Musk prepares Tesla 'master plan' for March 1 investor day

Tesla Inc. plans to present a third version of Elon Musk’s “master plan” next month, almost a full year after the CEO said he was working on a next edition.

The EV maker will outline “the path to a fully sustainable energy future for Earth” during its March 1 investor day, Musk tweeted. Tesla has already said its expansion plans and next-generation platform for cheaper vehicles will be on the agenda.

Musk first published a master plan for Tesla in 2006, outlining ambitions to build a high-performance sports car and use proceeds from that product to gradually build more affordable electric vehicles. Ten years later, he authored “part deux,” which detailed ambitions to build solar roofs, expand into all major auto segments and develop self-driving capability.

Much of the second master plan remains unfinished business.

The rollout of the solar roof was a bust, Tesla has just four vehicles in volume production and its cars aren’t autonomous. Tesla’s claims about self-driving capabilities — and Musk’s role in shaping them — are now subject to investigations by the U.S. Justice Department and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Tesla shares have soared more than 1,200 percent since Musk published the second master plan, though the advance was tempered last year by Musk’s acquisition of Twitter Inc. and lower-than-expected vehicle deliveries. The stock plunged 65 percent in 2022, its first annual decline since 2016.

Shares in Tesla have risen early this year on optimism that steep price cuts will revive sales growth. Musk said last month the company will aim to produce 2 million cars this year and minimize the affects of price reductions by trimming costs.

The carmaker also expects to make some progress in padding out its lineup with the Semi that it started delivering to customers in December, and the Cybertruck slated to begin limited production later this year.