Investor's Corner
Tesla shifts to online-only sales, will close stores to drive vehicle costs down
Tesla will be closing some of its retail store locations in favor of pivoting to an online-only sales model. The news comes as the company launches the long-awaited $35,000 Tesla Model 3 and maintains focus on cost efficiencies, and cost reductions for its entire fleet of all-electric vehicles. “We’re moving all sales online…Worldwide, the only way to buy a Tesla will be online,” said CEO Elon Musk during a press call on Thursday afternoon.
Some Tesla galleries will remain open to allow customers to see and experience its all-electric vehicles before buying, but online purchases coupled with a revamped deposit, return, and refund process will be the primary platform for Tesla sales moving forward.
The online-only sales model looks to serve the main purpose of cutting costs to enable the $35,000 Standard Range Tesla Model 3 vehicle to exist at that price point. When asked whether the shuttering of retail locations would lead to staff layoffs, Musk was honest about that reality.
“We will be closing some stores, and there will be a reduction in headcount…Unfortunately, there’s no way around it,” he said. “We’re sort of in a binary choice. Reduce headcount and sell the $35,000 car and have fewer people, or not provide a $35,000 car.” The CEO also cited a 5-6% reduction in costs from transitioning to the online-only sales and that the savings would translate to a reduction in the price of the Model X and S vehicles as well.
Tesla’s solution to the franchise problem now is apparently to eschew in-person sales altogether. Whether this move is best described as defying convention or ignoring convention entirely is perhaps a matter of perspective, but the outcome is the same. Where Tesla had already cut out the traditional middleman dealer in its sales transactions, now it’s even cutting out the traditional sales person and pitch.
“I’m sure the franchise dealers will try to oppose us in some way, but to do so would be a fundamental restraint on interstate commerce and violate the Constitution. So, good luck with that,” Musk commented on the legal issue during the Q&A portion of Thursday’s call.
Tesla aims to make the buying process as frictionless as possible through a streamlined version of its online vehicle configurator. Musk explained,
“You can buy your car on your phone in about 1 minute in the US, and we will make it just as easy to [make] a 1 minute purchase in other countries as well,”
The ability to purchase a Tesla via the company’s website was already available before the announcement and making the full shift towards an online-only buying experience will have a negligible impact on consumers. “It’s 2019. People just want to buy things online.”
To compensate for losing the test drive component that’s associated with a physical sales locations, Tesla has extended its return policy to 7 days and up to 1,000 miles driven after making a $1,000 deposit, during which time a customer can obtain a full refund.
The retail closure announcement was piggybacked onto the main Tesla announcement of the day, anticipation having been built following a series of Tweets hinting at big news two days prior: Tesla’s $35k Model 3 has finally arrived, offering a 220-mile range and new interior options. The car’s 0-60 mph time is 5.6 seconds with a top speed of 130 mph. According to Tesla’s online configurator, the lowest priced variant is estimated to have a final cost of around $25,000 after tax credits and gas savings. Deliveries can be expected within 2-4 weeks from the purchase date.
With this long-time-coming “affordable EV” milestone finally under Tesla’s belt, its future is certainly going to become evermore exciting with the new possibilities it will enable.
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.
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