Elon Musk teases Tesla news, changes Twitter name

Tesla chief executive Elon Musk promised to release some news about the electric-car maker in a series of tweets that he sent late Tuesday evening.

Musk -- who changed his Twitter name to “Elon Tusk," with an elephant emoji next to it -- said the news will be revealed on 2 p.m. California time Thursday. He did not provide any additional details, and a Tesla spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.

Shares of Tesla climbed on the tweets.

Last year, the eccentric billionaire talked about unveiling the Model Y in March 2019. Responding to a question about the much-awaited crossover SUV, Musk last May said he would reveal the vehicle March 15.

He later clarified that he made up that specific date “because the Ides of March sounded good” -- but noted that March was a very real possibility for the arrival of the Model Y.

“But consider it real,” he added. “We could unveil Model Y anytime from late this year to mid next year, so March 15 is about right.”

The way Musk chose to release the information could also potentially land him in more trouble with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which alleged in federal filings this week that he had violated a previous settlement by tweeting about Tesla’s 2019 production targets.

Last week, Musk wrote in a tweet that Tesla would produce 500,000 cars in 2019, a figure he later clarified would be closer to 400,000. The SEC determined that the initial tweet was not approved by Tesla before it was sent, according to the filing.

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Per the terms of the previous securities charges settlement -- a result of Musk abruptly tweeting in August that he was considering taking Tesla private -- Tesla was required to appoint two new independent directors to its board, in addition to putting into place controls to oversee Musk’s communication. Both Tesla and Musk were also fined $20 million each, a cumulative total of $40 million.