Is Tesla About To Announce A Motorcycle?

Tesla Motors Inc TSLA co-founder Elon Musk tweeted some surprising news today:

Major new Tesla product line -- not a car -- will be unveiled at our Hawthorne Design Studio on Thurs 8pm, April 30

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 30, 2015

"It's interesting that Musk would tweet [this] on the eve of the [New York] Auto Show," Kelsey Mays, consumer affairs editor for Cars.com, told Benzinga. "Very interesting that he would choose to signal a move by Tesla into a non-automotive sphere, but this is a guy who's doing SpaceX and things like that. He has plenty of experience outside of automotive and clearly Tesla has tons of brand equity."

Related Link: Elon Musk Founded Tesla Knowing Auto Startups Are 'At The Bottom Of The List'

Not A Car, But…

Analysts quickly shared their thoughts regarding what the announcement might entail. Many speculated that it will be a battery for the home, but Benzinga spoke to a couple experts who have another interesting theory. "He's been looking at motorcycles," Rob Enderle, principal analyst at Enderle Group, told Benzinga. "There's been a lot of people that have met with him [to discuss the matter]. Motorcycles would be a natural extension. They'd go right into the stores without any trouble at all." Sean Udall, CIO of Quantum Trading Strategies and author of The TechStrat Report, said that the rumored battery would be his first guess, but he could also envision a Tesla motorcycle. "The only other thing I could think of would be motorcycles," Udall told Benzinga. He said Tesla could buy one of the companies already working on electric motorcycles or build one from scratch. "I think that could be a home run," said Udall, adding that an electric battery could be efficient for motorcycles.

Batteries? Leave Them To Panasonic

Enderle said that a battery is something he would expect Panasonic Corporation (ADR) PCRFY to announce, not Tesla. "And it's a product [Musk said Tesla would announce], not a technology," Enderle explained. "If it's a battery thing, he'd announce a breakthrough. It would be a technology announcement, not a product one." Regardless of what is announced, Enderle isn't currently sold on the battery concept. "Doing batteries -- for what?" he questioned. "Is it going to be the new Radio Shack? If it's custom batteries, he's in direct competition with Panasonic, and that would be ugly. That's one of the core businesses Panasonic is in. But a motorcycle would be a no-brainer."

And Then There's That Flying Car Idea…

Enderle said that there has been "a lot of interest in electric-powered aircraft," but noted that the range isn't very good. Coincidentally (or perhaps not coincidentally), Musk tweeted about flying cars last week:

Contrary to press reports, I'm not against flying cars. Just said it was important to consider both pros and cons.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 24, 2015

Flying car pros: travel in 3D fast. Cons: risk of car falling on head much greater, noisy, grounded in bad weather

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 24, 2015

Reasons I like tunnels: you still travel in 3D fast, but immune to weather, quiet and no risk cars fall on your head

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 24, 2015

Right move is try both tunnels and flying cars. Otherwise, having 2D streets and 3D buildings means bad traffic forever.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 24, 2015

Enderle doesn't think Tesla is ready to move into this realm. Other than a motorcycle, he speculated that the company might be working on a scooter. Disclosure: At the time of this writing, Louis Bedigian had no position in the equities mentioned in this report.