Electric Vehicles

India needs less Tesla, more Toyota

6 Feb 2024

Hybrids - like those made by the Japanese marque - are taxed as luxuries, at a far higher rate than pure electric vehicles. As global EV sales growth falters and companies around the world slam the brakes on investments, India has fresh reason to level the playing field.

Red Sea delays are no panacea for European EVs

5 Feb 2024

Suez Canal blockages mean Chinese electric vehicles take longer to get to Europe. But these don’t look bad enough to close the price gap with EU rivals. The most likely upshot is a slower rate of domestic EV adoption, rather than a change in the competitive pecking order.

Elon Musk charts largely painless Delaware exodus

2 Feb 2024

Tesla’s boss is angling to reincorporate in Texas after the First State’s corporate judiciary undid his $56 bln pay package. Such a move would invite yet another lawsuit, but have little effect on investors. It also might give other cultish CEOs ideas on the value of governance.

Korea’s battery giants engineer volatile US gains

2 Feb 2024

LGES and Samsung SDI have announced more than $18 bln of investments to build factories Stateside. Thanks to generous tax credits from Washington, those bets could pay off. But slowing EV growth and policy risk – amplified by US elections this year – will be an unstable mix.

Capital Calls: Ferrari closes gap with Hermes

1 Feb 2024

Concise views on global finance: The Italian carmaker’s valuation looks more like its luxury rival Hermes after its record results.

Elon Musk is his own worst enemy: part 420

31 Jan 2024

A Delaware court nixed the Tesla CEO’s $56 bln pay package, finding rampant dysfunction behind it. The sum may have been justifiable, but the carnival barking that underpins the company’s valuation complicates matters. If investors keep enabling Musk, bad governance will persist.

Battery minerals pressure causes cracks Down Under

31 Jan 2024

Miner IGO is freezing a nickel project key to a near-$1 bln acquisition just 18 months ago. It’s also having trouble selling lithium. Falling commodity prices and slowing EV growth are proving problematic for many, including BHP. But bad dealmaking has compounded IGO’s pain.

GM’s good news is that it’s still GM

30 Jan 2024

The automaker forecast resilient profit for 2024, easing fears that striking workers had struck a hard enough bargain to drag the bottom line. Slipping pricing power and EV risks cast clouds, but a steady gas-guzzler business now seems enviable.

Renault’s green IPO hitch is blessing in disguise

30 Jan 2024

The $11 bln French carmaker decided not to list electric-vehicle division Ampere, citing market headwinds. CEO de Meo had hoped to value it at up to 10 bln euros, but a public float never looked like a must-have. The move will allow him to focus on the unit’s ambitious targets.

Tesla’s secret weapon: US automakers’ flaws

24 Jan 2024

The $650 bln electric-car maker’s fourth quarter continues to show the strain of stalling growth and falling prices as Chinese rivals rise. A long-sought cheap model is a ways off, but boss Elon Musk has one big fillip: old-guard rivals are still behind in his home market.

It will take more than Draghi to boost EU growth

22 Jan 2024

Europe can’t decide if it will be more competitive with open markets or heavily protected national champions, and it wants Mario Draghi to pick. Italy’s former PM is more likely to reflect than resolve tensions among members. But the bloc can’t up its game behind closed doors.

Capital Calls: Microsoft’s Russian hacker

22 Jan 2024

Concise views on global finance: The $3 trln tech firm disclosed that a nation-state hack accessed leaders’ email, saying it showed the need for potentially “disruptive” measures. It’s a worrying acknowledgement of the still-vague costs of geopolitical tensions for tech giants.

Elon Musk’s losing streak is heading for Tesla

17 Jan 2024

The billionaire wants 25% control at the $690 bln carmaker, after trimming his stake in part to finance an ill-advised deal for Twitter. Musk’s social-media frolic risked making him an absentee CEO; containing that threat means following bad governance with worse.

China’s auto exports can hold the fast lane

10 Jan 2024

The country has displaced Japan as the world's largest shipper of cars abroad, sending more than 5 mln overseas last year, per an industry group. Companies best known for gas guzzlers are among the winners. But EV makers like BYD are gaining share and will drive the trend on.

VinFast charges up its stock market unsuitability

9 Jan 2024

The $16 bln electric-vehicle maker has replaced both its CEO and CFO within five months of going public via a SPAC. The new boss is founder Pham Nhat Vuong, who owns almost all its stock. The latest moves are a reminder that VinFast looks and acts like a private firm.

Elon Musk can make Tesla a national champion

5 Jan 2024

The billionaire’s $745 bln car company faces rising rival BYD, growing backlash in Europe, and a deal landscape that’s impossible. Attempts to diversify rest on far-out ideas like dabbling in AI and robots. It has a better path: becoming a cornerstone of US infrastructure.

Tesla-BYD rivalry is mostly manufactured, for now

3 Jan 2024

Elon Musk’s outfit ceded its title of world’s biggest EV maker to the Chinese company. In a growing industry, that’s irrelevant, plus BYD has a home advantage. The longer-term danger to Tesla, assuming geopolitics doesn't upend its supply chain, is if its peer advances in tech.

Toyota will engineer a half-electric renaissance

27 Dec 2023

The world’s largest carmaker is playing catchup with electric upstarts like Tesla and China’s BYD, just as global demand for EVs slows. But boss Koji Sato will capitalise on the Japanese giant’s edge in hybrid vehicles as the tech enjoys a sudden renaissance.

Nio’s $2 bln Christmas gift requires some strings

19 Dec 2023

Shareholders welcomed the money-losing electric-car maker’s latest infusion from CYVN. But cash alone won’t put Nio on track unless it focuses and cuts costs. With a 20% stake and two board seats, the Abu Dhabi investor could push for some New Year’s Resolutions to boost returns.

Stellantis will cruise with GM and Ford

18 Dec 2023

The maker of Jeeps and Opels run by Carlos Tavares is one of Europe’s lowest-valued carmakers. Yet it generates much of its income in the US, and boasts industry-leading profit margins. Keeping a single New York listing could see its valuation match Detroit rivals.