But the price cuts appear to be quickly eating into those margins. In the first quarter, the gross margin that measures the profitability of Tesla’s auto business, excluding revenue from selling clean-energy credits, was 19 percent, down from nearly 27 percent for all of 2022.

The average selling price for Tesla’s vehicles in the first quarter of this year was nearly $46,000, down from $51,400 in the last quarter of 2022. But despite that 11 percent decline, Tesla’s vehicle deliveries were only 4 percent higher.

In a conference call to discuss the company’s quarterly results, Mr. Musk said Tesla’s profit margin remained among the highest in the industry. “We’re taking a view that pushing for higher volumes and a larger fleet is the right choice here,” he said, “versus a lower volume and a higher margin.”

On the call, Zachary Kirkhorn, Tesla’s chief financial officer, was asked to provide a 2023 forecast for the gross margin in Tesla’s auto business, but he said doing so would be difficult because of economic uncertainty.

Tesla said it expected to sell 1.8 million cars in 2023, up from 1.3 million last year.

The company’s adjusted per-share profits of 85 cents were in line with the expectations of Wall Street analysts, and its stock was down about 4 percent in extended trading on Wednesday. Tesla’s shares are up nearly 50 percent this year but still down 56 percent from their high, reached in 2021. The stock came under pressure last year partly because Mr. Musk sold billions of dollars of Tesla shares to help finance his acquisition of Twitter.