Some owners could be invited to the unveiling of the Tesla semi-truck (TSLA)

pulse

June 17, 2017 2:31 PM

By participating in the carmaker's referral program, owners can collect some appealing extras.

Tesla teased images of a semi-truck at its annual shareholder meeting in early June, and CEO Elon Musk has said that the cover will pulled off the as-yet-unnamed freight vehicle in September.

In an newsletter item circulated on Saturday, Tesla reminded owners that by participating in the carmaker's referral program, they can collect some appealing extras. (Tesla outlined its currently spate of referral perks last month.)

One of these is an invite to the company's semi-truck reveal. You would need five referrals to score an invitation, which is good for the referrer and a guest.

Having attended a Tesla unveiling, for the Model 3 in March of 2016, and can say that Tesla throws a pretty fair party. The semi unveiling, if it goes off on schedule, ought to be worth the effort of getting five other people to take the plunge on a Model S or Model X simply because the Tesla semi is going to be, well, big.

It's also hard to imagine that Musk won't have some tricks in store for semi fans out there. In particular, I'm interested in what the truck's interior will look like. I suspect that it may borrow some elements from the space capsules designed by Musk's other company SpaceX.

That said, it's a very open question whether Tesla can gain any traction in the freight business. A group of well-established providers already divvy up the industry globally. Arguably, Tesla's semi will need to be more spectacular than anything it's built thus far.

pulse