After tumultuous news about Tesla Motors‘ fatal autopilot crash and its controversial decision to merge with Solar City, CEO Elon Musk sent out a cryptic message yesterday, presumably intended to assure investors. “Working on Top Secret Tesla Masterplan, Part 2,” he tweeted, “hoping to publish later this week.”
For those not in Musk’s Twitter loop, Part 1 of one of that master plan was Tesla’s blockbuster Model S. The focus of Part 2 could be anyone’s guess.
In reaction to Musk’s tweet, Tesla shares climbed 4 percent, to $225.80, recovering some of the ground they lost after the autopilot crash was announced last month.
It’s possible that the “top secret” plan involves a new electric car model or design, but Tesla Motors is already stretched trying to meet the company’s current production target of 80,000 to 90,000 deliveries this year. The unprecedented number of pre-order sales for Tesla’s upcoming Model 3 sedan requires the automaker to produce an additional 373,000 units by the end of next year — an ambitious goal that has left Musk reportedly taking night shifts at Tesla’s factory to ensure staying on schedule.
Regardless of what the masterplan turns out to be, the jump in Tesla’s stock price may have provided the company with a nice cash infusion at a time when accelerating production is no doubt demanding increased capital.