Tesla Inc CEO Elon Musk called the massive restrictions imposed amid the COVID-19 pandemic are fascist, Reuters reported.

The company's shares rose 8.8% to $ 871. Tesla's profitable quarter came just a day after a Detroit-based rival Ford Motor Co reported a loss of $ 2 billion in the first quarter and predicts a loss of another $ 5 billion in the current quarter. General Motors Co on Monday suspended the repurchase of dividends and shares.

If Tesla can limit its losses and surpass obsolete automakers, it will be in a better position to take back the share of sales of competitors weakened by the destruction of coronavirus.

Musk said in comments to analysts on Tesla Inc’s earnings call that it was “fascist” to say people cannot leave their homes. 

“This is not democratic, this is not freedom. Give people back their goddamn freedom,” Musk said.

Tesla said it could not predict how quickly car production and global supply chains would normalize, saying it would revise its annual forecast for net profit and cash flow when it announced the results of the current quarter in three months.

Musk said that while other automakers were cutting back, Telsa was stepping up investments.

In January, Tesla said it expects positive quarterly cash flow and positive net income in the future.