BUFFALO, N.Y. — A big announcement is expected today from Tesla and its CEO, Elon Musk, about a new product that will be made here in Buffalo.
During the company's 3rd Quarter conference call Wednesday, Musk said that Tesla is ready to roll out what he called "Version 3" which are integrated solar roofing tiles. Details right now are limited, but Musk promised more information about the new product Thursday during the product launch.
During that call Musk said, "I think this is a great product. Versions 1 and 2, we were still kind of framing things up. Version 3 is finally ready for the big time. So we are scaling up production of Version 3 solar tile roof at our Buffalo gigafactory. And I think that this product is going to be incredible."
A report from Buffalo Business First describes the new model as a "highly-engineered, weather-tested version of the product that will ultimately drive the activity in the Buffalo factory."
You can listen to that entire call here.
The news comes after Tesla announced Wednesday evening that it had a strong 3rd Quarter in 2019. After that announcement, stocks shot up 20%, according to CNBC. Tesla reached its highest stock price since February.
The uptick was unexpected, as Tesla continues to deal with a lot of issues both internationally and at the South Buffalo plant. In September, CNBC reported that shareholders were filing a lawsuit against Elon Musk saying the $2.6 billion sale of SolarCity never should have happened. In the complaint, shareholders said that Musk hid facts about his involvement with his other company, Space-X. Musk has disputed the claims.
Meantime, there are a lot of questions about whether SolarCity will be able to meet hiring quotas set by New York State. The state paid $750 million to open the SolarCity plant. In exchange, Tesla promised 1,460 jobs by April of 2020. As of June of 2019, Tesla was falling about 600 jobs short, only employing about 800 people in South Buffalo. At that time, Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown says the city is hopeful Tesla will meet that quota.