F - Ford Motor Company
9.35 +0.03 (0.32%)
After hours: 7:59PM EST
| Previous close | 9.11 |
| Open | 9.11 |
| Bid | 9.32 x 34100 |
| Ask | 9.34 x 3200 |
| Day's range | 9.10 - 9.36 |
| 52-week range | 7.41 - 10.56 |
| Volume | 46,680,879 |
| Avg. volume | 34,358,653 |
| Market cap | 37B |
| Beta (5Y Monthly) | 1.06 |
| PE ratio (TTM) | 23.30 |
| EPS (TTM) | 0.40 |
| Earnings date | 4 Feb 2020 |
| Forward dividend & yield | 0.60 (6.59%) |
| Ex-dividend date | 2019-10-21 |
| 1y target est | 10.09 |
- Yahoo Finance
The best movies and TV shows about business we watched in 2019
From "Succession" to the two Fyre Festival documentaries, Yahoo Finance staff pick the best business movies and TV shows of the year.
- Financial Times
Investors can change the narrative on climate transition
There is a moment in Naomi Klein’s recent book on climate change, On Fire, where the environmental campaigner considers the question of what individuals can do to tackle the challenge of global warming. Ms Klein is talking here about consumption, and savaging the idea that we can achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050 — or anything near it — through individual choices, such as eating fewer T-bone steaks, installing loft insulation, or buying a hybrid motor car.
- Bloomberg
Waymo’s Autonomous Taxi Service Tops 100,000 Rides
(Bloomberg) -- More than 100,000 trips have been taken in robotaxis operated by Waymo, the self-driving car unit of Alphabet Inc. Now the service is expanding to iPhone users.On the first anniversary of its pilot program in Chandler, Arizona, Waymo said it will begin offering an iOS app for its robot ride-hailing service for iPhones. It also revealed new details of the pioneering robotaxi service, which has been slow to offer fully autonomous service without human “safety drivers” behind the wheel to take over in an emergency.Waymo, which began a decade ago as Google’s self-driving car project, said its service has 1,500 monthly users and has tripled the number of weekly rides since January. Since late summer, Waymo has ramped up a “rider only” option without human safety drivers to a test group of a few hundred commuters. While those people weren’t always charged initially, they are now paying rates that are competitive with Uber and Lyft ride-hailing services, according to a Waymo spokeswoman.Most Waymo rides occur in the late afternoon and evening, with commuters using the service for everything from getting to work to having a “date night,” Dan Chu, the company’s chief product officer, wrote in a blog post.The service is expanding and will add more riders who will join a wait list by using the new iOS app. The service has been available on Android phones since the spring.Still, John Krafcik, Waymo’s chief executive officer, told reporters in October he is unsure when commercial robotaxis will take off. General Motors Co. has delayed the rollout of its service and Ford Motor Co.’s CEO has said the industry overestimated the arrival of self-driving cars.“It’s an extremely challenging thing to do,” Krafcik told reporters at a dinner in Detroit. “I do share your sense of uncertainty, even in my role. I don’t know precisely when everything is going to be ready, but I know I am supremely confident that it will be.”(Updates with comment from company spokeswoman in third paragraph.)To contact the reporter on this story: Keith Naughton in Southfield, Michigan at knaughton3@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Craig Trudell at ctrudell1@bloomberg.net, Alistair BarrFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
- Zacks
"Trash" Stocks Riding on Waste Recycling Spree
Urbanization and population growth leads to waste generation. However, this provides an opportunity for waste management companies to grow.
- Bloomberg
Carmakers Shed 80,000 Jobs as Electric Shift Upends Industry
(Bloomberg) -- It’s turning out to be one of the worst years ever for auto workers across the globe amid shrinking demand and a tectonic shift in vehicle technology, with Daimler AG and Audi announcing almost 20,000 job cuts in just the past week.All told, carmakers are eliminating more than 80,000 jobs during the coming years, according to data compiled by Bloomberg News. Although the cuts are concentrated in Germany, the U.S. and the U.K., faster-growing economies haven’t been immune and are seeing automakers scale back operations there.The German companies joined General Motors Co., Ford Motor Co. and Nissan Motor Co. in massive retrenchments put in motion over the past year. The industry is sputtering as trade tensions and tariffs raise costs and stifle investment, and as manufacturers reassess their workforce in an era of electrification, autonomous driving and ride-on-demand services.The global auto industry will produce 88.8 million cars and light trucks this year, an almost 6% drop from a year ago, according to researcher IHS Markit. German auto-industry lobby VDA on Wednesday predicted that the decline will continue next year, forecasting global deliveries of 78.9 million vehicles, the lowest level since 2015.The pace of job cuts in the home of Mercedes-Benz, Porsche and BMW is expected to be “more pronounced in 2020,” VDA President Bernhard Mattes said at a press conference in Berlin, adding that the technology shift alone could lead to the loss of 70,000 jobs over the next decade.“A fundamental structural change with enormously high investments at a time of deteriorating market dynamics -- the tension is being felt at many companies,” said Mattes.Cuts are also being carried out in China, which employs the largest number of people in the industry and has been mired in a sales slump. Electric-vehicle startup NIO Inc., which has lost billions of dollars and watched its New York-listed shares plummet, dismissed about 20% of its workforce by the end of September, shedding more than 2,000 jobs.“The persistent slowdown in global markets will continue to dent automakers’ margins and earnings, which have already been hurt by increased R&D spending for autonomous-driving technology,” said Gillian Davis, an analyst with Bloomberg Intelligence. “Many automakers are now focused on cost-saving plans to prevent margin erosion.”Being an early leader in electrification hasn’t spared Nissan, which has been in turmoil since the arrest of former Chairman Carlos Ghosn a year ago.With profits plumbing decade lows, the Japanese automaker is shedding 12,500 positions in the coming years, mostly at factories across the globe, to reduce costs as it rushes to refresh an aging model lineup. A redesigned version of the battery-powered Leaf, which debuted later than planned because of the loss of the company’s longtime leader, isn’t giving the company much of a boost this year.Factory-floor workers have been rising up against the retrenching. GM’s more than 46,000 U.S. hourly workers staged a 40-day-long strike this fall — the longest against the company in almost half a century — but managed to coax the company into keeping open only one of the four American factories it made plans to shutter a year ago.On Nov. 22, about 15,000 people marched in the streets to protest job cuts and factory closures in Stuttgart, the German city that’s home to the global headquarters of Daimler, Porsche and major parts supplier Robert Bosch GmbH.Protesters in the historic downtown square of Schlossplatz wore red scarfs, blew whistles and waved red flags in support of Germany’s powerful labor union IG Metall, which organized the demonstrations. Top union officials who represent workers at Mercedes-Benz, Audi and many parts makers claim the companies are using the shift toward EVs as an excuse to push through deeper cuts and boost profits.“We don’t let our jobs be taken away just because some managers haven’t done their homework,” Roman Zitzelsberger, the regional head of IG Metall in the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg and the worker representative on Daimler’s supervisory board, told the crowd.The job concerns proved to be justified. Audi announced a week later it will eliminate as many as 9,500 positions in Germany through 2025 as parent Volkswagen AG prepares for a costly transition to electric vehicles. Daimler announced plans to shed more than 10,000 worldwide.If it were a country, the auto industry would be the world’s sixth-largest economy, according to Fircroft, a technical job-placement firm. In Germany alone, when including local operations of foreign manufacturers, about 150,000 jobs might be at risk in coming years, according to estimates by the Center of Automotive Management, near Cologne.The clouds started to form for U.S. carmakers last year, when Ford revealed plans for a years-long, $11 billion restructuring. The company has made a series of piecemeal announcements since then, slashing roughly 10% of its global salaried ranks and shutting six plants: three in Russia and one apiece in the U.S., U.K. and France. Of roughly 17,000 jobs Ford is eliminating, 12,000 will be in Europe.The state of car-factory jobs in the U.S. is less clear, mainly thanks to the new contracts Detroit-area automakers have been negotiating for the next four years.The prospects looked somewhat bleak for the United Auto Workers union when talks began this summer. With vehicle demand slowing, production shifts were being pared back across the country — by Nissan at its truck-and-van plant in Mississippi, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV at its Jeep Cherokee SUV factory in Illinois and Honda at an Ohio plant that mostly makes Accord sedans. Workers fear plug-in cars, which have fewer parts and require less labor to build, will doom auto jobs.In the end, the UAW has announced commitments by GM, Ford and Fiat Chrysler to invest almost $23 billion in U.S. facilities over the course of the next four years, and to add or retain more than 25,000 jobs. While that sounds like a lot, it remains to be seen whether the spending will actually boost production. It costs the companies billions to convert or retool existing factories for them to make new cars and powertrains.The union also didn’t emerge without some bruising losses, with the most notably being its lost battle to save GM’s spacious car plant in Lordstown, Ohio. The factory, opened in 1966, became a political football when the company announced production of Chevrolet Cruze sedans would end in March. President Donald Trump told supporters a year and a half earlier not to sell their homes, assuring them his administration would bring jobs back. GM sold the complex to cash-strapped electric-truck startup Lordstown Motors Corp. last month.For Scott Brubaker, GM’s offloading of the Lordstown plant could be a one-way ticket out of the auto industry. The automaker transferred him to its Corvette sports-car plant in Bowling Green, Kentucky, which meant leaving an Ohio farm his family has owned for four generations.The idling of the factory left him with two options: live in his camper trailer in Bowling Green and commute home on weekends, or take a $75,000 severance check from GM and find a new job near Lordstown. He has an offer to work for a company clearing land for developers, but it pays $5 an hour less than GM, and he says it would cost him his pension. Lordstown Motors is still raising money for its electric trucks, and Brubaker has his doubts it will succeed.“I went to GM for good pay and benefits,” Brubaker said. “What we did in the plant we did successfully, and GM still pawned us off.”(Adds comments from German auto lobby beginning in fourth paragraph)\--With assistance from Kristie Pladson, Keith Naughton, Gabrielle Coppola, Craig Trudell, Cécile Daurat and Chris Reiter.To contact the reporters on this story: Christoph Rauwald in Frankfurt at crauwald@bloomberg.net;David Welch in Southfield at dwelch12@bloomberg.net;Anurag Kotoky in New Delhi at akotoky@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Emma O'Brien at eobrien6@bloomberg.net, Reed Stevenson, Michael TigheFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
- TechCrunch
Ford to shut down GoRide Health service and pivot to AV research
Six months ago, Ford laid out an ambitious plan to expand its GoRide Health transportation service with an aim at delivering thousands of rides every day to hospitals, doctor offices and other health care facilities by the end of the year. In a few weeks, the service, which provided transportation for non-emergency care, will no longer exist — at least in its current form. GoRide Health is pivoting.
- Bloomberg
Trump Stocks His Cabinet Increasingly With Business Lobbyists
(Bloomberg) -- In his previous life as a lobbyist, Dan Brouillette represented clients including Ford Motor Co. and electric utilities with business before the U.S. Energy Department. Now he’s on the verge of running the very agency he once sought to influence.Brouillette, who was confirmed as Energy secretary by the Senate on Monday evening, is the latest example of how K Street has deepened its presence in the upper echelon of the Trump administration. Departing cabinet officials are being replaced by former lobbyists who are now in a position to oversee industries they once represented.“There is the perception that lobbyists -- who are often paid a lot of money to influence government to act a certain way -- will continue to pursue that agenda while in government and give privileged access to clients who used to pay their salary,” said Delaney Marsco, legal counsel on ethics for the nonpartisan watchdog group Campaign Legal Center. “The public’s interests should always be the number one priority.”Trump’s original cabinet had two former lobbyists: U.S. Trade Representative Robert E. Lighthizer, who represented the steel industry, and former Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, whose former firm previously had clients including Google Inc. and Bank of America Corp. With Brouillette’s confirmation, the administration will have seven former registered lobbyists in a cabinet of 23 leaders of agencies or White House offices, or 30%, according to the Center for Responsive Politics and a review of lobbying disclosure forms.Trump vowed during his 2016 campaign to “drain the swamp” in Washington, promising to expand the definition of lobbyist to include consultants and advisers and order appointees to refrain from lobbying the agencies where they worked for five years. But he’s come under criticism for falling short by Democrats vying to replace him the White House, who have campaigned on reforming the lobbying industry if elected.“How sick is Trump’s revolving door?” Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders wrote in a May Facebook post, criticizing the president for putting a former coal lobbyist, Andrew Wheeler, in charge of regulating air pollution at the Environmental Protection Agency.Trump isn’t the only American president to have chosen lobbyists to serve as cabinet members. Former President Barack Obama had four, while his predecessor George W. Bush had two lobbyists-turned-agency-chiefs, according to the non-profit center. But an executive order issued by Obama during his first full day in office limited former lobbyists -- with some exceptions -- from going into the executive agencies that they used to try to influence, said Jeff Hauser, executive director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research’s Revolving Door Project.An executive order issued shortly after Trump took office weakened those rules, allowing lobbyists into agencies they previously had business before as long as they recused themselves from “particular matters” they had previously lobbied on, Hauser said, adding enforcement of that rule has been questionable.“Trump’s ethics pledge does not restrict most of the ways a former lobbyist could benefit their past and potentially future clients,” Hauser said.Not everyone sees promoting lobbyists to lead federal agencies as detrimental for oversight of industries. For one thing, lobbyists are often familiar with the inner-workings of an agency and the policies they craft, said Stephen Brown, a former lobbyist who now consults for oil refiners, utilities and others as part of RBJ Strategies.“I think that a lot of these guys stepping up from No. 2 to No. 1 in some respects can be an upgrade in terms of the efficacy of the agency,” Brown said. “They are not prone to wild fits of idealism. They know how to get things moved from point A to point B to point C in that agency because they have lobbied it before.”The White House credited the former lobbyists in its cabinet with helping to achieve Trump’s goals.“President Trump has assembled an incredible team at the White House and across the federal government who -- in spite of 93% negative news coverage -- have accomplished undeniable successes, including record job gains, economic growth, fair and reciprocal trade, criminal justice reform, energy independence, combating the opioid epidemic, lowering prescription drug prices, and restoring the Nation’s standing in the world,” said spokesman Judd Deere.To others, however, the situation raises concerns about conflicts of interest and questions about whose interests those officials are serving, especially since many return to the private sector once they leave office.“It’s problematic because lobbyists work first to serve paying clients,” said Craig Holman, a lobbying expert at the Washington-based watchdog group Public Citizen. “They may be working more to serve their paying clients than the public interest.”Some such as Defense Secretary Mark Esper, Lighthizer, and Chad Wolf, the Department of Homeland Security’s acting secretary, previously lobbied for companies with business before the agencies they now run.Esper was Raytheon Co.’s vice president for government relations before becoming a top defense official for Trump. Wolf lobbied for clients including baggage inspection technology maker Analogic Corp., defense contractor Boeing Co. and uniform maker Cintas Corp. Lighthizer was criticized by a watchdog group, American Oversight, last year for providing access to lobbyists from his former firm which lobbied for the steel industry while the Trump administration was rolling out tariffs on imported steel.Other cabinet members, such as Interior Secretary David Bernhardt, who previously lobbied for oil and mining interests, and EPA Administrator Wheeler, whose client lists included coal producer Murray Energy Corp., have drawn ethics complaints related to their prior work.Bernhardt, who was the Interior Department’s No. 2 official before being promoted to replace Trump’s first Secretary Ryan Zinke, has been dogged by questions about potential ethical conflicts while steering policy decisions at the agency. Interior oversees drilling, grazing and other activities on about 500 million acres of public lands.The agency’s inspector general in April opened an investigation into whether Bernhardt while at the department helped his former client, California Central Valley’s Westlands Water District, which is the nation’s largest agricultural water supplier.The Interior Department said Bernhardt “scrupulously” follows ethics guidance he sought before joining the agency “and has regular communications with ethics professionals to ensure he is acting in compliance with their guidance and views.”“Secretary Bernhardt has done more than any other Interior Secretary to improve the department’s ethics program and operations,” the agency said.Wheeler, a former energy lobbyist and Republican Senate aide who replaced Scott Pruitt as EPA administrator earlier this year has drawn ethics complaints as well.Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington lodged two complaints alleging Wheeler violated his ethics agreement barring him from participating in matters involving former clients and issues in which he previously lobbied on.In an email, the EPA dismissed the complaint as “old news filed by a left-wing special interest group not a legitimate government ethics organization.”“CREW’s accusations are baseless and just flat out false,” spokeswoman Molly Block said. “Administrator Wheeler works closely with career EPA ethics officials and abides by all ethics requirements under the Trump Ethics pledge and those required by the EPA and Federal Government.”(Updates with Brouillette’s Senate confirmation, in second paragraph)To contact the reporter on this story: Ari Natter in Washington at anatter5@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Jon Morgan at jmorgan97@bloomberg.net, Elizabeth Wasserman, Justin BlumFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
- Zacks
Fiat (FCAU) Enters 4-Year Tentative Labor Contract With UAW
Fiat (FCAU) commits an investment of $9 billion, boosting the $50-billion merger plans of Fiat and PSA to create the world's fourth largest automaker.
- Bloomberg
Germany's Car Jobs Boom Comes to a Screeching Halt
(Bloomberg Opinion) -- After a week in which Daimler AG and Volkswagen AG’s Audi announced thousands of job cuts, it’s easy to forget that the German car industry once seemed unassailable.The 2009 recession forced a massive downsizing of America’s auto giants. General Motors Co. and Chrysler filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection; Ford Motor Co. escaped a similar fate only by cutting its workforce to the bone. By contrast, Volkswagen, BMW AG and Daimler’s Mercedes-Benz overcame the crisis with barely a scratch. Afterwards they took full advantage as wealthy Chinese splurged on luxury German vehicles. Germany’s carmakers and their suppliers went on a hiring spree at home and abroad.There were early signs of hubris: Volkswagen paid its chief executive officer 17.5 million euros ($19.3 million) in 2011. But Germany’s powerful trade unions made sure workers benefited too. In recent years production line staff at BMW and VW’s Porsche subsidiary took home almost 10,000 euros as an annual bonus. BMW spends an average of more than 100,000 euros per employee on salary, pension and social security costs, according to its annual report. Now that jobs boom has come to a screeching halt, and not before time. An industry facing unprecedented upheaval can’t afford such largess.The chief reason for the belt-tightening is, of course, the vast cost of moving beyond combustion engines. Volkswagen expects to spend an astonishing 60 billion euros on hybrid, electric and digital technology in the next five years. Doing this requires the hiring of even more people, but the products they’re developing aren’t always big money spinners yet.For a time, the industry will have to provide a full range of propulsion options. For their factories this means “peak complexity” — to borrow a phrase from Mercedes’s management. Eventually, however, many of these factory workers will become unnecessary because electric motors are much simpler to build than diesel and gasoline engines. Last week's job cuts won’t be the last.The German industry has been caught out too by an unexpected slowdown in demand. Continental AG, the supplier that’s cutting 20,000 jobs, expects production to stagnate over the next five years. Daimler said last month that sales haven’t matched its production capacity. Audi’s domestic plants are reportedly particularly under-utilized, not helped by the popularity of SUVs over sedans (the former tend to be built overseas).Volkswagen, BMW and Daimler will still generate about 24 billion euros of net profit this year, according to analysts polled by Bloomberg. But the era of 10% operating profit margins — long a benchmark for German luxury carmakers — is over. Mercedes thinks 4% is more realistic next year.The automakers therefore have to tackle their bloated fixed costs. In view of its spending commitments, Volkswagen was unwise to let its workforce swell to almost 700,000. That’s about 80% more than Japan’s Toyota Motor Corp., which builds a similar number of cars (though Volkswagen has a big truck unit too).Volkswagen’s labor expenses have crept higher as a percentage of sales since the last recession. Doubtless this reflects the influence of the German unions and hence it’ll be very difficult to rectify. Like their peers, German employees at the Volkswagen brand have job guarantees until 2029.Ultimately the German car jobs boom was a bet that demand would increase, combustion engines would have a long life and global trade would remain encumbered. Instead, the electric shift is happening faster than expected and Trump’s tariff crusades have turned the German industry’s global production presence into a liability.Cars are superfluous for many young people today, and if they do buy one it will soon have a simple electric motor, not a combustion engine made of hundreds of intricate components. The hiring practices of German carmakers look like a bubble that’s burst.To contact the author of this story: Chris Bryant at cbryant32@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: James Boxell at jboxell@bloomberg.netThis column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.Chris Bryant is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering industrial companies. He previously worked for the Financial Times.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinion©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
- Zacks
Auto Stock Roundup: Tesla's Cybertruck Craze, GM's Lawsuit Against Fiat & More
While Tesla's (TSLA) Cybertruck is getting enough attention with more than 250,000 pre-orders till now, General Motors (GM) files a federal racketeering lawsuit against Fiat Chrysler.
- Financial Times
Jancis Robinson’s best red wines to drink this Christmas
Before I share with you 35 delicious red wines chosen because, whatever the price, I feel they represent good value, allow me a small whinge about the British wine retail scene. It’s very different in other countries, notably the US, where wine is bought in bricks-and-mortar stores that offer serried ranks of individual bottles of fine wines on their shelves.
- Zacks
Tenneco (TEN) Down 64% Over a Year: Dismal Run to Continue?
Tenneco (TEN) forecasts a decline in light-vehicle production and a slight deceleration in commercial vehicle markets, which are likely to negatively affect the upcoming results.
- Zacks
Spartan Motors, Occidental, Tesla, Ford and General Motors highlighted as Zacks Bull and Bear of the Day
Spartan Motors, Occidental, Tesla, Ford and General Motors highlighted as Zacks Bull and Bear of the Day
- Zacks
Can You Judge The Tesla Cyber Truck By Its Exoskeleton?
Tesla continues to stay ahead of the innovation curve, and the Cyber Truck release proves its willingness to take pioneering risks.
- Zacks
Tesla (TSLA) Stock Rebounds: Can the Cybertruck Redeem Itself?
Tesla (TSLA) shares edged higher Monday after a botched Friday debut of its new pickup truck that Elon Musk has dubbed Cybertruck.
- Zacks
The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: Tesla, Ford, General Motors and Amazon
The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: Tesla, Ford, General Motors and Amazon
- Zacks
USMCA Trade Deal 'Within Range': ETFs to Benefit
These ETFs should benefit if the USMCA deal sees the light of day soon.
- Bloomberg
Musk Accepts Ford Challenge to Apples-to-Apples Truck Tug of War
(Bloomberg) -- Tesla Inc.’s Elon Musk plainly says his pickup is a “better truck than an F-150.” Ford Motor Co. is taking issue with that claim.While releasing a series of specs last week for Cybertruck, which is scheduled to start deliveries as soon as late 2021, Musk called up a video of the the pickup in a tug-of-war against Ford’s best-selling F-150. He tweeted a clip of the test on Sunday showing his vehicle pulling a screeching Ford model up a hill.Ford thinks Musk was making an apples-to-oranges comparison. The video the Tesla chief executive officer tweeted appears to show a two-wheel drive version of the F-150 against an all-wheel drive Cybertruck. Other details that could have factored in which pickup won out include curb weight and tire type.Sundeep Madra, vice president of Ford X, the automaker’s unit for developing new business models, challenged Musk on Monday to send Ford a Cybertruck. He linked to a post by the car-enthusiast site motor1.com that questioned whether Tesla’s test was “fair game.”Musk responded to Madra: “Bring it on.”Tesla and Ford have been at this before. More than a year after Musk tweeted a boast about how much weight Tesla’s truck would be able to tow, Ford released a promotional video of an electric F-150 prototype dragging more than 1 million pounds of double-decker rail cars.Here’s a breakdown of how Ford’s most popular gasoline-fueled F-150 stacks up against Tesla’s most commonly ordered Cybertruck as of Saturday, according to a Musk tweet.(Updates with response from Elon Musk in the fifth paragraph.)\--With assistance from Dana Hull.To contact the reporter on this story: Keith Naughton in Southfield, Michigan at knaughton3@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Craig Trudell at ctrudell1@bloomberg.net, Chester DawsonFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
- Zacks
Electric Pickup Race Gathers Steam: What You Need to Know
While the long-awaited Tesla (TSLA) electric truck is getting a lot of attention, it isn't just this company that will hog the spotlight in the electric pickup market.
- Bloomberg
Tesla Truck Demo Gets Awkward as Shatterproof Windows Shatter
(Bloomberg) -- Tesla Inc. Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk took to the stage late Thursday to reprise a familiar role: pitching a future vehicle to a throng of adoring fans. This time, it was the “Cybertruck” -- his name for Tesla’s new electric pickup.The angular vehicle, which has a stainless-steel skin, starts at $39,900 and will come in three variants, Musk told a packed audience in Hawthorne, California. Customers can order the truck with a deposit of just $100, though production will start no sooner than late 2021, Tesla said on its website.After a “Blade Runner”-inspired introduction, Musk had Tesla’s long-time chief designer, Franz von Holzhausen, smash the truck’s steel exterior with a sledgehammer, showing that it did not dent.But it was the second demonstration, of Tesla “armor glass,” that was the real show stopper: von Holzhausen unintentionally shattered two of the truck’s windows with a metallic ball, causing Musk to say “Oh my f---ing god.” Given how product launches are usually scripted and rehearsed, the broken windows were the evening’s big surprise.Tesla shares fell 6.1% to $333.04 on Friday, the sharpest decline in almost two months.The evening began with a slideshow of standard pickup trucks throughout the years, and Musk’s vow to make something different that runs on sustainable energy.“You want a truck that’s really tough, not fake tough,” Musk said, in what seemed to be a veiled swipe at Ford Motor Co.’s slogan. “A truck you can take a sledgehammer to that doesn’t dent.”Some industry veterans said Tesla will likely have to tone down the design specifications to make it commercially viable. “It’s science fiction. If it ever comes to pass, it will look different and have different specs,” Bob Lutz, a former senior executive who worked at all three Detroit automakers before retiring, said in an email. “A bold new design direction, but in my view not appealing or commercial.”Not for ContractorsTesla fans in the audience liked what they saw.“It’s like something out of a movie set,” said Elizabeth Lepek of Marina del Rey, California, a current Tesla Model X owner who placed a $100 deposit for the Cybertruck. “It’s so futuristic. I like the design of it. There’s nothing quite like it on the road.”But traditional truck buyers are a tougher audience and less likely to be impressed by Silicon Valley sizzle.“It misses the core truck buyer,” said Gene Munster, a managing partner at venture capital firm Loup Ventures. “A contractor is not going to show up to a work site in this truck. That said, Tesla will still sell some of them.”More: You Think the Tesla Cybertruck Looks Stupid? OK, BoomerThe hashtag cybertruck quickly began trending on Twitter as potential customers started sharing their views about the futuristic design -- and the window snafu.And though it will take a long time before the Cybertruck hits the streets, that’s something Tesla customers are used to. Musk unveiled a Semi truck two years ago, but that vehicle has yet to enter volume production.Musk tweeted Friday the truck also will offer an optional two-person all-terrain vehicle, signaling Tesla’s plan to enter the off-road vehicle market.The lucrative full-size pickup market in the U.S. is dominated by the Detroit Three: Ford’s F-Series, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV’s Ram and General Motors Co.’s Chevrolet Silverado. Japanese automakers have spent two decades and billions of dollars to get in on the gravy train, but U.S. brands still control almost 92% of the half-ton segment, according to IHS Markit.More: Tesla’s Mocked Cybertruck May Be Brilliant, Car Designer Says“The design will be questioned, but over time the specs will help win over pickup loyalists,” said analyst Ben Kallo of Robert W. Baird. “The volumes are expected to be low, and the Model 3 and Model Y continue to be the focus.”(Updates with industry executive comment from eighth paragraph.)\--With assistance from Thuy Ong, Natnicha Chuwiruch, Derek Wallbank and David Welch.To contact the reporters on this story: Dana Hull in San Francisco at dhull12@bloomberg.net;Ed Ludlow in San Francisco at eludlow2@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Chester Dawson at cdawson54@bloomberg.net, Ville HeiskanenFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
- Zacks
Tesla Pickup Unveiled, But Will It Be First to Market?
Tesla (TSLA) CEO Elon Musk has finally unveiled his pet project.
- Engadget
Elon Musk and Ford X VP trade shots over Cybertruck videos
Battle of the truck makers begins!
EngadgetMustang Mach-E: Ford's new EV ranges from luxury to almost affordable
We're getting pretty used to new EV's launching in the $75,000 and up range, so we were pleasantly surprised the Mach-E will start just under $44,000. Ford is offering a wide range of customization, including rear or AWD, and a 76 or 99kw/h battery pack. Don't get us wrong, $44,000 is still too expensive for most people, but it feels closer than another $125,000 supercar.
