Elon Musk — CEO at Tesla Motors Inc — is just dying to share a new secret with the public. The chief exec resorted to his Twitter account this weekend to disclose his unyielding excitement. According one of his posts, Musk will soon unveil yet another “Tesla Masterplan”. He hopes he is able to announce it during the course of the week.
New “Masterplan” from Tesla
The news comes in the midst of some bad publicity for Tesla. The luxury EV maker is under intense scrutiny from the media right now. Scandals surrounding the integrity and safety of its EVs continue to flood headlines. Before that, the company’s repeated failure to meet major goals did little to score more favor among its investors.
The exciting message from Musk serves as a great distraction from the negativity shrouding Tesla Motors at the moment. The safety assurances of its Autopilot tech took a heavy blow from the reported May 7 death of Joshua D. Brown. Driving along a motorway in Florida, Brown’s Model S crashed into an truck 2 months ago. It is believe that he had his autopilot engaged at the time of the crash.
News of the crash sent ripples across the EV world with consumers and rivals lining up to take a jab at Tesla and its Autopilot.
Poor Tesla deliveries
The automaker’s poor deliveries this past quarter are not impressing TSLA investors either. Tesla had promised to deliver 17,000 EVs in Q2 but missed that by well over 2,000 cars. This reveal covers the 2 year projections set by the company in a dark shadow of doubt. If the company cannot accurately predict deliveries 2 months ahead, how can its longer-term projections be trusted?
Indeed, Tesla Motor Inc sped up its half-a-million car deadline by two years a few months ago. The company assured shareholders that it would deliver 500,000 cars in 2018. However, that promise needs the EV giant to boost its current production tenfold. Whether the company can support the growing demand for its Model S, Model X and upcoming Model 3 seems unlikely at the moment.
SolarCity bid
Even before that disappointment, Wall Street appears completely against Tesla’s $2.83 billion bid for SolarCity. Close ties between the two companies, and the fact that SolarCity is struggling as it is, have analysts calling this venture out as a bad move.
After the immense stock hype that was built by its Model 3 unveiling and Model S revamp, Tesla Motors is down more than 15 percent since April.
New chapter for Tesla
But Musk’s tweet of a “Top Secret Tesla MasterPlan” not only hints at a new chapter, but reminds of a similar move made ten years ago. In Aug. 2006, Tesla shared its first master plan in a blog post. It showcased the concepts that eventually became the Model S and Model 3 today.
As the end of its current plan reaches its finish, Tesla Motors looks to be introducing the public to what is in store for the next chapter of its growth.