Did Elon Musk Make His BIG Announcement Yet -- The Announcement Was Supposed To Have Been Made At 5:00 P.M ET -- February 28, 2019

Updates

Later, 9:02 p.m. CT: yes, I guess that was the "big news." Elon Musk closing showrooms. Oh, and, finally bringing the $35,000 Model 3 to market. Link at WSJ.

Original Post 

Link here.

Tesla website down. Clicking on Tesla website directs one to a "teaser" page.

All orders are suspended pending the announcement.

Apparently Tesla announced a $35,000 Model 3, and plans to close most physical stores and galleries. It will be interesting to see if the Tesla store in downtown Southlake, TX, across from the Apple store.

Closing "all" / "most" physical stores doesn't seem to be a good marketing mood, but then, again, what do I know? I enjoyed going into the Tesla showroom in Southlake, and it must have given folks a "warm feeling" to know there was someone they could to in person about the car. So, shutting down showrooms seems to be nothing more than a huge admission that the company needs to find cash wherever possible.

By the way, the company has a-nearly-$1 billion loan due tomorrow, Friday, March 1, 2019.

But it looks like that was the "big" news. This from CNN.

To achieve the $35,000 price tag, Tesla said it was shifting sales worldwide to online only. It was also changing its return policy, allowing customer to bring back a car within 7 days or 1,000 miles for a full refund. 

When asked by a reporter whether he anticipated Tesla will turn a profit during the first quarter of 2019, Musk said it isn't likely — but Tesla could be in the black by Q2. 

Tesla had a rough 2018 after months of manufacturing hangups and delays rolling out the Model 3. But the company surprised investors by posting back-to-back quarterly profits at the end of 2018. 

But it hasn't all been good news: Tesla announced it was laying off about 7% of its full-time workers in January. 

So, I have no idea what's going on.

In anticipation of the announcement, Tesla was up $5/share in trading during the day, but after-hours, after the announcement, shares dropped $11.