Holy Mackerel! TSLA Plummets -- March 5, 2019 -- China Says Tesla 3s Bound For China Were Mis-Labeled

Updates

Later, 1:58 p.m. CT: going through the archives it was noted that Zachary Shahan appeared to be bullish on TSLA back on November 25, 2018, and argued that "cash on hand" for the company was just fine, and that investors were being misled for some reason or other. Be that as it may, how did TSLA do over the next few months:

Ouch. It appears that "cash on hand" was just one component that needed to be tracked.

Later, 1:11 p.m. CT: that misprinted label? Tesla says it was just a hiccup.  Something is very fish here -- or the reporting is incredibly bad. There was no explanation for "misprinting of the labels." Anyway, regardless, Tesla says this issue has been corrected, and Chinese customs authorities are now letting Model 3s into the country.

Original Post

Don't get mad, get even. Yesterday we reported that a lot of Chinese millionaires/billionaires were upset to learn that they overpaid for their Teslas. By a huge amount. Apparently those millionaires/billionaires have a direct line to President Xi. Xi did not get mad; he got even: banned further imports of the Tesla Model 3. At least that's the rumor.

China's Caixin news agency reported that customs officials in Shanghai had suspended clearances and were refusing to allow 1,600 Model 3s from entering the world's second largest economy as a result of mis-labeling on the electric vehicles that would have made them illegal to operate under Chinese law.

The Caixin report also said import suspension would prevent Model 3s that have already passed customs from being sold to Chinese customers until the labeling issue had been addressed.

Mis-labeling issue? In China, mis-labeling issues? The only thing I can think of: the cars did not have this label: "Made In China."

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The overall market is "flat" today after a bruising Monday. But TSLA is anything but flat. Now down another 5% in early morning trading, TSLA shares have dropped below $275 on relatively high volume.

See this over at SeekingAlpha.

I can come up with sixteen reasons why this is happening but anyone reading this far can come up with the same list, so let's do something more enjoyable:

Sixteen Reaons, Connie Stevens, "Mulholland Drive"