Ford, struggling in a changing industry, replaces its CEO

Three years ago, Ford Motor brought in a new chief executive, Jim Hackett, to streamline the company’s inner workings and raise profits.

Now, after he achieved mixed results, the company is again turning to a new boss, hoping he can accelerate the process and finish the job.

On Tuesday, Ford said Hackett will retire Oct. 1 and will be succeeded by James D. Farley Jr., whose promotion to chief operating officer in February had fueled speculation that Hackett’s tenure was nearing an end.

“I am very grateful to Jim Hackett for all he has done to modernize Ford and prepare us to compete and win in the future,” said William Clay Ford Jr., Ford’s executive chairman.

Farley will take the titles of president and CEO, and join Ford’s board of directors, the company said.

Hackett, a former chief executive of Steelcase, an office furniture manufacturer, was named to the top job at Ford in May 2017. Hackett promised to revitalize Ford’s operations and steer the company toward vehicles that would generate profits — pickup trucks and sport-utility vehicles — and invest in emerging technologies like electric and self-driving vehicles.

The company is starting to introduce some of the models developed under Hackett, including a redesigned F-150 pickup truck and a new series of SUVs under its dormant Bronco brand. The Mustang Mach E, an electric SUV styled to resemble the storied sports car, has generated lots of buzz and is set to go into production later this year.

“We have lots of work ahead of us to complete our mission, but thanks to Jim, we are a very different company today than we were three years ago,” Ford said in a conference call to discuss the leadership change.

Ford’s profits fell in 2018 and 2019, dropping to $47 million last year. This year, the pandemic has hammered its business, and the company lost $876 million in the first half of the year.

Farley, 58, joined Ford in 2007 from Toyota Motor, where he played a key role in launching the company’s Lexus luxury brand. Since arriving at Ford, he has held a variety of jobs, including running the company’s marketing, its European operations and a new business strategy group.


-2020 The New York Times Company-

Auto industry warns of 'seismic' no-deal Brexit shock

BRUSSELS - The European auto industry on Monday warned of catastrophic effects of a no-deal Brexit, saying it would have a 'seismic' impact on making cars in Europe. 

In a rare joint statement, chiefs from 23 auto business associations across Europe joined forces to caution against a brutal exit from the bloc by Britain, where auto giants BMW, Peugeot PSA and Japan's Nissan have factories.

"Brexit is not just a British problem, we are all concerned in the European automotive industry, and even further," said Christian Peugeot, head of French automotive industry association CCFA in the statement.

Reaping the benefits of the EU's single market, automakers have supply chains that crisscross the English Channel and Britain is the destination of around 10 percent of vehicles assembled on the continent, according to industry data.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has rattled nerves with his vow to leave the European Union on October 31 come what may -- with or without a trade deal with Brussels.

"The UK’s departure from the EU without a deal would trigger a seismic shift in trading conditions, with billions of euros of tariffs threatening to impact consumer choice and affordability on both sides of the Channel," the joint statement said.

A chaotic Brexit would land a "severe" blow against the industry's just-in-time supply chains that stretch across international borders and depend on zero administrative hassle, the associations warned.

"The EU and UK automotive industries need friction-less trade and would be harmed significantly by additional duties and administrative burden on automotive parts and vehicles," said Bernhard Mattes, the head of Germany's auto lobby VDA. 

"Consequently, the UK and the EU should undertake all necessary steps to avoid a no-deal Brexit," he said.

Britain's largely foreign-owned car sector is already reeling from Brexit shocks, with French car maker PSA warning in July that it could shut down a key plant in northwest England if it becomes unprofitable.

Carmakers are also slamming the brakes on investment in Britain, which fell 70 percent to £90 million ($109 million, 98 million euros) in the six months to June, the UK's Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders said in July.

The SMMT has also warned that the cost to auto companies of one minute of stopped production time in Britain would amount to 54,700 euros (£50,000).

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Ex-Google engineer charged with theft of autonomous car secrets

SAN FRANCISCO - A former Google engineer was hit with criminal charges Tuesday alleging he stole trade secrets from the technology giant's self-driving car project before he went to work at Uber.

If convicted on the charges, Anthony Levandowski faces up to 10 years in prison and a penalty of $250,000 per violation, according federal prosecutors who announced the criminal indictment.

"All of us have the right to change jobs, none of us has the right to fill our pockets on the way out the door," US Attorney David Anderson said in a release announcing 33 counts of theft and attempted theft of trade secrets.

"Theft is not innovation."

Levandowski, 39, was a founding member of the group that worked on Waymo, a Google self-driving car project that is now a unit at parent company Alphabet.

Levandowski worked on the project from 2009 and was leader of the light-detecting and ranging (LiDAR) team when he resigned from Google without notice in January of 2016, according to the indictment. 

The former star engineer left Google for his own startup called Otto, which was later acquired by Uber. 

The theft allegations came out in a civil case in which Waymo accused Uber of stealing trade secrets. That case ended with a settlement between the two firms last year.

Levandowski was fired by Uber in 2017 as the two firms were preparing to go to court on the civil trial.

Waymo had alleged that Uber conspired with Levandowski, who according to Tuesday's indictment downloaded files that included circuit board schematics, instructions for installing and testing LiDAR, and an internal tracking document.

A source familiar with the confidential deal said Uber agreed to a financial settlement giving the Alphabet unit a small stake in Uber.

The indictment shows both the civil and criminal cases were about LiDAR, a laser-based system which is critical to enabling autonomous cars to get a three-dimensional picture of its surroundings.

The documents states that Levandowski downloaded thousands of files before leaving Google including "critical engineering information" about the hardware and instructions for calibrating and tuning Google's custom LiDAR.

Before the civil trial was cut short by the settlement, jurors saw evidence which was embarrassing for Uber, including a text message in which former Uber chief executive Travis Kalanick told Levandowski to "burn the village."

After the settlement, the newly named Uber CEO said that "we do not believe that any trade secrets made their way from Waymo to Uber." 

Tesla, Waymo, Uber as well as major car companies and other technology firms are rivals in what is expected to be a large market for autonomous vehicles, whether for personal use or in commercial operations such as robo-taxis.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

How a shadow banking crisis sent India's autos sector into a tailspin

MUMBAI - Sudhir Gharpure and his sales team sat chatting at a big Maruti Suzuki dealership on the outskirts of Mumbai some 2 hours after its doors were opened on a recent Saturday morning - not a single customer was in sight.

"There used to be close to 15-20 bookings each day, but now we're down to 3-5 on good days," said Gharpure, the general manager at the dealership.

Gharpure's experience is not an isolated one. Across India dealerships are being pushed out of business and the Indian auto sector is going through its biggest slump in nearly two decades. Passenger vehicle sales fell for 8 straight months until June, and in May sales dropped 20.55 percent - the sharpest recorded fall in 18 years.

Preliminary data indicates passenger vehicle sales may have plunged as much as 30 percent in July. The slump in India, along with a simultaneous slide in Chinese auto sales, is a blow for automakers wrestling with higher costs driven by more stringent emission norms and a push to develop electric cars.

Unlike in China, where the plunge in cars sales has been caused largely by new emissions rules, India has seen a mix of factors that have combined to erode demand for automobiles.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 2016 ban on high-value bank notes, higher tax rates under a new goods and services tax regime, a boom of ride-sharing firms such as Uber and Ola, and a weak rural economy have all played a role.

But many dealers and automakers agree it is a deepening liquidity crunch among India's shadow banks that has been the biggest single factor in an auto sales collapse, which some fear may lead to more than a million job losses.

Non-banking finance companies (NBFCs), or shadow banks, have dramatically slashed lending following the collapse of one of the biggest, IL&FS, in late 2018.

IL&FS, or Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services Ltd, was a behemoth in shadow banking and its defaults and unraveling, amid fraud allegations, have dried up funding for rivals and led to a surge in their borrowing costs.

Non-bank or shadow banking firms generate credit outside traditional lenders, by means such as collective investment vehicles, broker-dealers or funds that invest in bonds and money markets.

In India, NBFCs have in recent years helped fund nearly 55-60 percent of commercial vehicles both new and used, 30 percent of passenger cars and nearly 65 percent of the 2-wheelers in the country, according to rating agency ICRA.

To aggravate matters, the stress in the autos market has also prompted banks to begin trimming their exposure to the sector.

"The car doesn't sell, it's the finance that sells," said R. Vijayaraghavan, a senior marketing consultant at the same Mumbai dealership. "Today the finance is not selling, so the cars are not selling."

PROBLEMS AMPLIFIED

Some 286 dealerships have shut down in the last 18 months across India as rising costs for inventory management have made businesses unviable, according to the Federation of Automobile Dealers Association (FADA), a lobby group of auto dealers.

"The slowdown in the (NBFC) sector has dragged down vehicle sales growth," said A.M. Karthik, financial sector head at ICRA. "Now the auto slowdown is becoming more visible as the liquidity squeeze continues."

Automakers including Maruti Suzuki, Tata Motors , and Mahindra & Mahindra are feeling the heat and have either cut production or temporarily closed plants to correct mounting stocks.

According to FADA data, passenger vehicle inventories now stand at 50-60 days up from around 45 days earlier, while those of 2-wheelers are even higher at 80-90 days. For commercial vehicles, inventory levels range between 45 and 50 days.

"We are asking dealers to maintain an inventory of 21 days, which is almost half of the current levels," said Ashish Kale, president of FADA.

At least 4 dealers from different brands said, however, there was little scope to reduce inventories as automakers were pushing them to buy stock despite there being no demand even with heavy discounting and other sops on offer.

While 70-75 percent of car sales were previously financed in-house by NBFC or bank agents sitting at a dealership, that has fallen to about 50 percent, say dealers, as buyers struggle to qualify under more stringent lending norms put in place by lenders that are under pressure to shore up their books.

Moreover, as many NBFCs typically lent to less creditworthy clients, banks are reticent to rush in to fill the void, as they themselves struggle to cope with an existing pile of about $150 billion in bad loans.

"The banking sector is certainly one of the factors that has affected the growth of the industry," said R.C. Bhargava, chair of Maruti Suzuki, noting interest rates for car buyers have gone up in the last 12 months despite the central bank cutting rates.

EARLY RECOVERY UNLIKELY

With the autos sector employing more than 35 million people directly and indirectly, and contributing more than 7 percent to India's GDP and accounting for 49 percent of its manufacturing GDP, the fallout from the autos slump is huge and presents a big challenge to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government as it begins its second term.

The entire supply chain, from vehicle manufacturers to component makers, are bleeding amid the slump.

"I've been making my payments for the last 30 years and the lenders know me," said Adarsh Gupta, the director of finance at Autolite (India), a component manufacturing firm. "But even a two-day delay has people crying that I will default.

"I too want to pay, but because of the fall in cashflows I'm facing short-term issues and because of that it's difficult to get more financing. This is the vicious cycle we are in."

Kale, the FADA president, said on Sunday the trade body estimated that dealerships had collectively already cut around 7-8 percent of their workforce, or around 200,000 jobs nationwide.

"Most of the cuts which have happened are in front-end sales jobs but if this continues, then even the technical jobs will be affected because if we are selling less then we will also service less," he said.

Still, automakers are hopeful of a recovery in the months ahead, helped by the September-December festive season that traditionally sees a surge in consumer spending.

"One can only wish that things improve sooner rather than later. With festive demand starting to seep through, we should start seeing a gradual improvement in sales," said P.B. Balaji, group CFO at Tata Motors.

Analysts are more skeptical though, and say without vehicle financing becoming cheaper and easier the chances for that are low. With no silver lining in sight, analysts fear bad debts could mount in the auto sector, forcing banks to further reduce their exposure.

"We see market prices and sales coming down so there may be issues," said a top official at the Indian Banks' Association. "We could see a spillover in terms of bad loans for the overall sector, but we are going to wait and watch."

Dealers said they were hopeful of tiding over the current downturn as the broader growth story for India remains intact, but there could be a lot more pain before a recovery kicks in.

"The future is going to be multi-brand car showrooms," said marketing consultant Vijayaraghavan. "That is the only way for dealerships to survive going forward as overhead costs need to be shared."

(Additional reporting by Derek Francis in BANGALORE; and Aftab Ahmed and Aditi Shah in NEW DELHI Editing by Euan Rocha and Alex Richardson)

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Lee Iacocca, auto executive who saved Chrysler from bankruptcy, dies at 94

LOS ANGELES - Lee Iacocca, a charismatic US auto industry executive and visionary, who gave America the Ford Mustang and Chrysler minivan, and was celebrated for saving Chrysler from going out of business, died at the age of 94, the Washington Post reported.

He died Tuesday at his home in Bel-Air, California of complications from Parkinson's disease, his daughter Lia Iacocca Assad told the Post.

During a nearly five-decade career in Detroit that began in 1946 at Ford Motor Co, the proud son of Italian immigrants made the covers of Time, Newsweek and the New York Times Sunday Magazine in stories portraying him as the avatar of the American Auto Age. One of the first celebrity US chief executives, his autobiography made best-seller lists in the mid-1980s.

Iacocca was a cracker-jack salesman. He encouraged his design teams to be bold, and they responded with sports cars that appealed to baby boomers in the 1960s, fuel-efficient models when gasoline prices soared in the 1970s, and the first-ever, family-oriented minivan in the 1980s that led its segment in sales for 25 years.

"I don't know an auto executive that I've ever met who has a feel for the American consumer the way he does," late United Auto Workers Union President Douglas Fraser had said. "He's the greatest communicator who's ever come down the pike in the history of the industry."

Iacocca also had some duds, such as the Ford Pinto, an economy car that became notorious for exploding fuel tanks. "You don't win 'em all," he said of the Pinto.

Iacocca won a place in business history when he pulled Chrysler, now part of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, from the brink of collapse in 1980, rallying support in US Congress for $1.2 billion in federally guaranteed loans and persuading suppliers, dealers and union workers to make sacrifices. He cut his salary to $1 a year.

Iacocca was often described as a demanding and volatile boss who sometimes clashed with fellow executives.

"He could get mad as hell at you, and once it was done he let it go. He wouldn't stay mad," said Bud Liebler, vice president of communications at Chrysler during the 1980s and 1990s. "He liked to bring an issue to its head, get it resolved. You always knew where you stood with him."

Iacocca often spoke of his immigrant roots and how America rewards hard work. When he was tapped by President Ronald Reagan in 1982 to be chairman of a campaign to restore the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, he said he accepted the job as a way of honoring his parents.

The campaign raised more than $350 million, more than double the initial $150 million goal.

MARKETING SUCCESSES

Iacocca began his career just as post-war prosperity kicked the Auto Age into high gear. By the 1970s, many new suburban homes came with a two-car garage.

Lido Anthony "Lee" Iacocca was born in the Pennsylvania steel town of Allentown on Oct. 24, 1924. His father, Nicola, owned a hot dog stand he called The Orpheum Wiener House - a foretaste of his son's later marketing creativity.

In high school he was freshman class president, "a big shot," he had thought. But when he stopped shaking his classmates' hands, he lost re-election. "It was an important lesson about leadership," Iacocca wrote.

He was a diligent student, made the debating team and was a star in Latin class. Sophomore year he survived rheumatic fever, an illness that later kept him out of the military during World War Two, and graduated 12th in a class of more than 900.

Iacocca enrolled in Lehigh University, earning his engineering degree in fewer than four years and received a fellowship at Princeton for his master's degree.

After joining Ford, he realized right away he was better at marketing than engineering. Ten years later, when his district had the worst sales in the country, he came up with a marketing campaign, "56 for '56" - buyers could get a 1956 Ford with 20% down and three years of monthly installments of $56.

The plan took off like a rocket and Ford executive Robert McNamara, who would become secretary of defense in the Kennedy administration, made it part of Ford's national sales strategy.

Iacocca's relationship with the Mustang was cemented when both Time and Newsweek featured him and the car on their covers in April 1964. By 2013, about 9 million Mustangs had been sold.

Gene Bordinat, Ford's design executive at the time, said of Iacocca's contribution to the Mustang's popularity: "We conceived the car and he pimped it after it was born."

It was cheap to produce and generated big profits. For years, it was Iacocca's signature achievement.

The low moment in Iacocca's career though came in 1978, when Henry Ford II fired him. He asked why, reminding his boss that the company had earned record profits of $1.8 billion two straight years. Ford replied: "Well, sometimes you just don't like somebody."

The firing made national news. Iacocca never forgave Ford, and he described his former boss as a spendthrift and dictator.

CHRYSLER FACED TWO HEADWINDS

Iacocca's exile from Detroit board rooms was brief. Within weeks he accepted the presidency of Chrysler, even though its market share was shrinking and losses were deepening.

In 1979 Chrysler was facing twin blows of spiking interest rates and a second oil shock that doubled the price of gasoline. When the US economy plunged into recession, sales at every automaker plummeted.

Iacocca searched for a merger partner but when no takers emerged, he turned to the government for up to $1.5 billion in loan guarantees. He pounded on the doors in Washington, assisted by dealers and union officials who knew their brethren would be out of work if Chrysler folded.

Asking for federal help was controversial, and one editorial cartoon depicted a child asking what the US Capitol was called. "The Chrysler Building" came the answer.

Iacocca won the loan guarantees but they required broad sacrifices, of plant closures, pay cuts for factory workers and layoffs of white-collar staff.

He put his personal reputation on the line, and in the end, it was a tour de force of leadership. Factoring in positions at Chrysler, its dealerships and suppliers, he saved more than 500,000 jobs. "People saw him in the trenches," Liebler said. "When we needed the loan guarantees and he was pounding the halls of Congress, the dealers were with him ... he worked his head off day and night, and everyone who was involved in any way with Chrysler knew it."

About that time, Chrysler's introduction of the smaller, fuel-efficient "K Cars" gave it a boost. In a series of no-nonsense television commercials, Iacocca barked, "If you can find a better car, buy it!"

He paid the loans back seven years early, and in 1983, a cartoon showed frantic executives of the troubled US airline industry shouting into a phone, "Get me Lee Iacocca!"

But Iacocca's star faded in the late 1980s as Chrysler floundered again. Chrysler struggled through the 1990-1991 economic downturn, losing $800 million in 1991. Iacocca refused to cut new product spending, and by 1992, the new Jeep Grand Cherokee and LH sedans led to a $732 million profit, while Ford and General Motors Co were in the red.

With Chrysler profitable again, Iacocca stepped down at the end of 1992. He lived out his latter years in stylish Bel-Air, California.

In retirement, Iacocca invested in the casino business and a line of imported olive oil, and he joined corporate boards.

He penned "Where Have All the Leaders Gone?," a 2007 book critical of American leadership, especially President George W. Bush.

Iacocca had two daughters with his first wife, Mary, who died of diabetes in 1983, prompting him to start a family foundation to fight the disease.

After Mary's death he married twice more. His second was brief and ended in annulment, while his third ended in divorce.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Elon Musk says in talks with Saudis on taking Tesla private

WASHINGTON - Tesla chief executive Elon Musk disclosed Monday that he was in talks with Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund and other investors to take the electric automaker private.

The revelation came after Musk claimed in an August 7 Twitter post that financing for a deal to take Tesla private had been "secured."

Musk said in a blog post on Monday he had "no question" that the Saudis would finance such a transaction following a July 31 meeting.

"I continue to have discussions with the Saudi fund, and I also am having discussions with a number of other investors, which is something that I always planned to do since I would like for Tesla to continue to have a broad investor base," Musk wrote.

"It is appropriate to complete those discussions before presenting a detailed proposal to an independent board committee."

The transaction would be structured with equity so as not to burden Tesla with crushing debt, Musk added.

Musk's surprise comments last week sparked speculation he would need to borrow massive amounts to take Tesla private, a move that could allow the company to operate without requirements for financial reports and other pressures of a publicly traded firm.

But the comments also raised questions about whether Musk ran afoul of securities laws by claiming backing without a firm financial commitment.

The disclosures about Saudi interest "helps reduce the legal risk fallout for Tesla," said Efraim Levy, an equity analyst at CFRA Research.

"It also helps clarify the going private situation even if the transaction is ultimately not consummated."

But Levy said taking the company private would be a mixed blessing for Tesla and Musk -- the company could avoid short-term pressures from Wall Street but also reduce its access to capital markets.

"They've had significant benefits from having access to capital markets, and the media attention has provided priceless free advertising," Levy said.

"Despite Musk protestations, we think remaining public has and will benefit Tesla," he added.

Tesla shares failed to sustain an early surge and ended with a small gain of 0.26 percent at $356.41.

LESS THAN $70 BILLION 

In his blog post Monday, Musk said that reports that more than $70 billion would be needed to take Tesla private "dramatically overstate the actual capital raise needed" because he expected some shareholders to remain invested in the firm.

His comment that he wanted to launch a buyout at $420 a share "would only be used for Tesla shareholders who do not remain with our company if it is private," Musk said in the post.

"My best estimate right now is that approximately two-thirds of shares owned by all current investors would roll over into a private Tesla."

Musk added that the Saudi Arabian sovereign wealth fund "has approached me multiple times" starting in early 2017 about taking Tesla private and had already taken a stake of nearly 5 percent though share purchases.

He said the Saudis were interested "because of the important need to diversify away from oil" and added that the sovereign fund "has more than enough capital needed to execute on such a transaction."

Loup Ventures analysts Gene Munster and Will Thompson said in a research note that Musk has answered the question "where would the money come from?" but still faces a number of challenges.

"If Musk can help it, we believe he will limit additional investors to 20 percent equity (he owns 22 percent), which implies the Saudi fund could only invest $16 billion," the analysts wrote.

"We still believe there is a greater than 50 percent chance Tesla is private in a year, and the blog post slightly increased those odds."

California-based Tesla has become one of the most valuable automakers on expectations it will disrupt the industry, although it produced only slightly more than 100,000 vehicles last year.

The company has been struggling to boost production of its Model 3, which is less expensive than its first models and could held expand Tesla's base.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Battery of complaints against Tesla in Norway

OSLO - "I've had the car for eight months and it ran fine for four days," says Yngve Solberg, who like many Norwegians is fed up with the slew of problems his Tesla X has given him.

Tesla has sold more cars per capita in Norway than any other country in the world thanks to the government's generous measures in favour of electric cars including tax exemptions, free city tolls and public parking.

More than 26,000 Tesla S and X models are registered in Norway, according to the website www.teslastats.no.

But Tesla has struggled to provide after-sales support that matches the soaring demand for its high-end electric cars.

As a result, Tesla owners in Norway face long waits for repairs, a shortage of spare parts, difficulty reaching customer services, leading -- unsurprisingly -- to oodles of complaints.

In the first half of the year, Tesla became the company with the fourth-highest number of complaints registered with the Norwegian Consumer Council. In 2017, it held the 24th spot.

A car enthusiast, Solberg has had a long series of woes with his new Tesla X.

Among the problems he has faced were malfunctioning rear doors and a faulty suspension system. And each time he has faced trouble, it has taken him several months to get an appointment for repairs.

"Because of the doors, I couldn't park next to other cars for three months, neither at my work garage nor in my parking spot outside my home. All this with a car that costs 1.1 million kroner (115,000 euros, $133,000)," he bristled.

On an online forum for the Norwegian Association of Electric Cars, another Tesla owner said he was so frustrated he ended up taking his car to Danish capital Copenhagen to replace a faulty suspension arm. He has also been waiting for new seats for 13 months.

MUSK SAYS NORWEGIANS ARE RIGHT

These are not isolated cases. A survey conducted by the Tesla Owners Club Norway indicates that 38 percent are dissatisfied with the company's after-sales support, compared with 57 percent who are satisfied.

"Norwegians are right to be upset with Tesla," admitted Tesla chief executive Elon Musk.

"We are having trouble expanding our service facilities in Oslo especially," he tweeted on July 5.

He said the problems could be resolved "quickly" if Norway would give the green light for mobile service vans able to provide repairs at clients' homes.

Tesla is in talks with authorities with a view to adapting this service to national regulations, which strictly define car repair shops.

The problems are particularly troublesome for Tesla, as Norway is a seen as a global testing ground for electric cars.

The Scandinavian country, whose electricity is almost exclusively from hydro, aims to stop selling cars running on fossil fuels in seven years -- by 2025.

Tesla is therefore doubling its efforts to meet Norway's needs.

The company's spokesman in the Nordic region, Even Sandvold Roland, said after-sales support staff has already been augmented by 30 percent this year, additional shifts have been set up in some places, and a new repair center is due to open shortly in Oslo.

'GROWING PAINS'

"Things are improving," said Satheesh Varadharajan, the head of the Association of Tesla Owners. "It's positive, though we're still a little concerned about whether it's going quickly enough."

Recruiting and training new employees is time-consuming.

Keen to participate in the technological breakthrough the Californian company is offering, many motor enthusiasts are affording Tesla a patience they would not normally grant a conventional carmaker.

"Early adopters show a lot of understanding and accept that things take a little time, that there are growing pains. No other group has grown as much as quickly," stressed Varadharajan.

Despite the many frustrations, Yngve Solberg still has faith in Tesla and has reserved a Model 3, the company's first car targeting the mass market.

But Solberg said his faith had limits.

Tesla has had trouble ramping up production of the Model 3, and "if it's the same chaos that I've experienced these past eight months, then, no."

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Nissan unveils new electric car in bid to drive off competition

CHIBA, Japan - Japanese automaker Nissan Wednesday unveiled a new electric car with an extended range and semi-autonomous driving functions, as it seeks to battle off competitors in a sector it once pioneered.

The second-generation Nissan Leaf has a potential range of 400 kilometers (250 miles) between charges, compared with 250 kilometers for its previous version.

It also boasts semi-autonomous driving capabilities such as keeping the vehicle automatically in one lane on the motorway or parking without human intervention.

Hiroto Saikawa, president and chief executive officer of Nissan, said in a statement that the new vehicle "strengthens" the firm's "leadership" in the electric car sector.

Nissan was an innovator in the sector seven years ago when it unveiled its first Leaf -- which has sold 280,000 units -- but has since had to contend with fierce competition from General Motors and Tesla among others.

Faced with tighter global environmental regulations, most carmakers are investing heavily in the electric car sector, sparking a ferocious race to create the next green vehicle.

The new car will be available next month in Japan, followed by the United States, Canada and Japan in January 2018.

The price tag in Japan will be 3.15 million yen (around $29,000).

source: news.abs-cbn.com

BMW, Toyota agree on joint sportscar platform

FRANKFURT- Carmakers BMW and Toyota have agreed to develop a joint platform for sportscars, BMW's development chief Herbert Diess told a German newspaper.

"We have agreed on a joint architecture for a sports car. What is important is that there will be two different vehicles that are authentic to the two brands," Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung on Monday quoted Diess as saying.

BMW and Toyota had in January signed an agreement to cooperate on various areas including lithium-air batteries and lightweight technology.

They also said at the time they would study the potential for a joint platform for a mid-sized sports vehicle in a feasibility study to be completed by the end of 2013.

Frankfurter Allgemeine said that Diess declined to provide details on the models that would result from the cooperation.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Straight eight puts Vettel ahead of Schumacher

AUSTIN, Texas -- Sebastian Vettel promised he would never get used to winning, even as he celebrated a record eighth victory in a row at the U.S. Grand Prix on Sunday.

Asked whether he felt like pinching himself at what he had achieved, Red Bull's quadruple world champion grinned: "Not just step back and pinch. I think step back and hit hard. That's more like it."

Amid the back-slapping and champagne being sprayed in the Red Bull hospitality, Vettel and team principal Christian Horner struggled to come to terms with a season that continues to rewrite the record books.

Red Bull, like their 26-year-old driver, has won every title for the past four years but this year has set a new level of dominance.

Having clinched a fourth consecutive drivers title last month in India, and become the youngest ever quadruple champion, Vettel had managed to find fresh motivation where others might have eased up.

He showed the same hunger and zeal at the Circuit of the Americas on Sunday as he did two weeks earlier when he had equaled Michael Schumacher's 2004 record of seven wins in a row in a single season.

"I think the moment you are not hungry any more and are asking yourself what are you doing, it's time to move on and do something else." he said. "I jump into the car and I just want to be fastest. It's still there, same as a couple of years ago.

"Obviously it (winning races) was more the case lately than many years back, but still I think you should not allow yourself to get used to it."

With just one race remaining in Brazil next weekend, Horner said the team will keep their foot on the gas all the way to the checkered flag in Sao Paulo, where Vettel can equal Schumacher's record of 13 wins in a season after collecting his 12th of the year in Texas.

"I think when we reflect at the end of the season on what we have actually achieved this year, it's very remarkable," Horner told reporters.

"He (Vettel) was quite emotional at the end of the race because he has beaten the record of one of his idols when it seemed likely that kind of record would not be beaten.

"To have won every race since July is mind-blowing, especially against the quality of opposition that we are up against. I think it will take a while to sink in."

Speechless

Vettel had said earlier in the week that he was not driven by records but he was well aware of the magnitude of what he had achieved the minute he crossed the finish line in Texas.

"I'm speechless," the German told his team over the radio. "We have to remember these days. There is no guarantee they will last forever."

Later, talking to reporters, Vettel was still trying to put it all into perspective.

"I think you should never lose the passion and the joy and always remember the days when you were just dreaming of these things to happen," he said. "So therefore I think it's important for all of us to just enjoy the moment.

"There's more time later in our lives to realize what it meant."

With massive changes to the cars coming next season that could turn the sport on its head, or at least threaten Red Bull's supremacy, Horner agreed that it was important to make the most of present success.

"In sport whether it is Roger Federer or Ferrari, or Williams or McLaren there are phases of sportsmen being dominant and at some point that does come to an end and then you have to regroup and you have to go again," said Horner.

"Sebastian is right, it's important to savor moments like today. It's easy to become complacent but you have to appreciate every single moment.

"It never gets boring because you have to remember the days when we weren't winning," said the principal, who marked his 40th birthday on Saturday.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

VW moving forward with SE Asia car plant plans

FRANKFURT - Volkswagen is moving forward with plans to set up production in fast-growing Southeast Asian markets as the German carmaker expands its overseas footprint to boost its global ambitions.

"We will certainly become an active player in the region in the next years," Michael Macht, VW group production chief, told Reuters at the Frankfurt motor show on Wednesday.

"We are currently very actively on the road in these countries," Macht, who sits on VW's eight-member executive board, said in an interview. He declined to be more specific.

The Wolfsburg-based multi-brand automotive group, which still lacks a vehicle-assembly plant in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) group of countries, has a goal of overtaking Toyota and General Motors to become the world's largest automaker no later than 2018.

The ASEAN group comprises Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei, Burma, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com