At The Wall Street Journal, Charley Grant warns investors that Tesla is just as risky to own as it is to bet against. He writes: After a recent pullback, its market capitalization now merely hovers around $90 billion, about the combined value of Ford and General Motors. Projections of Tesla’s future market dominance in China have eclipsed the 8% decline in total revenue that it reported for the third quarter. Analysts expect a second consecutive quarterly profit when Tesla unveils full-year results and another stock surge is certainly possible if that proves correct. But such exuberance … [Read more...]

An increasing number of American car-buyers are borrowing more than the value of a vehicle they are purchasing in order to pay off loans attached to their previous vehicles. These "underwater" buyers are reminiscent of many homeowners during the collapse of the housing market who were paying on mortgages for more than their homes were worth. AnnaMaria Andriotis and Ben Eisen report in The Wall Street Journal: Some 33% of people who traded in cars to buy new ones in the first nine months of 2019 had negative equity, compared with 28% five years ago and 19% a decade ago, according to … [Read more...]

Companies like GM, Toyota and Nissan have been trying to compete against Tesla for years with sub-par electric vehicle offerings. Inexpensive, but ultimately not up to the standards of vehicles produced under Elon Musk's guidance. Now, however, Tesla's years of minimum competition may be over. High-end automakers like Jaguar and Audi are bringing new models to customers with features and performance that rival Tesla, and according to some analysts are stealing market share from the electric vehicle pioneer. Maggie Fitzgerald reports for CNBC: Competition is weighing on Tesla’s sales, … [Read more...]

Back in September of 2018, the SEC sued Elon Musk over tweets in which the agency claimed he had made “false and misleading statements.” The issue involved statements Musk had made about potentially taking Tesla private, and funding for that effort which he told his followers was "secured." Now another federal agency is coming for Musk over statements he's made regarding Tesla. This time, it's the National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). The agency is upset over Musk's claims that the Model 3 sedan Tesla is building has the “lowest probability of injury of any vehicle … [Read more...]

Uber executive Brooks Entwistle tells Reuters that Africa is a target for potential expansion for Uber. The continent's low personal car ownership and population growth are tailwinds for a service such as Uber. Alexis Akwagyiram reports for Reuters: In much of sub-Saharan Africa there are low levels of personal car ownership, rapidly expanding populations and a lack of efficient mass transport systems in fast-growing cities. Uber, which said it has 36,000 active drivers in sub-Saharan Africa, operates in a number of countries in East and South Africa but is largely absent from West Africa, … [Read more...]

Adam Jonas, an analyst for Morgan Stanley, has lowered his bear case estimate for Tesla share prices from $97 to just $10. Jonas isn't the only analyst lowering expectations for Tesla though. Now that prices have fallen 48% since shares hit $376.79 in December, Wall Street analysts have come to the conclusion that they can no longer risk their reputations on a bullish case for Tesla. Bloomberg's Oliver Ssachgau and Tom Lavell report: “Demand is at the heart of the problem,” analysts led by Adam Jonas said in a note. “Tesla has grown too big relative to near-term demand, putting great strain … [Read more...]

For ten straight months auto sales have fallen in China. April saw another sharp decline of 14.6% compared to the year before. Trefor Moss reports at MarketWatch: Vehicle sales were down 14.6% year over year at 1.98 million, the government-backed China Association of Automobile Manufacturers said on Monday, as concerns over the Chinese economy's growth prospects sapped consumer confidence. Sales had declined 11.3% in the first quarter of 2019, having fallen 12% and 9.6% in the two previous quarters, respectively. Passenger-car sales were down 17.7% in April, while sales of commercial … [Read more...]

Lithium based batteries are the best mass-production batteries in the world today, but they have a nasty habit of exploding. Can engineers solve the batteries' problems or is a new approach needed? Bloomberg's Brian Eckhouse and mark Chediak report: Another lithium-ion battery has exploded, this time at an energy-storage complex in the U.S. At least 21 fires had already occurred at battery projects in South Korea, according to BloombergNEF. But this latest one, erupting on Friday at a facility owned by a Pinnacle West Capital Corp. utility in Surprise, Arizona, marked the first time it has … [Read more...]