Electric Vehicles

Viewsroom: Electric-car global roundup; Facebook

7 Oct 2021

Rivian drops its IPO prospectus, Volvo readies its public market return, Hertz brings on a car guy and GM gets a thumbs up from Engine No. 1. Antony Currie puts it all together. And what does Facebook’s outage mean for shareholders? Gina Chon and Richard Beales weigh in.

Capital Calls: Pandora, Facebook files pack punch

4 Oct 2021

Concise views on global finance: A leak with rich people’s offshore activities and a Facebook exposé reinforce perceptions with facts; GitLab’s float shows Microsoft’s wise 2018 buy; Volvo IPO aims to supercharge EV plans; BT’s bid to rule UK broadband may face U.S. competition.

Polestar SPAC offers sober detour on EV hype road

27 Sep 2021

The Swedish electric-car maker is merging with Guggenheim Partners’ blank-cheque vehicle at a $20 bln valuation. A suitably racy revenue multiple needs turbocharged growth to avoid future potholes. But unlike rival Lucid, Chinese-owned Polestar at least has existing production.

Tesla crash-tests India’s industrial focus

16 Sep 2021

Elon Musk wants the country to cut sky-high import tariffs. Speeding his luxury vehicles onto roads might give New Delhi’s electrification goals a flashy endorsement. But there would be little real impact. India’s push for a clean mobility revolution can charge up without Tesla.

Capital Calls: AMC, German pet retailer

8 Sep 2021

Concise views on global finance: The movie theater chain enjoyed bumper Labor Day attendance; a trio of private equity suitors are circling Zooplus.

Electric vehicles will short-circuit car dealers

7 Sep 2021

Booming auto sales have buoyed shares in middlemen like $7.6 bln U.S.-based AutoNation and $357 mln UK-listed Pendragon. Battery rides need fewer parts and rely on over-the-air software updates. That’s great for carmakers but means dealerships risk becoming glorified garages.

VW-style tech hype calls for defensive driving

6 Sep 2021

CEO Herbert Diess says the “gamechanger” for his industry will be software and autonomous cars, with the former a $1.4 trln global market by 2030. Such a Panglossian take relies on fleets of robo-taxis and driver-downloads galore, plus manoeuvring past tech leaders like Alphabet.

Viewsroom: Scoring Ronaldo’s return to Man Utd

2 Sep 2021

Shareholders cheered the prolific Portuguese striker’s surprise decision to rejoin his former club in England. His three-year stint at Juventus, though, was hardly a clear financial victory. Plus: An $80 bln IPO valuation for electric-truck maker Rivian would be too racy.

Rivian $80 bln IPO valuation risks electric shock

30 Aug 2021

The 12-year-old electric-truck maker is well funded and has credible backers like Ford and BlackRock. Another, Amazon, will buy 100,000 of its vans. Still, a price tag that high allows no room for error for a nascent manufacturer driving into a competitive market.

Electric-car crash is double pain for Evergrande

30 Aug 2021

The Chinese property developer’s unit saw its equity value fall 90% in four months to just $8 bln. Founder Hui Ka Yan is adept at finding money when the going gets bumpy, but EV makers rely on high values to lure fresh funds. It represents a dead end for its indebted parent too.

Capital Calls: Forbes catches SPAC wave

27 Aug 2021

Concise views on global finance: The business brand and magazine has agreed to merge with a blank-check firm in a $630 million deal, upping its value since last time it changed hands.

Chinese car battery giant reaps crackdown dividend

17 Aug 2021

CATL is raising $9 bln through a private placement, as jittery investors rotate funds into sectors insulated from policy risk. Able to easily raise cash at frothy valuations and plough it into overseas expansion, CATL could give rivals LG Chem and Panasonic an electric shock.

Capital Calls: Oatly, Sonos/Google

16 Aug 2021

Concise views on global finance: The Swedish oat milk producer’s decent results are only good in parts; Sonos gets a boost with a preliminary trade ruling that Google infringed its patents.

Jakarta’s battery drive is on a bumpy road

11 Aug 2021

Hyundai and LG are among those investing to make electric vehicle batteries in Indonesia. The nickel producer is limiting exports as it claws up the resource value chain but its long timeline to electrification means technologies may be disrupted before there is enough demand.

Li Auto’s Hong Kong debut extends battery hedge

3 Aug 2021

The New York-traded carmaker aims to raise $1.9 billion by adding an HKEX listing. Unlike peers Xpeng and Nio, it sells hybrids, with no pure-electric models on the road until 2023. It’s a wager on a slower energy transition in China that could bring profitability before rivals.

Ferrari’s new boss faces early electric test

2 Aug 2021

The EU wants to ban new fossil fuel-powered cars from 2035. That’s likely to force incoming CEO Benedetto Vigna to accelerate the $42 bln sports-car maker’s plans to shift to battery power. How to do that without denting its luxury margins will require some deft driving.

SPAC sheriff shows up not a moment too soon

29 Jul 2021

The U.S. Department of Justice accused electric-truck maker Nikola’s founder Trevor Milton of making false and misleading statements. He had already stepped down from the $5 bln firm. But investors have started pushing back elsewhere. These are needed steps to legitimize SPACs.

Volkswagen makes timid bet on brave new car world

29 Jul 2021

A group led by the German carmaker will pay $3.4 bln for Europcar. The rental company’s city sites may help CEO Herbert Diess sell new services like subscriptions and self-driving taxis. But keeping the unit at arm’s length suggests caution at odds with the optimistic vision.

Apollo SPAC offers cheap ride on EV hype freeway

28 Jul 2021

Electric vehicle charging group Allego is listing through one of the buyout firm’s blank-cheque companies for $3 bln. It’s a crowded space, but a valuation multiple of 5 times 2024 sales is less racy than rivals. Still, only booming battery car demand will avoid a short-circuit.

Tesla comes of age at just the right time

26 Jul 2021

Elon Musk’s carmaker charged past $1 bln in quarterly profit for the first time. Margins finally rival leaders like Toyota. It’s yet to mature into its $620 bln valuation. But growing pains at Lucid and other upstarts make Tesla’s push to validate its price look less fanciful.