As of morning trading, Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:$TSLA) shares rose as analysts questioned how soon CEO Elon Musk will have to ask creditors and shareholders for more capital to fund development of an electric semi truck, a new roadster, and accelerated production of a high-volume electric sedan.
Musk unveiled one flashy strategy for generating cash during the launch event on Thursday for its new model, the Semi truck. He surprised the audience with a prototype of a new generation of the Tesla Roadster. Musk promised the Roadster will be the fastest production car available. The first 1,000 cars will cost $250,000 each, paid in full upfront, with later models starting at $200,00.
Musk did not unveil further details about just how Tesla would generate additional funds to deliver the semi truck and the roadster and to overcome previous production problems that face its Model 3.
Tesla has spent $1.1 billion on its auto business in the third quarter and expects expenses of $1 billion in the current one. It had about $2.5 billion in cash and cash equivalents as of September 30th.
As for its cash-burn rate, the company would likely be down about $1 billion in cash by the end of the first quarter.
Despite such quarries, Tesla shares rose as much as 2% in early New York trading and were up at 1.6% at midday.
In the bigger picture, shares in the company are up more than 40% this year, while seeing a 20% fall from record highs in mid-September.
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