Elon Musk and Tesla may have had a rough few weeks, but apparently, all it takes is a single tweet from Musk himself to turn those fortunes around.
On Sunday, the Tesla CEO tweeted that he is working on a follow-up for his original vision for Tesla, titled the "Top Secret Tesla Masterplan, Part 2," and said he hopes to publish it later this week. The general public didn't take too much notice of this, but investors and Tesla fans certainly did, causing the electric car company's shares to rise by more than 4 percent in early trading Monday morning.
Working on Top Secret Tesla Masterplan, Part 2. Hoping to publish later this week.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 10, 2016
So, what is this "Masterplan" that Musk is referring to? The first part of this plan was published back in August 2006, where he detailed how he wanted to develop a "low-cost family car" that would be an eco-friendly alternative to the petrol-based vehicles that currently dominate the market. This car was revealed in April of this year to be the Model 3, which has already been preordered 400,000 times.
Now, with Musk prepared to reveal the second part of his master plan by the end of the week, there is one thing we need to ask ourselves: "Will the product of this master plan be unveiled nearly 10 years later, or will it herald the coming of something more immediate?"
Regardless of what his plans are, Musk still has an agenda that is rooted firmly in the present: the car crash involving the Model S that was on Autopilot. As you may recall, Tesla revealed earlier this month that, on May 7, 2016, a Model S owner named Joshua Brown was involved in a fatal car accident after the car's software was unable to distinguish the white side of the tractor trailer from the "brightly lit sky" after it drove across the vehicle's path.
For his part, Musk argues that the software was in beta, and that alone implies that the driver should have been paying more attention. Conversely, a good portion of the media and public has used the opportunity to argue that these semi-autonomous vehicles are not safe, with some saying that they should be banned outright.
Unfortunately, his troubles don't end there. Musk is also facing some criticism for his decision to merge Tesla and SolarCity, a solar panel firm where he serves as both its chairman as well as one of its biggest shareholders.
In this situation, Musk argues that the merger would help create "a seamlessly integrated Tesla battery and solar panel product that looks beautiful," while critics argue that the deal would cause stress for both businesses, referring to it as "corporate governance at its worst."
So, yes, the 4 percent rise in shares is nice, but how much is that worth when you have the public, media and regulators breathing down your neck?
