Tesla backers out there, would you bet $10,000 that Elon Musk is right? We here at Really Right invite you to pony-up or quit telling me I’m wrong about this modern-day P.T. Barnum.
Oh, before I get to the details of the wager, Tesla stock closed Friday at $211.03. The stock was at $370.13 in mid-December.
Former hedge-fund manager Whitney Tilson isn’t shy about his bearish outlook on Tesla.
…he predicted the stock would finish 2019 under $100 — so far so good on that particular vision.
Now he’s out with another anti-Tesla missive.
“Tesla is a zillion miles from Musk’s promise of Level 5 by the end of this year and a fleet of a million robotaxis by the end of next year,” he said in an email to investors that was posted on ValueWalk.
“Level 5” is basically the point at which cars are capable of driving themselves anywhere, under any conditions, with no limitations. Of course, none of those cars are on the road currently, and critics are doubtful we’ll see them anytime soon.
In fact, Tilson is so confident that it won’t happen he says he’s willing to wager anybody who thinks otherwise. What’s more, he’s willing to bet $10,000 that Musk doesn’t even come within a year of either of those promises.
If Musk is right, you get $10K. Easy-peasy. There’re no limits on the number of people that can bet on Musk. It’s open to all takers. So, all you true believers out there, time to break-out your checkbooks. Remember, money talks and b.s. walks.
P.T. Barnum said, “There’s a suck born every minute and two to take ‘em.” Well here’s your big chance to prove him right. Ya’ll have fun betting with Elon. Oh, and rumor has it our very own Mr. X is willing to buy any takers of the bet a cold pitcher of your favorite Kool-Aid brand drink. The way I figure it, that’s the only thing you’ll ever get for making this bet, so my advice is take him up on it.
Apple is having a bad week. First the US Supreme Court says their app store is likely a monopoly and can be sued in lower court as such (without specifically ruling on the merits of the case) and then China and the US are at loggerheads over trade and tariffs.
Supreme Court
The U.S. Supreme Court dealt Apple Inc. a major setback in an eight-year-old lawsuit over the App Store on Monday, but the bigger news is the big effect it could have on Big Tech.
The Supreme Court ruled Monday that plaintiffs have a right to sue Apple in a class-action lawsuit that alleges monopolistic behavior in the App Store resulted in overcharging. While the end result for Apple is uncertain for now, the ruling appears to be positive for consumers who buy services on platforms owned by Apple and other tech companies, because it gives them the ability to sue for alleged monopolistic pricing practices.
The case was filed in 2011 by four iPhone users who alleged Apple had unlawfully monopolized “the iPhone apps aftermarket” and that Apple locked iPhone users “into buying apps only from Apple and paying Apple’s 30% fee, even if ” the iPhone owners want to buy them elsewhere.
Apple closed down nearly 6% on Monday after news of a major escalation in the U.S.-China trade war.
China said on Monday that it decided to raise tariffs on some U.S. goods after President Donald Trump threatened to further raise tariffs on Chinese imports last week. The trade war is affecting a lot of different stocks, but Apple seems to be hit harder than most. The Dow Jones Industrial index dropped 2.6%, and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 3.5%.
Apple is especially vulnerable to a trade war with China for two primary reasons.
First, it assembles its iPhones primarily in China. Although it has a lot of American suppliers — it spent $60 billion on American suppliers in 2018 — iPhone assembly is done in mainland China.
The other reason is that Apple, unlike other big tech companies, makes a substantial amount of its money by selling its products to Chinese consumers.
OK so what does Apple have to do with a Tesla fire? Well this story is from Apple Daily. No word on whether this is a subscription service offers by Tim Cook and company but here’s the story.
A Tesla Inc electric car caught fire in a parking lot in a Hong Kong shopping mall, the Apple Daily newspaper said on Tuesday, but no one was injured in the blaze, whose cause was not immediately known.
The electric car burst into flames 30 minutes after being parked in the city’s San Po Kong district on Sunday, the newspaper said, with three explosions seen on CCTV footage.
OK, so pop quiz. What is the acceptable way to fight a Tesla fire? Can you just pour water on the burning battery or would this be an environmental offence, especially here in California? Do the synthetic materials used in its construction give off cancer causing fumes? This vehicle certainly must come with a Prop 65 warning label. When fully involved, is it a Class D fire? 45 minutes to burn may be normal if water is not allowed.
Apple crashing and Tesla burning, oh, what a week (and its only Tuesday).
Yep, leave it up to Democrats to push for their “green” agenda and then screw the folks that drink the Kool-Aid thinking that they are socially responsible and saving the planet. You and I know this is utter crap, but some folks are slow learners.
Illinois drivers are learning that utopia isn’t cheap. If you own a Tesla or other electric vehicle, the Illinois legislature thinks that you can afford an annual registration fee of $1,000 per year. Why? Because electric vehicle owners don’t pay their fair share of gas taxes.
Electric car owners in Illinois could take a large hit to their bank accounts after lawmakers proposed an extreme hike in registration fees for electronic vehicles in the state.
The proposal would raise the annual registration fee to $1,000, more than 57 times the current amount of $17.50.
Illinois officials believe the legislation will raise $2.4 billion for future projects, the major one being roadway improvement, according to the Chicago Tribune.
The bill was introduced last week by Chicago state Sen. Martin Sandoval, a Democrat who says the registration fee hike is imperative to help fund necessary infrastructure improvements.
The reason for the extreme hikes are that electric vehicles don’t provide the state any gas tax revenue.
Oh, Liberals in the state are outraged:
“It’s outrageous,” Tesla owner Nicoletta Skarlatos, 56, told the Chicago Tribune. “I thought Illinois was progressive and would want to encourage EV (electric vehicle) ownership.”
“Imposing fees on EVs that are over 400 percent more than their gasoline-powered counterparts is not only unfair, it discourages promising new technology that will reduce our dependence on petroleum, reduce emissions, and promote the Illinois economy,” Rivian spokesman Michael McHale told the Chicago Tribune.
OK, learning opportunity for Liberals and low information voters…Progressive means getting financially screwed by the government because government can never really be too big, and after all it is your god and the proper way of worship is giving your all to the divine. “Green Agendas” and “Carbon Footprints” are all about centralizing power in the government by reducing your freedom. There is not now nor ever was any manmade climate crisis. It is hubris and arrogance to believe that is even possible. Oh, sorry, hubris is:
English picked up both the concept of hubris and the term for that particular brand of cockiness from the ancient Greeks, who considered hubris a dangerous character flaw capable of provoking the wrath of the gods. In classical Greek tragedy, hubris was often a fatal shortcoming that brought about the fall of the tragic hero. Typically, overconfidence led the hero to attempt to overstep the boundaries of human limitations and assume a godlike status, and the gods inevitably humbled the offender with a sharp reminder of his or her mortality.
Oh, those of us using internal combustion engines are not exempt from the wrath of the legislature.
The bill would also make things more expensive for residents who drive non-electric cars. The state’s gas tax would go up 19 cents to 44 cents a gallon, fees for driver’s licenses would double and the registration fee for non-electric vehicles would go up nearly 50% from $98 to $148.
The article concludes:
Illinois was seventh in electronic vehicle sales last year and there are about 15,000 registered in the state. Over 200,000 electric vehicles were sold last year, about two percent of total U.S auto sales, according to Jenny Acevedo, an analyst with auto research firm Edmund.
“Every automaker has broadcast loud and clear that the future of automotive is autonomous and electric,” Acevedo told the Chicago Tribune. “Certainly, going from $17.50 to $1,000 in terms of registration isn’t going to move the needle in the direction the industry is hoping.”
Did you note in the above that only two percent of autos sold in the country were electric, yet Tesla is now reportedly the number three US automaker. Using what metric? Sorry but production numbers do matter to us in the real world.
Prediction
If this law is defeated, look for it to be followed-up with a mileage tax. I think that is the real plan here, but you need to mold public reaction to be that $1,000 per vehicle is harsh but a mileage tax on electric vehicles is “fair”. This “fairness” is a Liberal buzz word for spreading the misery. Note that no one is disputing the premise that vehicle taxes should be increased, its just a matter of how to do it. Most electric vehicles are purchased by the wealthy so making them pay more is going to happen. I have always said the greatest so-called benefit of electric vehicles is not paying the gas tax but politicians will fix that loophole.
Tesla sold 244,920 vehicles in 2018 and some on Wall Street said they were the number two US automaker–up until Ford’s quarterly financial report was released this week. What a crock.
Over the same period—2018—Ford sold 5,982,000 vehicles.
The math is this; Tesla sold four percent as many vehicles as Ford and people said Ford was the number three automaker.
Folks, we don’t even know if Tesla is selling their vehicles at cost let alone making a profit. Ford is outselling Tesla by a huge amount. Ford sold 5,737,080 more vehicles than Tesla and somehow Elon Musk is our role model?
Tesla is tethered technology.
Both my buddy with the Chevy Volt and my future son-in-law who owns a Tesla, have the same problem. Namely, where to charge the vehicles.
My buddy with the Volt says he tried to go to Oregon with his Volt and found that he was stuck near the I-5 corridor because there was no place to charge the car once you got away from the Interstate.
Tesla is s finicky vehicle. It has three charging modes: super-fast, medium, and super slow. My son-in-law candidate drives to Elk Grove from the S.F. Bay Area to see the daughter. Before going home, he must drive to the Arden Fair Mall because that is the only fast charging station in the area. After charging the Tesla for 45 minutes to an hour, he can then go home. Please understand that this means that he drives over an hour further to get to the mall and back for the privilege of charging his car. This charging evolution adds two hours to every visit that he makes here for the privilege of driving an electric car.
If you fail to use the Tesla installed charging stations, then plan to wait several hours—like six or more—to get a decent charge on the car. Lest you think I exaggerate, check out this story of a guy in New York that took his son to camp in a demonstration Tesla Model S given to members of the media. Here are excerpts of his travelogue.
I’ve screwed up my range calculations. We don’t have enough to make the closest partner charging station. The car was warning us of this, but we needed to get the boys dropped off on time. So we took a chance and ended up ALMOST RUNNING OUT OF GAS, er … ELECTRICITY!
There’s a cable in the truck of every Tesla that enables you to charge on the fly. But there are no high-speed charging options up here in the middle of nowhere in the Catskills. So we had to resort to the slowest option, good old 120-volt, wall-socket-level rejuicing.
You plug into this small charging port at the left rear of the Model S.
Tesla charging in BFE via 110 VAC
Photo by Matthew DeBord
… but we’ll be getting only 1 mile per hour of charging! That’s mega-slow.
A few hours, a few more miles in the battery, and we have enough to head back through the lovely scenery to find lodging — and charging — for the night.
Tesla charging at one mile per hour
Photo by Matthew DeBord
By the next morning, at a charging rate of 3 miles per hour, we have enough juice to make the closest partner charging location. We’re plugged in …
… and drawing power again.
But this time, we’re charging much faster. In a few hours, we’ll have enough power to get to the closest Supercharger location.
Short version was that failing to charge the car resulted in an additional day of travel because it charged so slow.
Tesla = Tax Opportunities
Many early adopters of electric vehicles think that one big advantage is avoiding paying gasoline taxes. I’m here to tell you now that “Big Brother” is completely aware that you aren’t paying your fair share for road maintenance and has plans to remedy the situation. Soon Tesla owners will be introduced to the long-rumored mileage tax. Yep, you will be billed for each mile travelled by the electric vehicle that you drive.
Thanks to folks like the Chinese; government now has the power to track electric vehicles (and probably internal combustion powered ones too) via GPS. So, you won’t even have to do paperwork, you will be issued a mileage bill from government each billing cycle. Oh, I’m sure they will be happy to receive their funds via autopay.
For some folks, Elon Musk can do no wrong; however, I’m not a believer. America flirted with electric vehicles over 100 hundred years ago and the internal combustion engine won. In a free market, I think that same outcome would happen today, but our markets are anything but free.
Government is willing to put their thumb on the scale to help Musk, but I don’t think that gets this technology over the finish line. They just give him an unfair advantage in the short run.
Until electric power is plentiful and readily available, such technology is a novelty. Sadly, California is moving away from readily available energy and towards limited options at higher prices. They are restricting the market not unleashing it. Socialist utopias are like that.
If I had the money, I would buy a Tesla, disconnect the battery, wrap the car in plastic and hide it in a non-descript barn for 150 years, then it might be worth owning; otherwise, I’m sitting this revolution out.
Yes, when it comes to Elon Musk, the logical disconnect between fantasy and reality is a wide chasm. Yesterday, Tesla’s first quarter earnings report came out but instead of talking about his leadership, Musk was busy on Twitter offering the faithful a quieter leaf blower; oh, and it wasn’t even his idea.
Here’s the story:
Tesla CEO Elon Musk says his company is planning to develop a new creation — only this time, it won’t be rolling on four wheels.
Elon Musk changing the subject away from cars
Elon Musk blowing more smoke on the Internet as his stock goes to pot
But come to find out, the quitet leaf blower wasn’t Musk’s idea.
Actor Rainn Wilson of The Office has accused Tesla CEO Elon Musk of failing to give him proper credit for the idea for a quiet leaf blower.
Wilson, who portrayed Dwight Schrute on the NBC sitcom, demanded credit for the idea in a tweet to the Telsa CEO on Wednesday, after Musk announced his company would be making the product.
Meanwhile, the 90-Day Cycle was not kind to Tesla. Even with lowered expectations, Tesla missed the numbers that Wall Street was expecting. The stock closed today at $235.14
Tesla six month stock results
December 13th was the high mark in recent months with a close of $376.79. From December’s high to today’s close, the stock is off $141.65 per share. Looks like it’s time to cue the dumpster fire graphic.
Ford Motor Co. on Friday regained its status as the No. 2 U.S. car maker in market value, leaving Tesla Inc. behind after a massive earnings beat that stoked a rally for Ford stock.
Ford F, -0.19% shares were at their best since July and amassed the largest one-day gain in a decade, bringing the company’s market valuation to around $40.7 billion late Friday.
Tesla TSLA, +0.90% shares traded at their lowest since January 2017, still reeling from the wider-than-expected first-quarter loss the company reported earlier this week. That brought Tesla’s market capitalization to around $40.6 billion.
Once upon a time, many in the West were fond of quoting the proverb, “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” A biblical admonition also comes to mind “without a vision, the people perish.” Both proverbs contrast the idea of a life with immediate gratification versus long term goals.
Likewise, once upon a time, American companies spent a considerable amount of money in research and development. These businesses thought in terms of years into the future and what they could contribute to the betterment of their fellow man and make a profit by providing goods and services that made our lives better.
Sadly this is no longer the case. Modern corporations are only concerned with hitting their numbers for the next quarterly report. Should they miss the estimates of Wall Street there is financial hell to pay. No company has any real investment in or vision of the future. Business is only concerned with immediate cash flow.
I like technology but I get frustrated by the number of projects that get prototyped and cancelled because the idea can’t be monetized in the next quarter or two. Anything beyond that window of time is deemed risky and not viable for investment.
Here’s a few examples:
Microsoft Microsoft has been toying with foldable phones and tablets for at least five years but every project they attempted has been cancelled. All they have to show for their efforts is a large portfolio of patents. Microsoft is playing the 90-day game and anything that might be on a longer time horizon is likely to get cut as a risky investment.
Apple Apple under Steve Jobs wasn’t an innovator in hardware. Jobs took existing stuff, tweaked it and found ways of marketing it to the masses. In a sense, he sold “the sizzle”. Jobs could look at an idea and see a future benefit worth investing in and bring it to fruition. Under Tim Cook, Apple is playing the 90-day game like everyone else. Apple has ceased being a leader in technology, they can’t risk being wrong about the next big thing.
Google Google too is cutting long term R & D.
Google admits that its hardware business is not profitable enough to accommodate a large number of employees and therefore has decided to trim the fat. Google told dozens of employees working on its hardware division to find new jobs.
An internal source close to Business Insider told that Google is currently going through “roadmap cutbacks” and hence the decision. This will have a massive impact on Google’s hardware business as BI reports that projects on which the company was actively working on are now cancelled.
It’s more like the search giant wants to put a full stop to its long-term projects that were in development.
Everywhere you turn, it’s the same story. Long term projects are toxic in today’s business environment and nobody wants to spend on them. Instead, there is constant pressure to cut, trim, and reduce both employees and products. This is not just free market forces at work, something else is afoot.
But why?
Two big reasons come to mind.
First, Wall Street is the only place that most people can put their money and get a return on their investment. Wall Street is geared around getting an immediate return on dividends each quarter. The measure of a company is cash flow to investors. The way to attract and maintain investors is via immediate return. The so called “Blue Chip Stocks” don’t really exist anymore. The Wall Street logic is this: no return, no investors, then no company.
Second is the high burden of government. Companies must take baby steps to keep from getting crushed by all the rules and regulations that they are required to follow. This makes them risk averse. Making a profit is no longer enough motivation to pursue a project. If the return is not immediate and drastic, the project will never see the light of day. This stifles innovation. In a sense, corporations are trading security for freedom.
This 90-day cycle mentality is destructive to the market but in order for businesses to survive, they are forced into this attitude. People instinctively know this is true but often don’t perceive why.
Elon Musk seems to transcend this lethargy of innovation that people sense in the marketplace. The attraction of Musk is that he is unencumbered by the baggage that besets others. He talks of what should be and rejects the status quo. The problem is that Musk’s business model can’t succeed on an even playing field, he needs the heavy hand of government to intervene on his behalf with taxpayer money in the form of investments from public retirement funds, tax breaks, and rebates to consumers. However, government can’t really pick winners and losers in the market, when it tries it fails. Socialism always loses at the point where promises far surpass declining resources and productivity.
The 90-day cycle is an interesting phenomenon to watch but only in the same way that people will invariably slow down to stare at a traffic accident. It is an aberration to the normal way of markets and finance. The problem is that the longer this continues, the less that people remember or perceive the deviance from the ideal of what the market should be.
In our current environment, both business owners and consumers have lowered expectations of market capability. The farther from free markets that we get the better that the lie of socialism looks.
The business cycle has been reduced to the minimal form necessary for survival. The 90-day cycle is the sum total of management concern. Thought of the future is hard to envision when you don’t know if you’ll be here tomorrow. First world companies with third world values are a harbinger of bad tidings for all of us.
Facing a cash payment of over $900,000,000 that is due and payable today (March 1st), yesterday Elon Musk took to Twitter and announced that Tesla was reshuffling the deck chairs. Tesla announced that they were eliminating their brick and mortar showrooms and opting for an online only purchasing option. Buy now and take delivery in June, (he hopes).
Tesla also announced that it is shifting sales worldwide to online only to “achieve these prices while remaining financially sustainable.” “Shifting all sales online, combined with other ongoing cost efficiencies, will enable us to lower all vehicle prices by about 6% on average, allowing us to achieve the $35,000 Model 3 price point earlier than we expected,” the company said in a statement. “Over the next few months, we will be winding down many of our stores, with a small number of stores in high-traffic locations remaining as galleries, showcases and Tesla information centers,” the statement continued. “The important thing for customers in the United States to understand is that, with online sales, anyone in any state can quickly and easily buy a Tesla.”
Somehow this attempted misdirection was supposed to make Wall Street forgot that a huge chunk of their cash reserves evaporated today.
Tesla Inc. (TSLA – Get Report) shares traded sharply lower Friday after founder and CEO Elon Musk said a move to offer a cut-down version of its flagship Model 3 sedan will likely result in a first quarter loss, only weeks after telling investors he would turn the clean energy carmaker into the black.
“Given that there was just a lot happening in Q1, and we’re taking a lot of one-time charges and there are a lot of challenges getting cars to China and Europe, we do not expect to be profitable in Q1,” Musk told journalists on a conference call late Thursday. “But we do think that profitability in Q2 is likely.” That view was reiterated in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing Friday.
After my last post on February 6th, I was given a lot of grief about being pessimistic on Tesla but three weeks later their shares went from an opening of $316.50 on 02/06/2019 to a close today 03/01/2019 of $294.79.
Tesla week of 02-25-19
Please note the share price yesterday on the graphic as opposed to today’s close.
Elon is also being accused of violating securities laws because of his behavior yesterday.
Elon Musk is great at separating Liberals from their money. He flits around like a butterfly from one pipedream to another. Electric cars, solar power, batteries, space flights to Mars, and mag-lift travel at the speed of sound. Whatever crazy thing he can get other people to invest in. He will make prototypes or other devices to get others to invest, but please note, its other people’s money at risk not his. Musk takes a cut for himself off the top and then piles more investors into the bottom of the pyramid.
He bought Solar City, and it was financially unsustainable so what does he do? Why he folds the debt into his Tesla car scheme. Tesla isn’t panning out financially so what then? Oh, I know, why doesn’t he act like a crazy guy and get kicked off the board. Then when the bills come due and it collapses Musk won’t be on the board. Then he can blame the Musk-less board for not having the vision, passion, and dedication that he had to make it succeed. If only he had been there…
Look back to last summer. Remember Musk having a Twitter tantrum about the rescuer of the kids in the cave. He called the guy a pedophile or something like that. Then he smokes marijuana on that pod cast and then pulls the stunt of taking the Tesla private. Net result, Musk gets kicked off the board of his own company.
Is he nuts of crazy like a fox? He has access to information investors and other don’t plus he can read the handwriting on the wall. Get out before the stuff hits the fan that way he can save face and blame others. This allows him to go fleece his next group of Liberals with his reputation still intact.
Elon Musk with the look that says, “It’s not personal, it’s business”
Here’s more proof the Ponzi scheme is in trouble.
Tesla has lowered the price of its Model 3 by $1,100 amid reports that U.S. sales fell precipitously in January despite a $2,000 reduction that went into effect at the beginning of the month. InsideEVs estimates that Tesla sold 6,500 Model 3s in the U.S. in January, which would represent a more than70 percent drop from the prior month.
Cutting prices and a 70 percent drop in sales in one month is bad enough but the other shoe is about to drop.
Tesla has a billion dollar debt coming due, and it could wipe out nearly a third of the company’s cash if the stock price doesn’t improve. About $920 million in convertible senior notes expires on March 1 at a conversion price of $359.87 per share. But Tesla’s stock hasn’t traded above $359 for weeks. If the shares are about $359.87, then Tesla’s debt converts into Tesla shares. If not, Tesla will have to pay the debt in cash. Tesla reported cash and cash equivalents of $3 billion at the end of its September quarter. The company continues to reveal pressure to maintain profitability, and announced Friday it would cut 7 percent of its full-time workforce.
Please note that the 3 billion cash and equivalents was in September. They are burning thru cash at a crazy rate and to pony-up one billion in cash in three weeks is a tall order.
Below is a chart of Tesla stock for the last six months. Do you really think that the stock price will be above $359.87 by March first when January sales are off 70 percent? No way Jose. Stock opened trading today at $316.50
Tesla Stock for last six months
Tesla is in deep trouble but never worry because Musk got in the lifeboat months ago to distance himself from the dumpster fire that’s coming.
“Tesla is the only company positioned to make this world a better place, to really improve the world right now,”
Folks, here is the Liberal mindset when they think of Elon Musk. I highly recommend that you read the profile of him in Wired. It has many more nuggets about Musk.
At about 10 o’clock on Saturday evening, an angry Musk was examining one of the production line’s mechanized modules, trying to figure out what was wrong, when the young, excited engineer was brought over to assist him. “Hey, buddy, this doesn’t work!” Musk shouted at the engineer, according to someone who heard the conversation. “Did you do this?”
The engineer was taken aback. He had never met Musk before. Musk didn’t even know the engineer’s name. The young man wasn’t certain what, exactly, Musk was asking him, or why he sounded so angry. “You mean, program the robot?” the engineer said. “Or design that tool?” “Did you fucking do this?” Musk asked him.
“I’m not sure what you’re referring to?” the engineer replied apologetically.
“You’re a fucking idiot!” Musk shouted back. “Get the fuck out and don’t come back!”
The young engineer climbed over a low safety barrier and walked away. He was bewildered by what had just happened. The entire conversation had lasted less than a minute. A few moments later, his manager came over to say that he had been fired on Musk’s orders…
I can’t recall the last time I saw more white collar jobs cut than blue collar. Per the above article, GM is also closing several production facilities. Hardest hit at Michigan, Ohio, and Toronto, Canada.
The Detroit automaker said plants in Ohio, Michigan, Maryland, and Ontario will be “unallocated” in 2019 and it will cease operations at two additional plants outside of North America by the end of next year. It will also wind down operations at propulsion plants in White Marsh, Maryland, and Warren, Michigan.
GM is expecting the move to save the company 6 billion per year starting in 2020. Speaking of the blue collar jobs:
More than 6,200 jobs are at stake: roughly 1,500 in Hamtramck; 1,600 in Lordstown; about 2,500 in Oshawa; and a total of 645 at transmission plants in Warren in suburban Detroit and near Baltimore.
The Hamtramck plant makes the Chevrolet Volt and Impala, the Cadillac CT6 and the Buick LaCrosse. Those vehicles and other cars made at the targeted facilities will be terminated.
This brings us to the most sarcastic article on the subject.
Six years ago, President Barack Obama promised to buy a Chevy Volt after his presidency.
“I got to get inside a brand-new Chevy Volt fresh off the line,” Obama announced to a cheering crowd of United Auto Workers activists. “Even though Secret Service wouldn’t let me drive it. But I liked sitting in it. It was nice. I’ll bet it drives real good. And five years from now when I’m not president anymore, I’ll buy one and drive it myself.”
Now it looks like Obama will not get his chance to make good on the promise. General Motors announced Monday that it would cease production of the hybrid electric plug-in Volt and its gas-powered sister car the Cruze. The announcement came as part of a larger restructuring by the car company as it seeks to focus production around the bigger vehicles in favor with U.S. consumers.
The Volt and the Cruze were two of the signature achievements of the partnership between the Obama administration and General Motors following the auto-industry bailout. Although the Volt was long-planned by GM executives, it received a lot of support from the administration. Obama described the Cruze as “the car of the future.”
President Trump and the United Auto Workers are on the same page about this announcement. Per CNBC:
“This callous decision by GM to reduce or cease operations in American plants, while opening or increasing production in Mexico and China plants for sales to American consumers, is, in its implementation, profoundly damaging to our American workforce,” said Terry Dittes, a UAW vice president who leads negotiations with GM.
The Detroit Free Press reports:
President Donald Trump, who made keeping manufacturing jobs in the U.S. a major campaign point and promised Lordstown workers that their jobs were safe, was disappointed in the announcement.
“We don’t like it,” Trump said.
He said that he was “very tough” with Barra.
“I spoke with her when I heard they were closing,” Trump said in response to a reporter’s question specifically about the Lordstown closure. “And I said, ‘You know, this country has done a lot for General Motors. You better get back in there soon. That’s Ohio, and you better get back in there soon.’ “
This move by GM does not bode well for Elon Musk and Tesla. General Motors decision to short-circuit production of the Volt insures that the federal government will not by subsidizing production and purchase of electric or alternative energy vehicles anytime soon. A corollary with this is that government subsidy of charging stations and electric car infrastructure is gone also.
Conclusion: the free market wins and utopian Liberals lose. Government arbitrarily picking winners and losers in the market place will get trumped by consumer choice every time.
