Page 32 - Tesla

Elon Musk's 'impulsive' use of Twitter seizes spotlight in Tesla trial

Tesla CEO Elon Musk's impulsive and sometimes inflammatory usage of Twitter took centre stage Wednesday in a trial focused on whether he misled investors with his 2018 tweets indicating he had lined up financing to take the electric automaker private, a proposal that rapidly unravelled. The spotlight on Musk's tweeting habits came a day after the 51-year-old billionaire completed three days of defiant testimony during which he told the nine-member jury why he believed he could have pulled off a Tesla buyout that could have cost anywhere from $30 billion to more than $70 billion at the time. Musk, who now owns the Twitter service that's central to the trial about his management of Tesla, raised the prospect of a buyout in an Aug. 7, 2018 tweet stating he had the funding secured for the deal. Musk followed up a few hours later with another tweet suggesting a deal was imminent. After it became apparent that the money wasn't in place to take Tesla private, Musk and the company reached

Musk defiant, defends himself in Tesla buyout tweet trial in federal court

Elon Musk returned to federal court to defend himself against a class-action lawsuit that alleges he misled Tesla shareholders with a tweet about an aborted buyout that the billionaire defiantly insisted Tuesday he could have pulled off, had he wanted. Musk spent roughly three more hours on the stand during his third day of testimony before being excused by U.S. District Judge Edward Chen. It's unlikely Musk, 51, will be summoned back to the witness stand during a civil trial expected to be turned over to a nine-person jury in early February. Musk, who also owns Twitter while continuing to run Tesla, spent much of Tuesday depicting himself, while being questioned by his own attorney, Alex Spiro, as an impeccably trustworthy business leader capable of raising as much money as he needs to pursue his visions. He testily sparred with a shareholder lawyer, Nicholas Porritt, who had raised his ire earlier in the trial. At two separate junctures Tuesday under Spiro's gentle prodding, Musk

Musk defends his tweets about taking Tesla private in San Francisco court

Elon Musk returned to federal court Monday in San Francisco, testifying that he believed he had locked up financial backing to take Tesla private during 2018 meetings with representatives from Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund although no specific funding amount or price was discussed. The billionaire Tesla CEO and Twitter owner is facing a class action lawsuit filed by Tesla investors alleging he misled them with a tweet saying funding was secured to take his electric car company private for $420 per share. But the deal never came close to happening, and the tweet resulted in a $40 million settlement with securities regulators. The trial hinges on the question of whether a pair of tweets that Musk posted on Aug. 7, 2018, damaged Tesla shareholders during a 10-day period leading up to Musk's admission that the buyout he had envisioned wasn't going to happen. Speaking in a soft halting tone, Musk said Monday he had trouble sleeping last night and unfortunately I am not at my .

Elon Musk rebuffed in bid to move misleading Tesla tweet trial to Texas

A federal judge on Friday rejected Tesla CEO Elon Musk's bid to move or delay a trial over a misleading tweet about a potential buyout of the electric automaker, setting the stage for the mercurial billionaire to be thrust into a legal drama amid the turmoil of his Twitter takeover. The decision by US District Judge Edward Chen came during a hearing held in San Francisco federal court to go over the final details of a trial scheduled to begin Tuesday with jury selection. Musk's attorneys last week asked Chen to transfer the trial to a federal court in Texas, where Tesla moves its headquarters in 2021, arguing that negative coverage of Musk since his USD 44 billion purchase of Twitter in October had poisoned the jury pool in the San Francisco Bay Area. But Chen brushed aside those concerns Friday, and expressed confidence that a panel of impartial jurors could be drawn from a region populated by millions of people. He also noted that a jury was pulled together for trial in the highly

After China, Tesla now announces price cuts on its electric vehicles in US

Tesla has also announced price cuts in South Korea, Japan, Australia and Singapore

Delivery time gets longer for some Tesla models in China after discounts

The waiting time for orders of the rear-wheel-drive and long-range versions of Model Y was a week longer on Monday than it had been on Friday, Tesla's website showed

Teslas now over 40% cheaper in China as prices cut again amid competition

Tesla already cut prices in China last year to boost sales as competition heats up in both the mass and premium segments

Tesla's board takes more heat over Elon Musk succession planning

Karen Róbertsdóttir has submitted a resolution for Tesla investors to vote in May on whether the board should prepare and maintain a key-person risk report

Mercedes to build its own electric vehicle charging network in N America

Mercedes-Benz says it will build its own worldwide electric vehicle charging network starting in North America in a bid to compete with EV sales leader Tesla. The German luxury automaker said at the CES gadget show in Las Vegas on Thursday that it will start building the North American network this year at a total cost of just over 1 billion euros (USD 1.05 billion). When completed in six or seven years, the network will have 400 charging stations with more than 2,500 high-power plugs, the company said. Networks in Europe and China and other markets will follow, with completion of the full network by the end of the decade, when the company intends to sell all electric vehicles depending on market conditions. The full network will have more than 2,000 charging stations and over 10,000 plugs worldwide, Ola Kllenius, chairman of Mercedes-Benz's management board, told reporters. The company said the Mercedes-branded network will be open to owners of all electric vehicles, but Mercedes

South Korea fines Tesla $2.2 million for EV range exaggeration: Report

The driving range of the American EV manufacturer's cars plunge in cold weather by up to 50.5% versus how they are advertised online, the KFTC said in a statement on Tuesday

Tesla fined $2.2 mn in S Korea for alleged violations of advertising law

Tesla falsely promoted and exaggerated the driving range and charging speed of its electric cars as well as the estimated savings on fuel costs by using its vehicles

Sold record 1.3 mn vehicles last year, number short of target sales: Tesla

Tesla said on Monday that sold a record 1.3 million vehicles last year, but the number fell short of CEO Elon Musk's pledge to grow the company's sales by 50 per cent nearly every year. The 2022 figure topped the prior record of 936,000 vehicles delivered in 2021, but it was shy of the 1.4 million needed to reach the company's 50 per cent growth target. Sales grew 40 per cent year over year, while production climbed 47 per cent to 1.37 million. The shortfall came despite a major year-end sales push that included rare USD 7,500 discounts in the US on the Models Y and 3, the company's top-selling models. Tesla Inc., which is based in Austin, Texas, also had to deal with rising cases of the novel coronavirus in China, which cut into production at its Shanghai factory. With the extra US push, Tesla delivered more than 405,000 vehicles worldwide in the fourth quarter. But that missed Wall Street projections. Analysts polled by data provider FactSet expected 427,000 deliveries from Octo

Elon Musk's Tesla may unveil $25,000 Model 2 car in 2024: Report

Elon Musk-owned electric vehicle company Tesla is expected to unveil its $25,000 Model 2 car in 2024, the media reported

Tesla announces Model S, X launch in China, prices to be unveiled on Friday

Elon Musk-run Tesla has announced the upcoming launch of Model S and Model X in China, with pricing to be revealed on Friday and deliveries in the first half of this year

Tesla Megapack to achieve sustainable energy future for Earth, says Musk

Elon Musk on Saturday said Tesla Megapack (battery storage product) will make a huge difference to achieving a sustainable energy future for the planet.

US govt agency probing automated driving system use in 2 Tesla crashes

The US government's highway safety agency said on Thursday it will send teams to investigate two November crashes in California and Ohio involving Teslas that may have been operating on automated driving systems. The probes bring to 35 the number of crashes investigated by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration since 2016 in which either Tesla's Full Self-Driving or Autopilot systems likely were in use. Nineteen people were killed in the crashes. The California crash occurred on Thanksgiving Day involving eight vehicles on the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. The driver told authorities that the Tesla Model S was using the company's Full Self-Driving software, according to Highway Patrol report obtained by CNN. The Ohio crash happened on November 18 near Toledo, when a Tesla Model 3 crashed into an Ohio Highway Patrol SUV stopped on a roadway with its emergency lights flashing. A message was left on Thursday seeking comment from Tesla on the latest NHTSA action. The ..

After Twitter debacle, does Elon Musk still want to be the CEO of Tesla?

It hasn't helped that Musk has oscillated from arguing that Twitter is doing better under his leadership, to describing it as in the fast lane toward bankruptcy

Musk not suited to run Twitter, should instead focus on Tesla: Investor

To the extent that Musk remains involved with the social media platform, it should be with the underlying technology rather than as the "front-facing CEO," Ross Gerber said

Tesla stock drops to its lowest, Elon Musk blames macroeconomic conditions

Electric car company Tesla's shares tumbled further to around $137 apiece, its lowest ever, as Elon Musk on Wednesday again blamed global macroeconomic conditions

Elon Musk's net worth sinks to two-yr low as Twitter CEO loses $7.7 billion

The selloff adds to the woes of Musk, who lost his status as the world's richest person to luxury tycoon Bernard Arnault on Dec. 13