Monthly Archives: April 2017


Who Stands To Benefit From Tesla’s Stock Price?

As I read this Bloomberg story this morning about Elon Musk closing in on the goals required to get 5.27 million stock options granted to him in 2012, a thought occurred to me. We all know the financial system is absolutely rigged. That much is no secret. 
 
At the current share price of Tesla stock those options are worth about $1.4 billion. Despite many on Wall St acknowledging that the value of the company has nothing to do with its current business fundamentals, they keep pushing the price up based on “future potential.”
What rarely gets talked about is that every time Tesla goes back to the markets to sell shares in order to keep the lights on, Elon himself buys up a big chunk of those shares. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that and demonstrates Musk’s own confidence in his company while also ensuring that his own substantial stake in the company (currently at more than 22 percent of outstanding shares) isn’t diluted. Again nothing wrong with any of this.
However, keep in mind that relatively little  Musk’s net worth which is well over $10 billion is in cash. Like most billionaires that don’t want to give up their stakes in companies he borrows money against those investments. When he wants to buy more Tesla shares, he goes to his bankers, including Morgan Stanley for a loan. As of March 2017, Elon owes more than $624 million
The banks that are owed money by Elon Musk have a financial incentive to maximize the value of the company and help it reach the lofty goals set by the board of directors when they granted those options in 2012. If Tesla fails to reach those goals, especially the market capitalization, Musk won’t get those shares and may not be able to pay back those loans. On top of that, many of the same banks also own a lot of Tesla shares directly, including Morgan Stanley with 3.7 million shares.
To the best of my knowledge (I’m neither a lawyer or financial expert) none of this is illegal. But it’s worth having some context when listening to any arguments pro or against the value of a company, including my own. For the record, I don’t own any stocks in any company directly aside from funds in my retirement accounts.

2017 Chevrolet Cruze Diesel – The Answer For VW TDI Refugees?

With the Volkswagen diesel buyback now in full-force here in the United States, up to half a million drivers will be looking for new cars in the coming months. A significant chunk of that group has declared that they want to keep their cars despite the emissions cheating while others including at least one friend of mine are lining up to buy the leftover unsold 2015 models now that a fix has been approved by the EPA. There is clearly still some demand for affordable diesel cars in America and Chevrolet wants a piece of it with the new 2017 Cruze diesel.

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Success in Automated Vehicles Depends on Tech, Services, and Manufacturing

An old axiom in motorsports goes: “to finish first, first you must finish.” This means you can have the fastest car on the track and qualify on the pole position, but if you don’t have the preparation or team to back you up, the quality of the car is meaningless. In the race to make automated driving a successful commercial reality, hype may get companies all the media attention, but a fully realized strategy combined with the ability to execute are the keys to success. This is why Ford, General Motors (GM), the Renault-Nissan Alliance, and Daimler are the leaders in the latest Navigant Research Leaderboard Report: Automated Driving Systems.

Outside observers would not be faulted for believing that companies in Silicon Valley were about to roll over the entire automotive industry and take over personal mobility in the coming months based on news coverage. However, as many veterans of the technology industry have become painfully aware of, the reality is that building vehicles to safely transport the world’s population is far more difficult than just writing an app and publishing it to an online store.

Horse Before the Cart

Assembling a suite of sensors and writing the basic software to control a vehicle are actually the easy parts. Before that package can become a real product, you need a vehicle. Google developed its automated driving system in 2009 by hiring many of the top brains from Stanford, Carnegie Mellon, and several automakers that had previously created winning vehicles in the DARPA Grand Challenge program between 2004 and 2007. Then Google went to local Toyota and Lexus dealers and bought vehicles one or two at a time. Companies like Cruise Automation and Uber followed similar paths. In order to commercialize a system, they will need to invest billions more to develop and manufacture vehicles or find an automaker partner willing to supply cars.

Uber is reported to have lost more than $3 billion in 2016 without capital investment in vehicles or manufacturing. The world’s major automakers already have the engineering and manufacturing infrastructure in place, and many of them have been working on autonomous technology for far longer than Silicon Valley. Major automakers understand the intricacies of developing, validating, and certifying vehicles for profitable production.

At Navigant Research, we believe the leading automakers are learning what it takes to develop automated vehicles faster than new entrants can learn how to build cars. Companies like Ford, GM, Nissan, and Daimler also understand the regulatory and product liability hurdles faced by bringing automation to the world’s roads. These companies have heavily invested in controlling and understanding the key technologies required to make vehicles and automated driving system work seamlessly.

Just Around the Corner

The leading companies in this field are also rapidly developing their own in-house mobility services so that they can provide consumer access to automated driving systems while retaining control of vehicle manufacturing. This will help to ensure that the vehicles are properly maintained and updated—something that is key to safe and proper use within the early years of deployment.

Technology companies like Waymo and nuTonomy, as well as suppliers like Delphi and ZF, will have an important role to play in the new mobility ecosystem. But for now, automakers lead in the automated driving system race.


2017 Ford Focus RS – A Hot Hatch With Extra Spice

2017 Ford Focus RS

It’s been just over four decades since the modern hot hatch was born with debut of the original Volkswagen Golf GTI. In the intervening years, most other automakers have produced higher performance versions of their compact cars but since the turn of the century a new class of even quicker machines has evolved. Until recently, with the exception of the Volkswagen Golf R, these machines have been forbidden fruit on American shores. Fortunately for enthusiasts, Ford finally homologated its legendary Focus RS and American Honda dealers will soon start delivering the latest edition of the Civic Type-R.

Read the full review at Forbes