Tesla Motors has a conference call for its 3rd quarter 2014 results next Wednesday, Nov. 5th, and Elon Musk recently called out a half-baked Tesla Motors article in the WSJ last Monday, specifically, its North American sales numbers:
Financial analysts and social media chatter have focused on these "debated" North American sales numbers, but my curiosity leans toward the delivery numbers for China and Hong Kong with this conference call.
Asia could be a huge stock driver (full disclosure: owner of Tesla shares) and surprise some analysts with a larger delivery numbers, due to the new production line capability built back in July at the Fremont plant.
What signs are pointing towards Asia? An article on Bloomberg.com says Tesla Motors car owners are now exempt from paying a $12,000 (U.S) registration fee for a car in Shanghai. Other cities in China are examining this policy too, according to Bloomberg.
Nearby Hong Kong has also lifted its sizable registration fee for the electric car maker and this tiny "city/state" is a "trend-setter for the region," according to Beth McKenna in a recent Motley Fool article.
Even though Hong Kong resembles New York City's population density, Tesla Motor plans on building another eight superchargers to give it a total of ten by the end of 2015—HK only has a land mass of 465 square miles.
According to a press release on the Hong Kong's government web site, Veronica Wu, VP of China Operations for Tesla says, "Tesla Motors has plans to more than double its workforce in Hong Kong to more than 100 people by the end of the year."
So is Tesla's sales strategy to considerably move away from Europe and concentrate sales efforts for the near term in China, Hong Kong and Japan? It seems possible with Tesla's new production line capability and the low-hanging sales fruit that Elon Musk likes.
Larger than expected Model S deliveries to Asia for the 3rd quarter would drive the stock through the roof next week. Food for thought as the hype builds.