Tesla recently (briefly) surpassed both Ford and General Motors in market capitalization. My own prognosis for Tesla’s longer-run prospects aside, once the Model 3 launches…
Tesla: First the Cash, Then the Crash
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The Auto Industry Posts
Annual redesign was a Faustian bargain
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Here is the canonical Prisoners Dilemma setup. If GM and Ford don’t engage in annual model changes, neither has an advantage in the market place…
Spring 2017
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This course will be offered Spring 2017, with a trip to Detroit the 3rd week of the term. The cost is penciled in at $700.…
Course over! back to Autos & Economics
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The course came to a safe conclusion with the final week including a visit to Metalsa, a heavy truck rail manufacturer in Roanoke, and meetings…
VW: Car Company or “Mobility Provider?”
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Just today, Volkswagen CEO Matthias Mueller announced that the brand was unrolling a new strategy for summer 2016. Hoping to reinvigorate its appeal to cost-conscious,…
Tesla: Struggling with Model 3 Output?
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On Wednesday, Tesla announced that it would sell $2 billion, yes billion, in equity to help finance its Model 3 production. Tesla has accepted about…
The EPA proposed raising the amount of ethanol in gasoline in 2017. The proposed regulations would raise the current regulations by 700 million gallons to…
United Auto Workers President Dennis Williams announced today that his union will endorse a Presidential candidate shortly. While declining to comment on who that candidate will…
The Aloha State Verse Takata
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Recently this past Friday, the Aloha state, Hawaii, took yet another shot at the Takata airbag defect by calling the Japanese auto parts maker to…
While many blogs have featured topics revolving around self-driving cars, automobile companies, and the industry’s “capital”, Detroit, another interesting aspect of the auto industry is…