Race cars from the Detroit grand prix 7 years ago today
Race cars from the Detroit grand prix 7 years ago today
Yearly Archives: 2015
Photos by Sam Abuelsamid8 years ago today, the Detroit grand prix was still run over the labor day weeke…
8 years ago today, the Detroit grand prix was still run over the labor day weekend and AJ Foyt was signing autographs
While it's certainly important to protect our phones and tablets, this could actually have a far more important and far-reaching impact on the ultimate mobile device, our cars
Originally shared by +Kevin Tofel
If it makes mobile devices safer, I'm all for it.
A new security approach built into the Snapdragon 820 chip next year will provide protection from zero-day and other malware attacks.
It's neither pretty nor particularly utilitarian, but the +
It's neither pretty nor particularly utilitarian, but the +Nissan Juke is fun to drive
OK, let’s just deal with the elephant in the room right up front. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Sadly, when I look at the Nissan Juke, I don’t behold any beauty. In fact, it kind of repulse…
2015 Nissan Juke SL AWD – Don’t Judge This Book By Its Cover
OK, let’s just deal with the elephant in the room right up front. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Sadly, when I look at the Nissan Juke, I don’t behold any beauty. In fact, it kind of repulses me. Fortunately, I didn’t let my judgement of this little book’s cover stop me from driving the Juke because it actually has a lot to recommend it.
After four days driving a +
After four days driving a +Tesla Motors Model S in southern California, my mind was overflowing with opinions
Nine years ago, I was beginning my career as a professional writer just as a little Silicon Valley startup was emerging from stealth mode to introduce its first product. Taking its name from one of…
2015 Tesla Model S P85D – Excellent But Not Perfect
Nine years ago, I was beginning my career as a professional writer just as a little Silicon Valley startup was emerging from stealth mode to introduce its first product. Taking its name from one of the greatest engineers and inventors of all time, Nicola Tesla, that company reignited the pursuit of battery electric vehicles with a heavily modified Lotus Elise chassis packed with 1,000-pounds of lithium ion cells. It would take another two years before paying customers would finally take delivery of the first Roadsters and another four after that before Tesla would finally deliver its first completely in-house developed product, the Model S. During a recent trip to California I finally got my chance to drive the insanely fast Tesla Model S P85D.
2016 Honda Pilot – Designed to Fracture Wheels, Not Knees
When I was in my high school auto mechanics class learning how to rebuild carburetors, grind valve seats and set the valve clearances on a Triumph TR7, I was already dreaming about being an engineer in the industry and developing new cars. One of the most important lessons I learned from those years in the garage was that any engineer should be required to assemble and service a product before it goes into production. It’s become apparent to me over the past 35 years that few if any engineers have ever picked up a wrench. Fortunately, Honda seems to have heard that message and implemented it in the design of the 2016 Pilot crossover.
2015 Ram ProMaster 3500 – A Red, Italian-Bred Two-Seater That Really Hauls!
Another Woodward Dream Cruise has come and gone and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles loaned me a bright-red, two-seater of Italian descent from its fleet to drive. Sadly my ride was not a fancy new Ferrari 488, but rather a Ram ProMaster 3500 which is derived from the European-market Fiat Ducato. While I certainly want to try out the Ferrari some day, for anyone that has ever spent a blistering hot summer afternoon in the eight-mile long traffic jam that is the Dream Cruise, the Ferrari would have been completely out its element anyway. On the other hand, the ProMaster can really haul, making it ideally suited to moving my daughter’s belongings to her new Midtown Detroit apartment.
Tesla Goes to the Stock Market to Replenish Cash
The car business is an enormously expensive place to play. Building factories can cost anywhere from hundreds of millions to billions of dollars, especially if you want to mass produce anything. In late 2008 and early 2009 at the height of the financial crash, we saw General Motors go from $16 billion in cash reserves to virtually nothing in a matter of months as they raced toward bankruptcy. Tesla Motors is now standing on the precipice of major investments to grow the company and they have been spending their reserves at such a prodigious rate that they too need to raise more cash.
In the recently released Q2 2015 earnings report, a more troubling aspect than the operating losses which have been typical of the company’s finances from day one, was the cash burn rate. Tesla went from having $1.905 billion on December 31, 2014 to just $1.15 billion on June 30. A good chunk of this went to paying for equipment in the Fremont, California factory for production of the Model X crossover and ongoing construction of the “Gigafactory” battery plant near Reno, Nevada.
However, the outflow is just getting started as the company prepares to start equipping that $5 billion battery factory (although a significant chunk is coming from Panasonic and other suppliers) as well as developing and producing the more affordable Model III. Tesla has publicly stated a goal of expanding production from 50,000 units this year to 500,000 by 2020. While selling half a million cars would raise significant revenue, they have to spend a lot of money before they ever get there.
To help keep things going in the near term, Tesla announced plans today to issue $500 million worth of new common shares in the company. CEO Elon Musk has committed to spending $20 million of his own money to buy new shares. Given the enormous investments that will be required for equipment and engineering in the next five years, $500 million seems like a pittance and it likely won’t be the last time we see Tesla going to either the equity or debt markets to raise more money. In this case, Tesla’s stock price has already taken a hit in the last few weeks dropping from a high of $282 on July 20 to close at just over $238 yesterday. Right now they are probably balancing the need for cash with not overly diluting the stock and sending the price down even faster.
These are perilous times for Tesla Motors.
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