Musk says Teslas are an 'incredible value.' Here's how they compare.

• Tesla officials are promoting their electric cars as a good value amid consumer concerns over car and gas prices.
• The company produced over 50,000 more vehicles than it sold in the first quarter of 2026.
• Tesla's average new vehicle price was slightly below the industry average for electric vehicles in early 2026.

Tesla officials are touting the value of their electric cars amount rising consumers concerns about car and gas prices.

"On our vehicle side, it's always, I think, worth noting that a Tesla car is (an) incredible value for money and they're all autonomy-ready depending on what part of the world you're in," Tesla CEO Elon Musk told investors as his company was reporting first-quarter earnings on Wednesday, April 22.

Tesla chief financial officer Vaibhav Taneja added that Tesla's value is allowing them to take advantage of the surge in interest in electric cars that has occurred since gas prices spike at the beginning of the U.S.-Iran War.

"On the order backlog front, we ended the quarter with the highest Q1 order backlog in over 2 years," Taneja said. "Whilst the recent increase in gas prices has had a positive impact on the order rate, this improvement started before the uptrend in gas prices. This is due to the work done by the Tesla team in bringing more compelling and affordable vehicles to market."

The comments came as Tesla revealed recently that it is sitting on more than 50,000 unsold EVs as its production far outpaced its sales in the first quarter of 2026.

The nation's biggest electric car seller reported production of 408,386 cars globally in the first three months of 2026, according to a report released by company on April 2. But the company said it was only able to sell 358,023 of those cars in the first three months of 2026.

The comments also came as the average price of gas was $4.05 per gallon on Friday, April 24, which was down slightly from an average price of $4.07 per gallon on April 17.

What is the average price of a new Tesla, and how does it compare to other EV makers?

The average price of a new Tesla EV in the first three months of 2026 was $53,421, according to Kelley Blue Book.

The average price of all new electric vehicles in the same period was $54,508, Kelley Blue Book said.

The group said Telsa's average prices in March were 2.6% lower than its March 2025 average transaction amount, and it was also 1.2% lower than February's average Tesla price.

Cox said Tesla's price was aided by increased average incentive amount of about $6,570.78, which was 12.3% of its overall average transaction price. The average incentive amount for other electric cars in March was $7,958.16, which was 14.6% of the overall average price of a new EV.

Taneja, Tesla's chief financial officer, said Tesla is trying to ramp up production of the Model 3 sedan because it offers incredible value for electric car shoppers in his opinion.

"Ten years back, when we launched Model 3 in the U.S. with a promise of $35,000 starting price, which if you adjust today for inflation translates to about $48,000 in today's dollar terms," Taneja said during the April 22 call. "The starting price of Model 3 today is way less than that while the product is way more compelling from where it started. Given the setup, we're focused on increasing our overall production volume, something that we already started in Q1."

How many unsold EVs does Tesla have?

Tesla produced 50,363 more electric cars than it was able to sell in the first three months of 2026, even with a slight uptick in EV interest becoming apparent amid rising gas prices, so deals are likely available.

Tesla reported production of 408,386 cars globally in the first three months of 2026, according to a report released by company on April 2. But the company said it was only able to sell 358,023 vehicles in the first quarter.

The delta between Tesla's production and sales levels is much higher than the 16,131 vehicle gap the company reported in the fourth quarter of 2025, when Tesla said it produced 434,358 electric cars and sold 418,227.

For all of 2025, Tesla said it produced 1,654,667 EVs and sold 1,636,129, a gap of 18,538 units for the past year.