and Asian demand lifted profitability, with adjusted earnings per share of $0.41 comfortably beating analyst estimates.

Key metrics from the quarter included:
- Gross margin: Rose to 21.1%, against a forecast of 17.7%.
- Automotive margin (ex-regulatory credits): Hit 19.2%.
- Free cash flow: Reached $1.44 billion, defying expectations of a billion-dollar loss.

But the free cash flow cheer was short-lived. On the earnings call, CFO Vaibhav Taneja revealed that capital expenditure for 2026 would exceed $25 billion — nearly triple last year’s level. The money is earmarked for new production lines and AI infrastructure. The announcement sent the stock into negative territory after hours, with trading volumes surging to 93.1 million shares, roughly 47% above the three-month average. Tesla now expects negative free cash flow for the remainder of the year.

Robotaxi Rollout Hits Speed Bumps

On 18 April, Tesla launched its first fully unsupervised ride-hailing service in Dallas and Houston. Paid robotaxi miles nearly doubled quarter-on-quarter. Yet the scale remains modest: the operating zone in Dallas covers 78 to 90 square kilometres, while Houston’s is just 30 to 39 square kilometres. By contrast, Waymo — already active in both cities since February — now completes 500,000 paid trips per week across ten US cities.

Three months ago, Tesla promised to be in seven US cities by the end of the first half of 2026. Dallas and Houston are ticked off, but the remaining five — Phoenix, Miami, Orlando, Tampa and Las Vegas — have slipped from a firm “1H 2026” commitment to a vague “preparations are underway”. With two months left, Phoenix looks the most advanced: around 60 Model Ys fitted with new rear-camera washers have been spotted there, suggesting an imminent launch.

Other headwinds are building. A regulatory filing revealed that Tesla’s pilot fleet in Austin was involved in 14 collisions during its early phase. Reports put the accident rate of its autonomous vehicles at four times that of human drivers — a data point regulators will scrutinise closely.

Musk Waives Stock, FSD Gets Green Light

Away from the factory floor, Tesla is tidying up its governance. A new mandatory filing shows that CEO Elon Musk has waived 96 million restricted shares. The board had previously cancelled a multibillion-dollar interim compensation package from 2025, citing the “no double dip” principle that prevents duplicate pay after old compensation agreements were reinstated.

On the software front, Dutch authorities granted approval in April for Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) assistance system — a regulatory milestone for the European market.

Competitive Pressure Mounts

While Tesla juggles its European ramp-up and robotaxi ambitions, rivals are closing in. BYD and Xiaomi are gaining global market share, and Tesla is simultaneously pushing ahead with the Cybercab, the Tesla Semi, the humanoid robot Optimus, and its own AI infrastructure. Musk has warned that initial production of the Cybercab and Semi will be “very slow”.

The coming weeks will test whether Tesla can deliver on its promises. The start of hiring in Grünheide in May will be an early gauge of production targets. Meanwhile, the timing of the Phoenix robotaxi launch and the pace of Cybercab production are likely to move the stock more than any analyst forecast.