Electric Vehicles

Toyota takes Prius joyride to eventual dead end

4 Apr 2019

The $170 bln Japanese automaker will open some 24,000 hybrid-related patents to rivals. Such technology may be headed for obsolescence as policymakers push for even cleaner options. For now, Toyota puts itself in better position to navigate the tortuous road to electrification.

Nio’s financial road rage accomplishes very little

1 Apr 2019

As part of its IPO, China’s $5 bln Tesla wannabe blocked advisers including Citi and Goldman from working with rivals for a year, Reuters reports. Such cutthroat tactics betray a new sense of urgency in the electric-car race. Neither Nio nor bankers have much to gain, however.

Volvo’s green car forecast flashes an amber light

29 Mar 2019

Boss Hakan Samuelsson says electric vehicles will be as lucrative as gas guzzlers by 2025. Taken at face value, that's optimistic, given Tesla, BYD and Nio struggle to break even. It's also a warning: making traditional engines ever cleaner and more efficient is driving up costs.

China property giants face call of tech sirens

27 Mar 2019

The $45 bln Evergrande and peers reported bumper earnings for last year despite slowing overall sales. Home prices are rising, debt is stabilising and policy seems friendlier. Shareholders could relax, were developers not also plowing into electric cars and robots.

Elon Musk’s balancing act requires capital support

14 Mar 2019

Tesla’s latest SUV extends its line but threatens to dent Model 3 sales and whack earnings. It’s a fresh complication for a CEO fighting with the SEC and flip-flopping over store closures. A cash injection, say by selling a stake in its self-driving unit, could smooth the ride.

Elon Musk fires up engine for short-seller battle

28 Feb 2019

Tesla’s CEO is finally selling Model 3s for $35,000, and shutting most of the firm’s stores to pay for it. So it will soon be clear whether he has built the profitable mass-market electric-car maker he’s long promised, or a business fast running out of juice as his foes contend.

Musk might just talk himself into a Tesla buyout

26 Feb 2019

The electric-car maker’s CEO and the SEC are in battle again over a recent tweet. At worst, the watchdog could force him out. But what then? Tesla’s stock would tumble, putting the firm in play – and potentially letting Musk revive the takeover idea that first got him in trouble.

Brexit paints go-slower stripe on UK car industry

19 Feb 2019

Plant closures like Honda’s in Swindon raise the spectre of decline for Britain’s auto sector. Yet the underperforming site always looked vulnerable. The bigger test is whether global carmakers want to build electric vehicles in the UK. Brexit will prove a huge deterrent.

Amazon primes delivery of its vehicular future

13 Feb 2019

The $820 bln retailer may take a stake in electric-truck maker Rivian. That’d be its third mobility play this year. It’s unlikely Amazon aims to build cars. Instead, along with its robotics and cloud efforts, such investments should allow it to tackle mounting logistics concerns.

Tesla CFO exit news is flashback to bad old days

31 Jan 2019

The electric-car maker’s new board chair and directors may be helping to tone down CEO Elon Musk’s overwrought promises and tweets. But his decision to wait until the end of an earnings call to disclose that Tesla’s finance chief is leaving shows Musk remains firmly at the wheel.

Tesla’s 2019 becoming a matter of flourish or fold

30 Jan 2019

CEO Elon Musk presided over a second profitable quarter. But U.S. Model 3 demand may be tapering off, competition and customer gripes abound, and there’s little cash for investment. Musk needs electrifying sales in Europe and China to prove the $53 bln Tesla’s staying power.

The end of gasoline-powered cars is nigh. Soonish.

28 Jan 2019

Sales of electric vehicles doubled last year while the overall market stagnated. China and California led the charge. The internal combustion engine still dominates, but demographics, governance and economics suggest that dynamic is not far from breaking hard.

Evergrande’s desperation to drive could find road

24 Jan 2019

The Chinese conglomerate’s health unit is making another quirky bet on electric vehicles as the property market at its core stalls. Yet a $900 mln move for NEVS might make more sense than earlier purchases if Evergrande can use it to help startups overcome production problems.

Toyota JV recharges Panasonic’s battery business

23 Jan 2019

The two Japanese companies are uniting to power electric vehicles. It should provide a technological step forward for the $200 bln automaker, but also reduce Panasonic’s dependence on Elon Musk’s Tesla. Toyota’s control, though, may yet limit plans to sell to other manufacturers.

Musk’s rare dose of realism could serve Tesla well

18 Jan 2019

The electric-car maker’s CEO effectively issued the firm’s first profit warning, saying it needs “luck” to turn a “tiny” profit this quarter and cutting staff. If this is the start of a more pragmatic approach by the firm after years of Musk overpromising, that’s no bad thing.

Bad governance caps VW-Ford convoy’s top speed

15 Jan 2019

The two automakers will build vans and pickups together and may cooperate on electric and self-driving vehicles. Sharing the costs of long-term projects with uncertain returns is smart. A merger would make more sense, but powerful shareholders' supervoting stock makes that hard.

GM’s good cheer is likely to run out of gas

11 Jan 2019

Mary Barra juiced the $50 bln automaker’s shares by forecasting 10 pct earnings growth. That pierced the gloom that tariffs, slowing sales and self-driving skepticism have cast over Detroit’s annual show. But relying on cost cuts and new trucks makes profit gains hard to sustain.

Geely flags Chinese car pileup ahead

8 Jan 2019

The $13 bln automaker is forecasting flat sales for the year ahead, following a 20 pct rise last year. Demand is cooling after years of blistering growth, forcing companies to downshift. Politics and over-investment are mostly to blame, but that’s scant comfort to investors.

Lyft, Uber IPOs will drain Tesla’s scarcity value

3 Jan 2019

Electric vehicles check boxes for sustainability-minded investors. But the ride-hailing firms’ ubiquity and self-driving ambitions will give U.S. public shareholders new options beyond Elon Musk’s carmaker. Lyft’s growth and ESG credentials could make it the most desirable ride.

Elon Musk steers Tesla toward bad old Motown ‘hood

2 Jan 2019

The electric-car maker’s CEO might sustain demand by cutting prices to offset a reduced tax break for buyers. But that could slash earnings in half. Putting volume over profit was one of Ford and GM’s pre-crash mistakes, hurting quality too. Musk is driving down a similar road.