(November 11, 2022) Today, Tesla Motors made an announcement it seems is meant to solve the issue of electric vehicle charging standards in North America. Tesla’s solution is to unilaterally declare their proprietary charging port is now open for all to use, and that it is now to be called…
Volkswagen marketing stunt name change to Voltswagen was either innocent, or a lie.
BMW stepping up its lithium battery game with a lithium supply deal to support battery manufacturing
In the 1880’s Gottlieb Wilhelm Daimler, who was co-founder of the Daimler Motor Group, parent company of several important automotive brands like Mercedes-Benz and Smart, developed several engine designs. The company he founded is now one of largest automakers in the world, and its reputation rests soundly on high quality…
Is Tesla operating by a plan, or by whim? A couple weeks ago Tesla announced they would be closing most of the stores, and convert many stores to be “galleries” in a move that would supposedly decrease costs and therefore allow Tesla the profit margin required to start selling the…
Last week Tesla announced they’d start selling the $35,000 MSRP Tesla Model 3, and achieving that goal required shifting sales to an online-only model and closing all Tesla retail stores. We were told to believe the shift in sales strategy meant Tesla would have enough profit margin to begin selling…
Today General Motors announced a plan to close several factories and to cancel several vehicle lines, including the Chevy Volt. GM’s press release discusses several plants being closed in a realignment of the company that will eventually see GM produce more electric vehicles, and more autonomous vehicles. One of those…
Nissan Motors has announced its former CEO and current Chairman, Carlos Ghosn, is alleged to have under-reported his compensation to Japanese authorities for years, hence committing tax and securities fraud. Subsequently he, and another Nissan board member, have been arrested by Japanese authorities, and there are allegations of similar misconduct…
Last week the Automotive Manufacturers and Importers Association of Romania monthly report of car sales showed a huge increase in sales of hybrid and all-electric cars in Romania. For the first 9 months of 2018 (Jan-Sep) such cars had a 2.6% market share versus a 1.9% market share in the…
In May 2014 I asked “what happens when Tesla Motors’ sales equals that of major traditional car makers like Porsche?” At the time I saw a Porsche press release with quarterly sales numbers where Porsche had sold 55,000 cars worldwide for Q1 2014, for an annualized sales rate of 165,000…
Is Elon Musk going insane? Or has Elon Musk started believing his own press releases? Those suggestions come from two different news articles analyzing the fallout from Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s suggestion to take Tesla private, and his subsequent interview with the NY Times in which he admitted this year…
If you “own” something but cannot “repair” it, do you really own the thing? The legal concept is the Right to Repair, that we all should have the right to fix or even upgrade the widgets we buy. Unfortunately many technology companies put up roadblocks in the way of the…
Tesla could be in a world of hurt from the brewing trade war with China, suggests a NBC News report. The Trump Administration is launching a trade war against the rest of the world (more or less), where China is a primary target, a move which is upsetting business plans that…
