Investor's Corner
Tesla to cut back presence in Hong Kong if Musk’s “beacon city” fails to adopt new EV incentives , says report
Tesla has reportedly submitted a letter to Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, stating that it would reduce its presence in the country if previous tax credits for electric car buyers are not reinstated. The removal of a full registration tax waiver on electric vehicles was implemented last year by the HK government, causing a significant drop in electric car sales in the region of China.
Without the tax credits in place, electric vehicle prices have shot up by 50 to 80 percent in Hong Kong. Tax relief was also capped at HK$97,500 (US$12,466.35). These changes have ultimately caused the prices of vehicles like the Tesla Model S to increase significantly.
Since the tax credits were pulled out, Hong Kong saw a steep decline in the number of new EV registrations. In April 2017, the first month following the removal of the tax waivers, no registrations for electric cars was filed, causing companies such as Tesla to take heavy blows in sales. Tesla for one, only sold 32 Model S and Model X from April to December 2017, a massive decline from the 2,078 Model S and Model X it sold from April to December 2016.
In a statement to the South China Morning Post, an anonymous source claiming to have knowledge of the matter stated that Tesla is attempting to push back against the HK government. According to the source, the Silicon Valley-based electric car maker and energy firm is urging Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor to rethink the country’s position in the EV tax waiver issue. If the government does not budge, Tesla would reportedly begin scaling back its operations.
“Scaling down Tesla’s operation in Hong Kong is a natural and logical consequence if the number of customers has dwindled prompted by a reduction of government incentives. Without government support, who is willing to invest in green technology?” the source said, according to the Post.
While Hong Kong has maintained that the removal of the EV tax credits was due to traffic congestion and the fact that the majority of electric car owners were members of the upper class, critics of the government have speculated that the state had simply backed down amid pressure from legacy car makers. The Asia-based publication appears to have confirmed this recently, with another anonymous source from the local car industry stating that Tesla had simply gotten too successful in Hong Kong.
“The sale of Tesla cars in one month was equal to the annual sales figure of some petrol car brands. They all complained that the rapid growth of Tesla these few years had made their lives really difficult,” the source said.
Prior to the removal of the tax credits on electric vehicles, Hong Kong was one of the leaders in the electric car revolution in Asia, thanks in no small part to Tesla’s entry into the country. In a statement back in 2016, Tesla CEO Elon Musk expressed his optimism about Hong Kong being a leader in emissions-free transportation, calling Hong Kong a “Beacon City” for electric vehicles.
Musk’s statement definitely rang true, with electric car sales in the country experiencing a surge that saw registrations reach well into the thousands every year. By the time the Hong Kong government decided to discontinue the EV tax credits last year, there were 10,589 registered private electric cars in the region, with 2,964 of the registrations being filed in March 2017, the month right before the waivers were discontinued. A significant number of the country’s electric cars were Tesla Model S and Model X.
Below is a video of Tesla CEO Elon Musk speaking at a special event in Hong Kong in 2016.
https://youtu.be/12FVtZh5SLs
Elon Musk
SpaceX Starship Flight 13 aborted at Zero and Musk just told us what broke
Four Raptor engines failed to ignite at T-zero, forcing SpaceX to scrub Starship Flight 13 Thursday.
SpaceX scrubbed the Starship Flight 13 launch attempt Thursday evening at the last possible moment, after four of the Super Heavy booster’s 33 Raptor 3 engines failed to ignite during the startup sequence. The 90-minute window had opened at 6:45 p.m. EDT from Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, and the countdown had proceeded without issue all day, with more than 11.5 million pounds of liquid methane and liquid oxygen being fully loaded into the rocket before the automated abort triggered. SpaceX’s launch directors posted on X, “Standing down from today’s flight test attempt,” and shut down the livestream shortly after.
Musk confirmed the root cause within hours. “Some of the engines didn’t start, triggering an automatic launch abort,” he wrote on X. “To be confident of a good flight, 2 Raptors will be removed and replaced. Most probable launch timing is early next week.” SpaceX engineers began draining propellant tanks immediately and Booster 20 was rolled back to its hangar for inspection.
The timing adds a layer of significance that did not exist during any of the previous 12 Starship flights. This is the first time SpaceX has attempted to launch Starship since the company made its stock market debut in June, listing under ticker SPCX at $135 per share. Public investors are now watching every Starship outcome in real time, and a last-second abort carries more visibility than it would have six months ago.
Flight 13 was designed to be one of the most consequential tests in the program’s history. It was set to carry 20 Starlink V3 satellites, the first operational payload Starship has ever attempted to deploy. Six of those satellites carried external cameras to photograph Starship’s heat shield from the outside during flight, which would act as a self-inspection approach SpaceX has never attempted before. The mission also needed to complete a Raptor engine relight in space, a step SpaceX skipped on Flight 12 in May after losing an engine during ascent. That Flight 12 booster also flipped 90 degrees off course during its boostback burn when five engines failed to reignite.
SpaceX has not announced an official next launch date. Musk’s “early next week” window points to July 21 or 22 at the earliest, pending the engine swap and a return to the pad.
Lucid CEO Silvio Napoli responded to rumors of an imminent bankruptcy that was reportedly being mulled after a report stated the automaker was working with the firm AlixPartners to iron out its next steps.
The company felt a massive loss on Wall Street yesterday, as the report essentially pushed the stock down as much as 55 percent on Tuesday.
The report, published initially by Eletric-Vehicles.com, claimed Lucid was essentially in dire straits and was told by AlixPartners, a commonly used restructuring advisor, to either take shares private or file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
Lucid’s head of Communications, Nick Twork, immediately challenged the report and stated the company “has sufficient liquidity to carry its operations well into next year.”
Now, the company’s CEO is chiming in as well, stating that the report is “so far from the facts that they require a direct response.”
Napoli said:
“Lucid is not considering bankruptcy or a transaction to take the company private. Those reports are false. The Board did not explore either scenario. Period.
As disclosed in our most recent quarterly filing, Lucid has sufficient liquidity to fund its operations well into next year.
We work with outside advisors to improve operational performance and execution. They are not advising Lucid on a take-private transaction or bankruptcy, and any suggestion that they have recommended either course of action to management or the Board is false.
My priority is clear: turn this company around. That is where the leadership team and I are focused.
I look forward to providing a full update during our quarterly earnings call on August 4th.”
🚨 Lucid CEO Silvio Napoli calls rumors of financial issues “so far from the facts that they require a direct response.”
Read his full remarks here: https://t.co/t3Pg1NHvzy pic.twitter.com/LvHUPhO4Qf
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) July 15, 2026
It seems pretty clear that Lucid is confident things will be okay, and, to be honest, they should not have much to worry about, especially considering the company has been backed by the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) for years. It has solid financial backing, and its sales, while weak, are pretty much right on par with a company of this age.
Lucid also sent a Cease & Desist letter to the publication for their report.
Lucid shares have rebounded nicely and are up nearly 21 percent at the time of publication. As soon as the company dispelled the rumors of bankruptcy yesterday, the stock began to climb back toward more reasonable levels.
Electric vehicle maker Lucid Group has denied rumors of an imminent bankruptcy after a report from this morning sent the stock on a dramatic drop on Wall Street, seeing losses of more than 40 percent during trading hours.
Lucid’s Director of Communications, Nick Twork, responded to the report from Eletric-Vehicles.com, which stated the company’s restructuring advisor, AlixPartners, was asked to review two decisions: taking Lucid shares private or filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
The report also claims AlixPartners told the Lucid board to “concentrate on Gravity production while improving its quality, and to temporarily hold back the Lucid Air, the sedan that has defined the company since its launch.”
Twork said:
$LCID The rumors are completely false. The company has sufficient liquidity to carry its operations well into next year, as recently published in its last quarterly filings, and it has not formed any special Board committee to explore the scenarios reported today. Our focus is…
— Nick Twork (@ntwork) July 14, 2026
Shares rebounded after the response to the report, halving its losses as the trading day neared 3 p.m. Eastern.
Lucid has struggled to get its sales off the ground and into more respectable numbers, but the company is in its early years, when things are hard to begin with. It is also backed by several notable investors, including the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF), which has nearly limitless money and likely would not ditch an investment of this size so soon.
Lucid shares were down just 14 percent at the time of publication, a far cry from the 55 percent its losses topped out at during the day.
Tesla enters two new markets on two different continents in one week
SpaceX announces new Starship 13 test flight target date
