WAITLIST NOW Musk teased the fourth Master Plan back in June 2024. “Working on the Tesla Master Plan 4,” Musk wrote on X at the time. “It will be epic.” In August of this year, he wrote in another post that “Master Plan 3 was too complex for almost anyone to understand,” and said “Master Plan 4 will be concise.” Tesla published the plan just a few days later. Despite its imprecision, essentially all materials Tesla has sent to shareholders about the vote promote the fourth Master Plan as a reason to approve the compensation package. It is highlighted on the pamphlets that instruct shareholders how to vote. It got a shoutout in Tesla’s third-quarter shareholder letter. It’s been referenced in interviews by board chair Robyn Denholm and design leader Franz von Holzhausen. “A few days ago, Elon unveiled an inspiring next chapter for Tesla with Master Plan, Part IV, which is focused on creating a Sustainable Abundance for all,” Denholm and fellow board member Kathleen Wilson-Thompson wrote in a September letter to shareholders, again without going into further specifics. “We are, and have always been, a company that thinks bolder, acts faster and strives for a better future. Master Plan, Part IV builds on that, by reimagining labor, mobility and energy and bringing AI into the physical world through products and services like FSD, Optimus and Robotaxi.” Denholm has been on a media blitz drumming up support for the $1 trillion pay package vote, but she has not been asked to lay out a clearer vision for Master Plan 4. She’s instead remained focused on the milestones Musk needs to meet to unlock the full $1 trillion of his pay package — almost all of which are watered down versions of the outrageous promises he’s made through the years. Musk himself has not directly brought up Master Plan 4 on X since his September 2 post about adding more specifics. He has spent much of the days before the shareholder vote promoting the compensation package, fear-mongering about immigrants, and spreading misinformation about the New York City mayoral election. It was only during an interview that von Holzhausen did with the Ride the Lightning podcast in October that someone brought up the vagueness of the plan. “[M]y initial reaction to it as a Tesla shareholder, Tesla owner, Tesla fan, and I saw a lot of this in the Tesla Community, was that it seemed like it was a little lacking in details compared to the previous Master Plans, which were pretty concrete,” host Ryan McCaffrey said, who then quickly pivoted to a more positive set of questions for the chief designer. “So, why are you excited about Master Plan Part 4 and sort of how is Tesla going to get this done? And that’s a big question,” McCaffrey asked. “We’ll do it in Tesla fashion of course,” von Holzhausen responded. Topics