Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) CEO, Elon Musk, has announced that the much-awaited update for the company’s autopilot feature will be delayed.
The Tesla CEO made the announcement on the Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) microblogging platform where he revealed that the delay will allow the company to educate Tesla car owners on how the Autopilot feature functions. Musk also urged his company’s employees to slash spending and focus on making as many vehicles as possible before the end of the third quarter. An email obtained by Bloomberg highlighted Musk’s instructions to his employees telling them that Tesla’s third-quarter results would be the company’s last chance to show investors that financials have improved ahead of the next round of funding.
“Telsa is on the razor’s edge of achieving a good Q3, but it requires building and delivering every car we possibly can, while simultaneously trimming any cost that isn’t critical, at least for the next 4.5 weeks,” stated Musk in the email according to Bloomberg.
Tesla is currently calling on investors to approve the acquisition of SolarCity Corp (NASDAQ:SCTY). Convincing investors will be a tricky task considering that SolarCity’s debt portfolio is $3.35 billion amid major losses that the solar company has been reporting.
Tesla spent $2.2 billion on SolarCity in 2015 and an additional $611 million in the first half of this year. The spending is also expected to continue once SolarCity becomes part of Tesla. This also highlights the mounting pressure on Musk. SpaceX which is also another company founded by Musk has also been reported to be going through financial pressures. A report posted by Bloomberg about a week ago suggested that Musk’s net worth dropped by $779 million after the stock fell.
The CEO had reportedly put up $489 million of his stocks as collateral for personal loans. However, the stocks of SolarCity and Tesla have dropped in value. The failure of a SpaceX rocket on September 1 also had a negative impact on Tesla’s stock.