Tesla delays semi truck debut to focus on Puerto Rico aid and Model 3

Sorry Elon Musk fans: You'll have to wait another month to watch the Tesla CEO finally reveal the company's big semi truck design.

Musk will now unveil Tesla's highly anticipated new vehicle on Nov. 16, rather than Oct. 26 as planned. The pushback marks the second time Elon & Co. have delayed the semi truck's public debut; Musk first slated the reveal for September, then pushed the event into the next month.

Tesla plans to instead spend the month of October focusing its attentions on two more pressing issues: ironing out its highly publicized Model 3 production struggles and aiding in international storm recovery efforts.

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Musk, unsurprisingly, revealed the news in a tweet.

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Musk made waves earlier when he tweeted about his willingness to work with Puerto Rican officials on a plan to rebuild the island's storm-stricken power grid, an intriguing idea that's probably more of a pipe dream than a real potential solution. Still, Puerto Rico's governor took him up on his offer and reached out on Twitter.

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If their public exchange was genuine, the two spoke privately about Tesla's role in the recovery efforts today. Musk later replied to one of his followers to share some more insight about the immediate strategy to help in Puerto Rico.

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Impatient Model 3 pre-order customers might be just happy to hear that Tesla will buckle down on fixing the bottlenecks that kept the automaker from achieving its production goals by a huge margin this quarter. One of those solutions could be automating the production of parts that were still being produced by hand as recently as last month, according to a new report from the Wall Street Journal. Tesla reps denied those claims, but as Musk has said repeatedly and tweeted today, the company has challenges to solve to escape its "production hell."

Musk acknowledged that some customers might not have any way to know when their car will be ready for the foreseeable future, but reiterated the plans for a major production push in the month of December. Until any breakthrough, however, he had one message to fans with delivery timetable questions:

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Musk had one tasty tidbit for fans still interested in the Tesla semi truck. He tweeted that it's going to be even better than expected, even after a prototype was reportedly spotted out in the wild.

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Hopefully, Tesla is able to help out in Puerto Rico and breakthrough the Model 3 production issues before Nov. 16. The semi truck could be “the biggest catalyst in trucking in decades,” according to Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas — so it's probably worth waiting another month to see it.

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