If Tesla (TSLA) is usually a tech firm when automotive gross sales falter, absolutely it may be a automotive firm when gross sales exceed expectations. That’s how Wall Road sees it, as Tesla bulls are as soon as once more ascendant.During the last week, Tesla shares have surged greater than 25%, boosted by automobile deliveries that beat estimates, leaving the paltry beneficial properties of the remainder of the “Magnificent Seven” within the mud.When CEO Elon Musk insisted earlier this 12 months that Tesla isn’t a automotive firm, the message jolted the inventory worth whilst gross sales faltered. Whereas handy, the pitch was true sufficient. And the edict apparently goes each methods.The inventory surge speaks to the facility of touting an industry-leading product — a lesson for AI startups — and the good thing about making AI ambitions part of a broader marketing strategy, relatively than the only real facet of it. However conversely, it underscores that Tesla’s heady AI objectives are nonetheless intently tethered to its automotive gross sales.Combining lofty techno-ambitions with shifting vehicles off heaps has been key to Musk’s salesmanship.New upbeat automobile supply knowledge counters a wave of destructive sentiment.Weighed down by stiffening competitors in China, softening demand at residence, worth cuts, layoffs, and Musk’s authorized and company dramas, Tesla had limped alongside as a Magnificent Seven laggard. However current wins have a approach of erasing earlier losses. And Tesla is now using a string of victories, with an earnings report and a much-hyped robotaxi unveiling simply across the nook.In some methods, Tesla’s versatile id as a automotive firm when occasions are good and a tech firm when the chips are down is usually a hindrance to a transparent company technique. Is Tesla nonetheless gunning for a mass-market EV in each household’s driveway? Or is it a platform orchestrating a fleet of autonomous taxis increasing the frontier of AI expertise?It may be each, in fact. And Musk is susceptible to wanting all of it. Buyers don’t appear to thoughts which metaphorical cap the corporate is sporting on any explicit day. Simply so long as the numbers go up. AI could make that occur. And, for now, so can vehicles.