Investor's Corner
Tesla stock (TSLA) maintains strength amid Chinese tariff rollbacks, Q4 Model 3 push
Tesla shares (NASDAQ:TSLA) appear to be keeping their momentum on Tuesday, trading as high as $369.80 after the opening bell. The electric car maker continues to show momentum amidst news of upcoming tariff rollbacks in China, as well as what could very well be another Model 3 push for the end of the fourth quarter.
Reports emerged on Tuesday stating that China is moving to cut import tariffs on American-made vehicles entering its shores. Due to the US-China trade war, vehicles from America such as Tesla’s electric cars are weighed down by a steep 40% import tariff. Citing people familiar with the matter, a Bloomberg report has noted that China is poised to cut import taxes to just 15%, following a meeting between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Argentina.
The publication’s sources noted that the specifics of the two countries’ deal have yet to be finalized. That said, the idea of reduced import tariffs has been warmly received by Wall Street. Other American carmakers such as GM and Ford both rose about 2% in Tuesday’s pre-market, and Tesla opened the day well into the green.
Tesla has maintained a strong brand in China despite its sales being weighed down by the ongoing trade war. The company has adopted strategies to protect its presence in the country, even announcing last month that it would “absorb” some of the 40% import tariffs to make its vehicles more affordable to Chinese buyers. That said, a 15% import tariff for the company’s electric cars would likely herald a big boost for Tesla’s sales in the country.
Tesla’s performance in a Chinese market with a 15% import tariff has been teased earlier this year. Prior to the start of the US-China trade war, after all, China’s Customs Tariff Commission under China’s cabinet announced that it would reduce car import duties from 20-25% to just 15%. Tesla promptly adjusted the prices of its vehicles after the announcement. The reaction of the market was notable, resulting in a Tesla gallery in Shanghai clearing out its entire Model X 75D inventory in 24 hours.
Apart from seemingly better headwinds in China, Tesla is also starting what could be its end-of-quarter Model 3 push. Elon Musk has been promoting the company’s vehicles on Twitter, even encouraging buyers to wish to acquire vehicles that were from canceled orders, as well as cars used as display units. Musk even noted that a full refund awaits those who would not be able to take delivery of their vehicles by the end of the year.
Important note for US Tesla buyers: Federal tax credit drops by $3750 in 3 weeks.
To be on the cancellation waitlist for delivery this year or if you want a display car, order at https://t.co/46TXqRJ3C1 or visit our stores. Full refund if Tesla can’t deliver your car this year.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 11, 2018
Tesla has shown a tendency to adopt an aggressive push for the Model 3 in the final months of a quarter. The company did this in Q1 when it was trying to hit a production rate of 2,500 Model 3 per week, and it did the same in the second quarter when the target was raised to 5,000 per week. In the third quarter, Tesla’s end-of-quarter push was characterized by what Elon Musk described as “delivery logistics hell” and a remarkable community-driven effort to help hand over vehicles to new owners.
This Q4, Tesla appears to be setting the stage for year another delivery blitz leading all the way until the end of December. Elon Musk previously noted that the company had acquired trucking capacity to avoid the delivery bottlenecks it faced in the third quarter. In a recent tweet, Musk further emphasized Tesla’s generous return policy for its vehicles, in what appears to be yet another gesture encouraging potential electric car buyers to purchase the company’s vehicles.
Disclosure: I have no ownership in shares of TSLA and have no plans to initiate any positions within 72 hours.
In a pointed message on X, Elon Musk warned that firms maintaining significant short positions in SpaceX over time face “very low” survival probability.
The statement comes amid post-IPO volatility for the rocket company, now trading under the ticker $SPCX.
The survival probability of firms who maintain a significant short position in SpaceX over time is very low
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 17, 2026
Five weeks after what was described as the largest IPO in history, the stock had fallen roughly 30% from its peak above $2.6 trillion, briefly surpassing Microsoft and Amazon in market value. Short sellers celebrated gains of about $8.7 billion, but Musk’s reply underscores his long-term conviction.
The warning directly echoes a detailed bullish analysis arguing that Starship’s cost reductions could unlock a multi-trillion-dollar space economy. Projects ranging from solar power beamed from orbit and asteroid mining to orbital data centers and Mars terraforming were projected to create over $100 trillion in new market capitalization.
In this vision, SpaceX acts as the essential infrastructure provider, akin to AWS for cloud computing, capturing monopoly-like revenues from launches, crew transport, and data traffic across a rapidly expanding frontier.
This is far from the first time Musk has targeted short sellers. With Tesla, he has repeatedly framed persistent bears as destined for major losses. In July 2024, Musk declared that once Tesla achieves full autonomy and volume production of Optimus robots, “anyone still holding a short position will be obliterated. Even Gates,” referencing Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates’ reported short bets.
Elon Musk reveals what Tesla stock surge could do to Bill Gates
Earlier, in 2018, he taunted shorts that they had “about three weeks before their short position explodes,” a remark followed by sharp stock gains. Musk has also called short selling “value destroying” and once suggested it “should be illegal,” viewing it as betting against innovation and progress.
Critics often dismiss Musk’s optimism as hype, especially when near-term metrics like quarterly deliveries or stock fluctuations disappoint.
Yet his pattern remains consistent: framing short positions against his companies as fundamentally misjudging exponential technological leaps. For SpaceX shorts, the message is clear: betting against multi-planetary ambitions and the infrastructure monopoly they enable carries existential risk for the firms involved.
As Musk and supporters see it, the space economy’s upside dwarfs Earth-bound valuation models, making today’s dips temporary in a decades-long ascent.
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.
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