Category: Automotive

Porsche adds solar power to roof at manufacturing facility with 40,000 sq m of 8,500 photovoltaic modules resulting in output of two megawatts. http://bit.ly/cpgPM3

EFFORTS BY HEATH, BUSINESS INDUSTRIES HELP PUSH INFLUENCE PEDDLING TO NEW HEIGHTS

CONTACT: Dave Levinthal (202-354-0111)

The economy stunk. Corporations slashed jobs. And some firms, once juggernauts of American industry, simply ceased to exist.

But for federal lobbyists, 2009 proved to be a year of riches unlike any other, a Center for Responsive Politics analysis indicates.

In all, federal lobbyists’ clients spent more than $3.47 billion last year, often driven to Washington, D.C.’s power centers and halls of influence by political issues central to the age: health care reform, financial reform, energy policy.

That figure represents a more than 5 percent increase over $3.3 billion worth of federal lobbying recorded in 2008, the previous all-time annual high for lobbying expenditures. And it comes in a year when a recession persisted, the dollar’s value against major foreign currencies declined and joblessness rates increased.

In 2009’s 4th quarter, lobbying expenditures increased nearly 16 percent over 4th quarter levels from 2008, whereas spending only increased about 3 percent from the 3rd quarter of 2008 to the same period in 2009.

Last year’s 4th quarter also marked the first quarter in U.S. history that federal lobbying expenditures cracked the $900 million mark — which they did with ample room to space, hitting a record $955.1 million for the quarter, the Center’s research shows. (Track increases and decreases in lobbying spending here using the Center’s new lobbying comparison tool.)

“Lobbying appears recession proof,” said Sheila Krumholz, the Center’s executive director. “Even when companies are scaling back other operations, many view lobbying as a critical tool in protecting their future interests, particularly when Congress is preparing to take action on issues that could seriously affect their bottom lines.”

At nearly $266.8 million, the pharmaceutical and health products industry’s federal lobbying expenditures not only outpaced all other business industries and special interest areas in 2009, but stand as the greatest amount ever spent on lobbying efforts by a single industry for one year.

The pharmaceutical and health products industry was followed last year in overall lobbying expenditures by business associations ($183 million), oil and gas ($168.4 million) and insurance ($164.2 million). In each case, the 2009 totals are greater than that of 2008. Electric utilities, at $144.4 million, placed fifth, although this industry’s 2009 lobbying total is slightly off its 2008 pace.

Rounding out the top 10: computers/Internet companies ($118.9 million); general manufacturing and distributing ($113.4 million); hospitals and nursing homes ($108.4 million); television, movies and music ($107.3 million) and education ($98.6 million).

Other health-related industries also ranked highly among the more than 120 industries and special interest areas tracked by the Center for Responsive Politics, such as health professionals ($84.6 million) and health services ($73.9 million).

The general business sector, which encompasses an array of industries from retail sales to manufacturing to business associations, experienced a nearly 19 percent increase in its 2008-to-2009 lobbying expenditures. The more than $558 million spent by the general business sector in 2009 is a record for any of the 13 broad sectors that the Center tracks.

It’s followed closely in 2009 by the health sector, which includes a variety of health-related industries. In 2009, this sector spent nearly $544 million on federal lobbying efforts, up almost 12 percent from its 2008 total of about $487 million.

Sector rankings are as follows:

(Note that these figures may in coming weeks change slightly, as a small number of companies and organizations have yet to submit their final 2009 lobbying disclosure reports. Furthermore, some entities may file amendments to reports already submitted.)

Months and months of congressional health care reform debates prompted this heavy lobbying spending by health-related industries. The pharmaceutical industry, for example, experiences a nearly 11 percent increase in its lobbying output between 2008 and 2009. Health services and HMOs? More than 14 percent. And the miscellaneous health industry – a collection of health-related companies that don’t easily fit into other health industries – jumped more than 43 percent from 2008 to 2009.

A prolonged health care reform debate also partially accounts for increased spending by industries and organizations not typically associated with health care issues.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce helped vault the business association industry to new levels in 2009 with more than $144 million in lobbying expenditures — exponentially more than runners-up ExxonMobil ($27.43 million), the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America ($26.15 million), General Electric ($25.52 million) and Pfizer ($24.6 million). Some of the Chamber’s lobbying largess is attributable to its voluntary inclusion of “grassroots” lobbying efforts that most other organizations don’t include in their reporting.

The food and beverage industry in 2009 also recorded the largest percentage increase in lobbying expenditures — nearly 127 percent — of any industry.

Beverage companies and associations in particular aggressively lobbied lawmakers last year against supporting a “soda tax” to help fund health care reform initiatives. Perhaps not surprisingly, lawmakers never gave a soda tax serious consideration, and they didn’t included it within either the U.S. House or U.S. Senate versions of health care reform legislation.

The American Beverage Association, for example, spent $18.85 million in 2009 to lobby the federal government after reporting a comparatively paltry $667,590 worth of lobbying spending in 2008. That’s a more than 2,700-percent increase from year to year. PepsiCo? Similar story, as the soft drink manufacturer poured $9.24 million into federal lobbying work last year, up from $1.18 million in 2008, for an increase of 685 percent.

The top 20 lobbying clients in 2009 are:

Extraordinary as those numbers may be, JetBlue Airways soars to the apex of expenditure increases by investing $600,000 in lobbying efforts for 2009 after recording just $10,000 the year before — a decidedly stratospheric 5,900-percent increase.

While many industries and organizations boomed despite economic troubles in 2009, some long-time corporate stalwarts indeed collapsed under the financial strain.

American International Group, for instance, spent just $2.27 million on federal lobbying — or roughly a quarter of its 2008 spending — before shutting down its K Street presence in June.

Mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in 2009 stopped lobbying the federal government altogether after each spent tens of millions of dollars on lobbying efforts earlier in the decade.

The savings and loan industry, meanwhile, has watched its lobbying presence all but vanish: In 1998, the industry lobbied to the tune of $6.2 million, while in 2009, its output had dwindled to below $1.2 million. 

The automotive industry, for its part, experienced unbridled lobbying growth during much of the decade, peaking in 2007 with nearly $71 million in expenditures. Although economic woes have battered car makers’ balance sheets, the industry still managed about $60.2 million in federal lobbying expenditures last year.

In a seemingly counterintuitive development, the number of companies or entities that reported lobbying the federal government in 2009 (15,712) increased slightly from the year before (15,049).But the number of actual, registered federal lobbyists decreased, falling to 13,742 in 2009 from 14,442 in 2008.

Potential reasons for this phenomenon include some lobbyists effectively “deregistering” as lobbyists while still continuing to work in the business of political influence.

The general business sector employed 3,513 registered federal lobbyists in 2009 — more than any of the 13 sectors the Center tracks. The health care sector employed 3,405 lobbyists, while the finance/insurance/real estate sector tallied 2,654 lobbyists. In each case, these sectors employed marginally fewer registered lobbyists in 2009 than they did the year prior.

As for lobbyists themselves, numerous firms experienced bumper years.

At the top: the Podesta Group, which saw its federal lobbying income jump from $16 million in 2008 to nearly $25.6 million in 2009 — the largest gross increase among all lobbying firms.

Patton Boggs LLP earned the most money overall at nearly $40 million. Among other top-five firms in terms of income are Akin, Gump, et. al. ($32.4 million); Van Scoyoc Associates ($27.3 million); Podesta Group and Brownstein, Hyatt et. al. ($23.5 million).

While their overall dollar figures proved modest, Capstone National Partners generated exponential growth for itself, taking in $856,000 from clients in 2009, up from $20,000 in 2008 — a more than 422 percent increase.

The nation in 2010 faces a number of new legislative challenges, including the possibility of revised health care legislation, more financial reform, immigration issues and climate change legislation. Any significant decline in lobbying activity, therefore, appears unlikely.

“Despite the odds, last year was a record year for lobbying,” Krumholz said. “However, it’s entirely possible that even more lobbying dollars will be spent in 2010.”

To explore the Center for Responsive Politics’ full lobbying database, log onto: www.opensecrets.org/lobby.

The database now includes a new feature, available at www.opensecrets.org/lobby/incdec.php, which allows users to easily see how lobbying activity among sectors and industries has changed from quarter to quarter.

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So much for "animal, mineral, vegetable" and license-plate games. This June, just in time for summer vacations, today’s generation of incessant young Web surfers will get to enjoy the auto industry’s first rear-seat Internet-connected entertainment system. Leave it to the folks at iconic family-wagon maker Volvo to launch the RSEi-500 touch-screen computer with broadband, WiFi and a 500-gigabyte hard drive. Otherwise fidgety passengers can surf the Web and distract themselves with video and music. You can also connect to your home computer and transfer video, audio and other content. Volvo further promises special apps to "personalize" the car to your lifestyle. I’m still trying to get my head around the notion of having Internet connectivity at 70 mph. Volvo explains it through the use of Sprint 4G with its new Overdrive 3G/4G Mobile Hotspot technology. The RSEi-500 was unveiled today at the Chicago Auto Show, becoming the first harbinger of what could become a standard vehicle feature. 

—Posted by Noreen O’Leary

With automobile maker Toyota facing heavy congressional scrutiny for a series of damning safety recalls, it’s worth noting that several members of Congress last year reported owning stock in the company, a Center for Responsive Politics analysis indicates.

Toyota’s leadership and army of prominent lobbyists face a monumental government relations battle as Congress primes itself for a series of public hearings regarding the embattled automaker‘s recall of hundreds of thousands of vehicles over accelerator pedal and brake defects.

Chrysler’s Dodge brand clearly wants to own the "manly" positioning for the car category. It’s Super Bowl ad was a paean to masculinity under fire in a world where men are routinely asked to watch vampire shows with their wives, not to mention walk the dog. Now, the brand is taking things a step further with a beard-growing contest. "Be the master of your own face!" a Dodge press release announcing the program challenges. The contest, taking place on the not-all-that-butch Facebook, will reward one man who grows the most impressive "Super Beard" with a weekend for two at a Dodge Motorsports race of his choice. Guys have six weeks to grow their beards. The guy who gets the most votes on Facebook wins. Dodge’s timing is good, too, since it dovetails with the Bearduary.

—Posted by Todd Wasserman

Inventor Makes Propeller-Driven Tricycle

A THREE-WHEELED vehicle constructed of airplane parts and powered by a two-cylinder motor and small propeller has been designed by John Dacy, a young inventor of Zion City, Ill.

The rear part of the machine consists of an airplane landing gear on which is mounted the motor and propeller. In front of this is the pilot’s seat, suspended from a frame of steel tubing. The lone front wheel is connected by chain and wire to the steering apparatus.

The propeller develops tremendous pushing power and gives the machine such high speed that its owner has no fear of traffic officers.

We read that the auto industry is picking itself up and looking at what may have been pent-up demand that is starting to turn into an increase in car sales.  Ford reported an unexpected — perhaps even startling –increase in sales, and GM has a fleet of Chevy cars that are being advertised as offering better mileage than the comparable models of Toyota.  Who knew? Ward’s Automotive reports auto sales stats for January 2010: http://wardsauto.com/keydata/USSalesSummary1001.xls – some up, some down, some up quite a lot.

Those data precede the trashing of Toyota’s reputation due to a couple of biggie recalls that may have been handled with surprising naivete: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/07/weekinreview/07segal.html?ref=business. 

If you are wondering what a healthier auto industry might mean for the small-cap investor, so are we.  The auto industry is characterized by chains of vendors, each making small bits or subsystems that are delivered to the auto manufacturer, which acts in large part as a systems integrator from a manufacturing viewpoint.  So as the economy begins to look up and people begin to make major purchases such as new cars, it makes sense that the “upstream” companies will bear looking at as well.  Turns out, of course, that we are not the only ones to follow that logic.

We do not recommend stocks; we simply write about companies we find interesting.  Please do your own diligence.

Some of the first names that might come to mind when thinking of auto parts are larger companies that are not in our field of interest, though they are clearly significant (Lear, TRW Automotive, Magna, Johnson Controls, et al).  But if you believe the car-truck-and-bus industry is going to show improving results, you should also look at companies like New Albany OH-based Commercial Vehicle Group (Nasdaq: CVGI; http://www.cvgrp.com/),  which makes everything from aluminum-and-steel car bodies to electrical and wiring systems to air suspension seats for trucks.  Sales at CVGI fell off the edge of the table, as you would expect, after the stuff hit the fan in 2008, but it has been concentrating on cash flow, expense reduction and financial liquidity in a big way, so that even though revenues for the third quarter ended Sept 30, 2009 dropped to $110 million from a previous-year $192 million — and losses went up concurrently, the company says its operating income has improved quarter-to-quarter in 2009 and it has no borrowings currently under its bank revolver.  Though CVGI is not providing guidance, it may be reasonable to assume annual revenue in the $440 million range ($323 million as of the 9 months), which may make the current market cap of  $109 million worth looking at.  The stock closed Friday at $5.00 vs a 52-week high of $8.o8, on average volume of just over 80,000 shares per day — not great volume, but perhaps adequate to sustain interest. 

CVGI body construction can look familiar

Or one might look at Northville MI-based Amerigon Inc* (Nasdaq: ARGN; http://www.amerigon.com/), best known for its thermoelectric devices for cars, most notably its Climate Control Seat, which allows instant heating or cooling of car seats using negligible energy.  According to ARGN, over 90 well-known car models now offer ARGN seats, many of them as standard features.  ARGN shares closed Friday at $7.99, off its year-high of $9.85, giving it a current market cap of about $172 million.  Average trading is over 170,000 shares per day, and ARGN announced a date for its YE results:  Feb 10.

Emissions Timeline, courtesy Tenneco Inc website

A name that old-timers would associate with energy pipelines is Lake Forest IL-based Tenneco Inc (NYSE: TEN; http://www.tenneco.com/), but in fact this is a company that used to be called Tenneco Automotive, and it makes a dizzying array of emission control subsystems (including catalytic converters), suspension systems (shock absorbers included), and elastomer (rubber, more or less) products for customers all over the world.  Revenues for 2009 were about $3.9 billion, down significantly year-to-year, but with a resurgence in the wind, losses down, debt down and its good customer Ford “on a roll.”  TEN closed Friday at $18.34 vs a year-high of $21.32, for a market cap of about $870 million (about 22% of sales), and trading volume is, on average, about 1.5 million shares.

Torrance CA is home to two interesting auto parts and subassembly suppliers.  First, have a look at Motorcar Parts of America (Nasdaq: MPAA; http://www.motorcarparts.com/, which is a new-lamps-for-old company that recycles alternators and starters, buying up old ones, remanufacturing them, and selling them into the automotive parts aftermarket through retail distribution.  MPAA shares closed Friday at $5.84, just off its year-high of $5.93, on volume of a bit over 30,000 shares per day, not great in a dollar-volume sense.  Market cap is about $70 million, and a BB&T analyst is listed on Yahoo! Finance with a price target for the year of $8.00.

Also in Torrance is Enova Systems* (NYSE Amex: ENA; http://www.enovasystems.com/) a specialist in hybrid and pure-electric drive trains for a variety of larger vehicles including school buses, stepvans (think of a UPS or FedEx delivery truck), and a variety of smaller haulers for big OEMs like Freightliner, Laidlaw and First Auto Works (FAW/one of the largest in China).  ENA traces its heritage back to the old EV1, an electric vehicle program that was notoriously killed by GM in the way-back-when days, and it’s been around longer than most other companies in the electric and hybrid world.  The first half of 2009 was a distinct bummer for ENA, but the third quarter started a strong recovery, and FAW seems likely to be the largest customer in 2010 dollarwise.  ENA recently announced selection of its own Enova Ze as an electric stepvan of choice for the United States GSA.  ENA closed Friday at $1.99 vs a year-high of $2.42, and daily average volume of 45,000 shares.  Market cap is $42 million.

Finally have a look at Colmar PA-based Dorman Products (Nasdaq: DORM; http://www.dormanproducts.com/), a maker of 92,000 replacement parts, including brake parts, power steering, window handles — you name it replacement parts for automotive aftermarket companies like the Manny-Moe-Jack guys, and big-box or warehouse retailers.  As of Sept 30, 2009, sales were $280 million, actually UP from the previous year; gross profit was also up, and diluted earnings for the 9 months went from 2008’s $0.72 to 2009’s $1.04.  Of course fix-it companies are said to do well in recessions, but this one looks like it has found the charm.  DORM closed at $15.35 on Friday, vs a year-high of $17.25, with average volume of only about 29,000 shares, meaning the market may be small in terms of awareness.  The market cap is just below the 9-month sales figure, at about $270 million. 

*client of Allen & Caron, publisher of this blog.

Evelyn Loper of Hoffman Estates Wednesday intended to drive her 2009 Toyota Camry to the local Chili’s to meet her husband for lunch.

Despite what U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said earlier – that Toyota owners should stop driving their cars affected by the company’s national gas pedal and floor mat recalls, she was determined to use her car. Still, she felt nervous about it.

“I’m concerned because they told us what to do – to put both feet on the brake and put it in neutral, but who’s going to think of that,” Loper said.

Affected Toyota owners are being asked not to call or take their vehicles into dealerships for repairs before being notified by the dealers themselves.

“But still they should have right away let people know,” Loper said.

Loper’s model is among the 2.3 million vehicles affected by a sticky accelerator pedal being recalled by the Japanese automaker. Toyota said Wednesday that vehicles not experiencing symptoms are safe to drive, despite earlier comments from LaHood, who later softened his remarks.

Still, for a suburbanite to abruptly stop driving could be difficult, considering some areas have little or no mass transportation. And some people have few alternatives or resources to rent another vehicle to get to work or school. Is all the commotion about the recalls worth altering your lifestyle?

Calm down, everyone, said Suzanne Fogel, chair of the marketing department at DePaul University and an expert on consumer behavior.

“Consumers have every right to be cautious, but they don’t need to panic,” Fogel said.

In fact, Toyota owners shouldn’t be so paranoid as to stop driving unless they notice the symptoms of the gas pedal problem outlined by the company.

Fogel compared the massive Toyota recall, which has damaged the company’s name, to what happened to Tylenol when its name was practically destroyed when a mass murderer used its products to kill people. “People react to the top level of things and if there are scary accidents and problems, most people hear it in the news, and they don’t often take the time to investigate it more.”

Tylenol struggled at that time but eventually reclaimed its brand name. Toyota may do the same, she said.

Besides, renting another car is expensive and the risk of injury in your own Toyota could be minimal, Fogel said.

Toyota’s status has been damaged and, in the short term, could see its profit drop and lose market share to Ford and GM, said David Klein of Long Grove, senior vice president/financial consultant of RBC Wealth Management in Vernon Hills.

Toyota also is facing government scrutiny, possible civil penalties, class action lawsuits from the public and fallout from Wall Street, including Goldman Sachs cutting its shares from a “buy” to “neutral.”

“The lack of consumer confidence and the uncertainty will effects earnings,” said Klein.

While many experts believe Toyota has been handling this crisis well, others do not. “Toyota’s response to this crisis has been naive at best and pathetic at worst. The good news for them is that customers have a short memory,” said Jack Ablin of Highland Park, chief investment officer of Harris Private Bank in Chicago.

Still consumers could remain loyal, depending on how Toyota weathers this storm and the hope that no more serious problems occur, said Thomas Rowen, vice president and senior portfolio manager at Fifth Third Bank in Chicago.

“Some consumers will likely turn away from the brand, at least in the short-term,” said Rowen. “How quickly, effectively and fairly Toyota acts to resolve the accelerator issue will be key to avoiding a more lasting impact on the brand. Many car manufacturers have recalled models in the past, including a smaller recall of vehicles recently by Honda.”

Longtime Toyota owners, even like Rowen, are likely to remain loyal.

“It is a blow that the automotive industry does not need after two bad years,” said Rowen. “With the weakness of American auto manufacturers contributing to a near 15 percent unemployment rate in Michigan, the prospect of Toyota’s recent problems affecting manufacturing and sales of models made in U.S. plants is certainly unwelcome.”

Still, Belen Gilondo of Mount Prospect said she’s not waiting.

“I was supposed to call today to the dealer because I need to know what to do,” she said after parking her 2009 Toyota Corolla at Walmart in Hoffman Estates. She already had her floor mats replaced in November by a Chicago Toyota dealer due to a recall.

“I don’t know if it’s the same problem or not,” Gilondo said.

Gilondo added, she’s not too concerned about driving her car because she hasn’t had any problems.

Read the original article on DailyHerald.com.

Garage ‘Without WALLS for Car Parking

A TYPE of garage built on entirely new lines has been designed and patented by Samuel Eliot, a real estate operator and building manager of Boston, Mass. Known as a “cage garage,” it is an open-air parking space stepped up three or four stories, with no side-walls or windows, no heat, no elevators or electric lighting. It has a low stud of eight feet, staggered floors and a twenty per cent pitch double ramp that takes up the space of only two cars. The construction is of reinforced concrete, and the inventor says that such buildings can be constructed at the low cost of ten cents a cubic foot, and can accommodate as many as 800 cars easily.

It is estimated that such garages will be able to earn five times the amount earned by the more expensive types of public garages. The cars are run up the ramps under their own power and parked as on an ordinary open lot, with room to run them out when wanted. The buildings are strictly fireproof and are easier of access to fire apparatus than the expensive enclosed public garages.

A company is being formed to build these garages throughout the country. The plan is to lease ground space near the business districts of large cities.

Heard any good Toyota jokes lately? As the automaker admits yet another technical glitch (this time an alleged loss of braking ability with the Prius), comedians and would-be comedians are piling on. So far, the late-night comics, perhaps consumed with their own issues, have largely left Toyota alone, except for Jay Leno, who riffed on another incident: "Well, it happened again. Two Northwest pilots overshot Minneapolis Airport by 500 miles. They weren’t in a plane, they were in a Toyota. It wouldn’t stop." A site called DailyComedy.com suggested an alternate tagline for the Prius: "Making the world a better place. Even if you’re not in it." And consumers in a Los Angeles Times story posited that Toyota stands for "This One You Oughta Tow Away." Not to be outdone, comedian Michael Nelson rolled out this semi-funny video of a putative Toyota spokesman named Beau Jangles who can no longer keep up the lies. "I can’t do it," he says, whipping out a cigarette and a beer. "Oh really, it’s my job to lie to people?" He then explains other Toyota defects. "The Camry was designed by a freshman at DeVry," he says. "It was a question on his midterm." Also, the Matrix has a blind spot so big that you have to ride with a seeing-eye dog. So far, not great, though I’m sure comedy writers are dreaming up Toyota zingers as you read this.

—Posted by Todd Wasserman

A woman in Philadelphia says her neighbor just laughs every time he sees her now, because his insurance company refused to pay a claim on her car that he hit. The company told her that the man won’t answer his phone, so there’s nothing they can do. Update: Right after I posted this, the OP emailed with an update. See the bottom of the post.

Here’s her email:

I live in Philadelphia where there is street parking. One morning, I was taking out the trash and I saw someone trying to parallel park his giant new Ford Expedition directly in front of my house. He parallel parked his hitch directly into the hood of my Honda Civic.

I got his license and insurance info. His insurance company, Access General, sent out an adjuster, who came back with an estimate of $764.

Then I get a call from the Access General insurance adjuster. He says that the dude who hit me won’t return their calls, so they don’t have any responsibility to pay the claim. And there’s nothing else they have to do b/c there’s no police report (the police wouldn’t come for a parking incident). The adjuster tells me to call my insurance company.

I call my insurance company. Because it’s below my $1,000 deductible, they won’t go after it either.

So isn’t that a nice loophole! You can hit someone’s car and just not return the insurance company’s calls with no penalty to your coverage. And you get to screw the person you hit in the bargain.

Apparently the only thing I can do is take the jerk to small claims court. The worst part is – this dude works across the street from me. So I see him all the time and he just starts laughing.

If anyone has any suggestions, they’d be welcome.

Yeah I’d say small claims court. Any other ideas?

Update: The OP writes,

After I sent the post to Consumerist, the insurance company called back and said suddenly they were able to reach the guy!

Now he’s saying that he wasn’t involved, despite the fact that I have photos and witnesses and how did I come by his insurance and license info? So I guess it’s off to small claims court. I’ll try calling the police, but as far as a sudden slashing of tires — then he’ll break my windshield and so on and so on.

Anyway, thanks for the advice and I’ll let you know what happens..

Tesla Motors, by filing on Friday for a long-awaited initial public offering, has unleashed a flood of facts and figures about its business, strategy, future plans and more than a few challenges.In the hours after the 7-year-old startup first filed its prospectus with the SEC, we laid out the company’s financials, noted the significance of […]

Tesla Roadster sighting at the 2010 Philadelphia International Auto Show. …

More Tesla Roadster pictures after the jump. …

If you can’t afford the car, you may be able to own a few shares of the company after its stock is publicly traded. …

Tesla Motors files for an initial public offering: “has filed a registration statement on Form S-1 with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a proposed initial public offering of its common stock. Tesla Motors designs, manufactures and sells high-performance fully electric vehicles and advanced electric vehicle powertrain components. The number of shares to be offered and the price range for the offering have not yet been determined. ”

After reading over electric vehicle startup Tesla’s S-1 filing on Friday, after it filed for an IPO to raise up to $100 million, it’s clear that Tesla has a few things in spades: a stellar brand, lots of losses, and pretty much a single plan to generate profits in the coming years, the Model S. […]

Death and taxes may have been for Benjamin Franklin the only certainties in life, but research firm Frost & Sullivan adds a third this week: a boom in the car sharing market over the next several years. “It is a trend that WILL happen,” the firm writes in a new report, “and vehicle manufacturers need […]