What happened
Tesla (TSLA 9.74%) CEO Elon Musk is famous -- or notorious, depending on your point of view -- for his pronouncements. The electric vehicle (EV) maker's stock price can gyrate up or down depending on what Musk expresses on a particular day.
Sure enough, the boss' comment about an upcoming product made for lively trading Thursday with the shares, the price of which ended the day marginally lower.
Image source: Tesla.
So what
The subject was the futuristic Cybertruck, Tesla's version of a pickup. In an exchange on Twitter, Musk wrote the following:
"To be frank, there is always some chance that Cybertruck will flop, because it is so unlike anything else. I don't care. I love it so much even if others don't."
Musk was only repeating the "F" word. His tweet was a reaction to a story published Thursday on niche website The Truth About Cars with the incendiary headline "Opinion: Tesla's Cybertruck Will Be Company's First Flop."
In the story, writer Tim Healey took aim at the EV's looks, and opined that rival pickups -- including the high-profile Ford (F -0.25%) F-150 Lightning -- will likely be "more usable as trucks."
Now what
CEOs aren't supposed to admit that their products could be duds. But Musk has a high profile and a following largely because he isn't a CEO in the traditional mold. While some people undoubtedly turned bearish on his pronouncement about the Cybertruck, plenty of investors clearly still believe in the company's mission -- and in the actions of its colorful leader.
