Central News Agency AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - Electric vehicle maker Tesla Inc. announced its delivery data today. Benefiting from recovering demand in the European market, its second-quarter deliveries reached a record high for the same period, far exceeding Wall Street expectations and further fueling market anticipation that Tesla may end its two-year sales decline in 2026. Reuters reported that the strong performance of Tesla's core electric vehicle business provides significant support for CEO Elon Musk's ambitious, high-cost development plans in areas such as autonomous driving and artificial intelligence (AI). These two areas are also the primary drivers of Tesla's current market value of approximately $1.6 trillion. In the second quarter of this year (April to June), Tesla delivered a total of 480,126 vehicles, setting a record high for any second quarter, an increase of about 25% compared to the same period last year. This figure significantly surpassed the average analyst estimate of 402,776 vehicles compiled by analytics platform Visible Alpha. However, Tesla's stock closed down 7.49% at $393.45 today. Analysts and investors stated that the market's optimistic expectations had already been reflected in the stock price, as it had accumulated a 12% gain earlier in the week. Tesla's recovery in the European market is mainly attributed to rising fuel prices, government subsidies for electric vehicles, accelerated electrification of corporate fleets, and a gradual fading of consumer backlash stemming from Musk's far-right political stances last year. Seth Goldstein, an analyst at Morningstar, said, "I believe the significant growth in the European market is the most important factor driving Tesla right now. US sales are still declining, but the drop is smaller than the overall US EV market; the Chinese market is showing slight growth." He had originally expected Tesla to experience a full-year sales decline for the third consecutive year, but after seeing the