By Al Root
Tesla stock rose in premarket trading Wednesday, helped by, what do you know, the electric-vehicle business.
Shares of the electric-vehicle maker were up 1.7% at $440.90, while S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were up 0.4% and 0.5%, respectively.
Helping were sales data from Europe that showed Tesla sold 10,654 cars in April, up 46.5% year over year. The strong month brought Tesla's 2026 regional sales to 89,429, up 45.8%.
It's been a strong year for European EV sales, amid higher oil prices. Through April, Europeans have bought almost 980,000 all-electric cars in 2026, up 29.1% from last year. EVs accounted for about 22% of all new car sales in April.
The strong showing was welcome news for Tesla, which is coming off back-to-back annual declines in EV sales. In 2025, Tesla sold 238,656 vehicles in Europe, down 26.9% year over year.
Tesla stock lately hasn't always moved on EV sales. The stock has gained roughly 140% over the past two years, despite falling sales. Investors have been more focused on artificial-intelligence applications these days, such as robo-taxis and robots. Tesla launched an AI-trained robo-taxi service in Austin, Texas, in June and is now operating in four cities. It also recently stopped producing its Model S and X vehicles to convert assembly capacity into a facility for making AI-trained humanoid robots.
There is an AI angle to car sales, though. Tesla is working on approvals to sell its highest-level driver-assistance product, Full Self-Driving, in Europe and China.
FSD can do most of the driving most of the time. It costs $99 a month, which generates revenue for the company, and is also a feature that can help sell more cars.
Coming into Wednesday, Tesla stock has declined 4% this year but has risen 28% over the past 12 months.
Write to Al Root at allen.root@dowjones.com
This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 27, 2026 06:27 ET (10:27 GMT)
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