Tesla CEO Elon Musk's announcement of an upcoming electric truck caused the company's shares to jump by three percent on Thursday, according to a new report by Reuters.
"Tesla Semi truck unveil set for September. Team has done an amazing job. Seriously next level," Musk said in a tweet. "Pickup truck unveil in 18 to 24 months," he added in the next post.
Tesla stocks shot up by 2.74 percent or $8.14 to $304.98 after the tweet series. The value of the car manufacturer's stock has shot up 41 percent to record levels so far in 2017, making the Silicon Valley company a close competitor with General Motors for the biggest American automaker title.
Long-term investors see value in Tesla's stock because the company is a first-mover in the commercial electric car game in the United States. Making the cars successful requires investments in charging stations and educational campaigns for consumers.
Skeptics of the company's program say that Tesla's growth targets are too high and that other firms' hybrid models compete intensely with the Model 3 sedan.
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According to data from March, Model S Sedans represented 13,450 of the Tesla orders fulfilled so far, while the Model X sports utility vehicle represented 11,550. The company said it expects ship as many as 50,000 Model S and Model X's in the first six months of 2017, and current figures show that it's on track to meet the goal, though delivery figures from the last quarter of 2016 were particularly weak.
At this stage, Tesla Inc.'s production costs are high. To compensate, it has raised a total of $1.2 billion in fresh capital this year by selling common shares and convertible notes, with the sum exceeding the company's target from earlier this week to raise $1 billion.
By Zainab Calcuttawala for Oilprice.com
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Zainab Calcuttawala is an American journalist based in Morocco. She completed her undergraduate coursework at the University of Texas at Austin (Hook’em) and reports on… More