Tesla's Musk using teaser for 'D, something else'
Tesla's Elon Musk channeled Apple Inc. co-founder Steve Jobs by sending out a teaser message on Twitter about a mysterious unveiling. The shares jumped yesterday.
The photo posted Oct. 1 showed a Tesla car peeking from behind a garage door with a stylized D on it. The Tesla Motors Inc. chief executive officer said it was "about time to unveil the D and something else," echoing the late Jobs's trademark line when revealing products: "one more thing."
Musk's post was retweeted more than 11,000 times and favorited more than 7,900 times. A flurry of blog posts has stoked speculation about what the billionaire might reveal at the Oct. 9 event: an all-wheel-drive Model S, a self-driving Model S, an all-new vehicle, even a diesel powertrain.
The tweet echoes how Apple, under Jobs and since, has used cryptic messaging to tantalize consumers and the media about a coming announcement. For the Sept. 9 event to unveil the iPhone 6, the invitation sent in August said only "Wish we could say more." Speculation on the Internet was rampant.
After revealing the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, CEO Tim Cook said he had "one more thing" to announce, which turned out to be the Apple Watch.
"Tesla is like Apple in that it has a narrow product range and now it's focusing on how to get attention," said Larry Dominique, executive vice president for industry solutions at TrueCar Inc. "Tesla doesn't do billboards or television ads. It doesn't need traditional advertising to drum up demand."
Social Media
While Tesla doesn't buy TV spots, its digital strategy and Musk's social-media presence -- he has more than 1 million Twitter followers -- have "created a lot of buzz among people that would not have otherwise bought the vehicle," said Alan Baum, an independent auto analyst at Baum & Associates.
An unveiling is most likely to be a variant of the Model S, he and Dominique said. Brands such as Daimler AG's Mercedes-Benz and Honda Motor Co.'s Acura feature driver-assist tools like adaptive cruise control, which adjusts the car's speed to maintain a safe distance behind slower vehicles. The Model S initially didn't include some high-tech safety features such as lane-keep assist.
"The reality is that these technologies are becoming a cost of entry for high-end cars," Dominique said. "Today, Tesla doesn't have those. But they're smart people who are going to have to make sure they're a leader in these things, not a follower."
Shares of Tesla, based in Palo Alto, California, rose 4.7 percent to $251.42 at the close yesterday in New York, adding $1.39 billion to the company's market value to bring it to $31.3 billion. The stock has risen 67 percent this year through yesterday, outpacing a 5 percent gain by the Russell 1000 Index.
--With assistance from Tim Higgins in San Francisco.
To contact the reporter on this story: Madeline O'Leary in New York at moleary29bloomberg.net To contact the editors responsible for this story: Jamie Butters at jbuttersbloomberg.net John Lear