SEC Investigating Whether BMW Faked Sales

William Boston in Berlin and Mike Colias in Detroit bring news of fraud in a story for the Wall Street Journal: The Securities and Exchange Commission has opened an investigation into whether German luxury car maker Bayerische Motoren Werke AG manipulated sales figures, according to people familiar with the matter. The Wall Street Journal Fraud? The regulator is […]

France Raises Pollution Taxes on SUVs and Trucks to $22,240

Ania Nussbaum reports from France: France is taking aim at SUVs by raising a tax on heavier and more polluting vehicles, a measure that comes on top of tough new European rules being phased in next year to lower car emissions. Under a law adopted by parliament this week, cars emitting carbon dioxide above a certain threshold […]

Rivian Completes $1.3 Billion Equity Round: Fourth Raise in 2019

Rivian today announced a $1.3 billion fundraising round led by T. Rowe Price, with participation from existing investors including Amazon and Ford: It was the fourth investment in Rivian this year and the company’s largest funding round so far. Amazon and Ford Motor, which were already Rivian investors, also took part in the latest round. […]

Tesla Secures $1.4 Billion Loan from Chinese Banks for GF3

A group of Chinese banks has agreed to extend a 10 billion yuan five-year loan facility to Tesla, to support Gigafactory Shanghai: U.S. electric vehicle maker Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) and a group of China banks have agreed a new 10 billion yuan ($1.4 billion), five-year loan facility for the automaker’s Shanghai car plant, three sources […]

Smart Summon Launches in China

In the latest step for Full Self Driving, Smart summon has launched in China today: Smart Summon for China 🇨🇳 is finally here! 🎉 🎉 🎉 pic.twitter.com/dD5m7rEvVv — 特拉风🇨🇳T☰SLA mania (@Tesla__Mania) December 23, 2019

We’ll be Interviewing Elon Musk

This morning, Tesla CEO Elon Musk agreed to come on the Third Row Tesla Podcast for a conversation with the community. And we’re going to hold you to that Elon! We’ll have more information as this story develops, but in the meantime: What would you ask Elon Musk if you had the chance? Asking for […]

Bloomberg: Tesla Shorts in “Winter of Despair”

Esha Dey brings us this great headline from Bloomberg: Investors betting against Tesla Inc. are facing the “worst of times” with the electric-vehicle maker’s stock price on a tear over the past seven months. Tesla shares gained 0.4% to close at a record on Friday, rising more than 120% from a low of $178.97 on June 3. Bloomberg Ouch. […]

FSD Early Access will Require FSD Computer

Tesla CEO Elon Musk confirmed today that the early access release of full self driving hitting the streets in the next few days will require hardware 3: Yes — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 21, 2019 Tesla service centers have already begun upgrading cars that have purchased the FSD package.