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lai liao 😁 @ https://www.techinasia.com/source-tesla-nears-final-approval-sell-cars-singapore

Source: https://www.hardwarezone.com.sg/tech-news-byd-tesla-seal-dynamic-100kw-model-3-rear-wheel-drive-110-singapore-price-specs Electric car makers BYD and Tesla have both launched more affordable models that qualify for the slightly less expensive Category A COE in the past couple of weeks. The newer of the two is the Seal Dynamic 100kW from BYD. As its name suggests, it has a power output of 100kW or 134hp. Performance suffers compared to the outgoing Dynamic model, but this new version will still get from 0-100km/h in 10 seconds. Crucially, it still has a 61.44kWh battery. The claimed range on the WLTP Combined cycle is 460km. Inside, the new Seal Dynamic 100kW loses none of the features that make the Seal such a tantalising option in its class. You have a large 15.6-inch infotainment system, ventilated seats, an expansive panoramic sunroof, and a comprehensive suite of safety features. From Tesla, we have the Rear-Wheel Drive 110 variant of the Model 3. The number “110” refers to its power output, 110kW or 148hp – the maximum permissible to qualify for a Category A COE. It may be the least powerful version of the Model 3, but it’ll still get from a standstill to 100km/h in a sprightly 8.6 seconds. The claimed WLTP range is 513km. The Rear-Wheel Drive 110 variant loses none of the features that make the Model 3 great, and that means it has a large 15.4-inch infotainment display, Tesla Arcade, Sentry Mode, and more. Having a car that qualifies for a Category A COE is an important strategy for carmakers here in Singapore. Although the prices of Category A COEs remain high, car buyers (particularly first-time buyers) will appreciate every little bit of savings that they can get. In the case of these two cars here, and based on current COE premiums, the savings (when compared to the Cat B model) can range anywhere from S$10,000 to as much as S$25,000. To learn more about these cars, be sure to check out our earlier review of the BYD Seal Performance and our test drive of the new updated Model 3. Availability and pricing The BYD Seal Dynamic 100kW and Tesla Model 3 Rear-Wheel Drive 110 are both available to order now. Prices of the BYD Seal Dynamic 100kW start at S$170,888, while prices of the Tesla Model 3 Rear-Wheel Drive 110 start at around S$189,000. Prices are correct at the time of publishing and are subject to change because of ever-changing COE premiums.

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https://thedriven.io/2022/03/15/byd-seal-atto-4-electric-sportscar-to-rival-tesla-model-3-confirmed-for-australia/amp/ China doing what they do best, copying According to the source, this can do 0-100 in 3.9 s

YouTuber Alex Choi attended a Tesla meeting where owners showed what modifications they made to their cars. Everything ran smoothly, and everyone was enjoying their time there. But the night ended in a completely different matter. Choi was approached by a Tesla owner that, out of the blue, wanted to show him where David Dobrik (a.k.a Borat) jumped his EV from Elon Musk’s company. Since this was a friendly encounter and a curious invitation, he accepted. What he didn’t expect was to see this owner attempt a jump in that exact spot with his brand-new Tesla Model S. The YouTuber even says that the driver of the flying and now totaled Tesla attempted this on its own. Moreover, he’s done without any practice or test run beforehand. Naturally, a crowd gathers, and everyone starts filming. For some reason, the owner of the acrobatic Tesla violently accelerated, and the jump instantly became a very short flying lesson. The outcome, well… You can see it for yourself. The car was destroyed. What’s sad is that other innocent owners had their cars damaged as well because the impact on the ground was so brutal. Fortunately, nobody was seriously hurt. Apart from the new Tesla and some other damage to public property, nothing else went wrong. Still, the video is further proof that Model S vehicles are safe and can protect even the most adventurous drivers. https://www.autoevolution.com/news/brand-new-tesla-model-s-jumps-50-feet-into-the-air-everybody-s-speechless-184385.html Great conclusion right there lol.

Hi folks! I have not seen related discussion before hence starting one. All EV drivers, please share your experiences and recommendations for tyres? I know most EVs are new in Singapore. Tesla, BYD, BMW I series, Mercedes EQ series, Audi e-tron series etc. EV cars are much heavier than ICE, tyres I guess have to use EV specific ones to achieve good comfort, performance and most importantly thread wear. I am currently driving BMW iX3, stock came with Yokohama, hence I am looking around. Explored tyrereviews and understand that Michelin , Bridgestone, Goodyear are the top 3 tyres, are they also good for EVs? Correct me if I am wrong. Hope to hear from you all! TIA

https://www.sgcarmart.com/news/article.php?AID=26177 No plans lined up this weekend? Why not head on down to Millenia Walk to catch the opening of Tesla's new dedicated showroom here in Singapore? sgCarMart understands from property developer and manager of Millenia Walk, Pontiac Land Group, that Tesla's new retail site is poised to open its doors at 11:00am come 15 January 2022. The new retail location comes just months after the mall became the second location in Singapore to host Tesla's V3 Superchargers, and comes following the closure of Tesla's former temporary site at One Assembly within Raffles City shopping centre. We have additionally been informed that prospective Tesla buyers will be able to experience the Model 3 at the new retail store, with test drives to be conducted along the East Coast Parkway's scenic waterfront, located just three minutes away. Those test drives, will have to be booked in advance however, via Tesla Singapore's dedicated site here. Tesla's new showroom is located at #01-84, facing The Great Hall at Millenia Walk. Opening Hours for the new showroom are 11:00am to 8:00pm from Sundays to Thursdays, while opening hours for Fridays and Saturdays are from 11:00am to 8.30pm.

I think this will hold the record for the ugliest car title for a long long time... @Mustank @Davidtch and other truck lover, what is your take? Tesla Cybertruck Tesla Cybertruck is designed to have the utility of a truck and the performance of a sports car. The vehicle is built to be durable, versatile and capable, with exceptional performance both on-road and off-road. Tesla Cybertruck will come in three variants: Single Motor Rear-Wheel Drive, Dual Motor All-Wheel Drive, and Tri Motor All-Wheel Drive. Tesla Cybertruck Specs Range: 500+ miles 0-60 mph acceleration: <2.9 seconds Towing capacity: More than 14,000 lbs Payload: Up to 3,500 lbs Vault length: 6.5 feet Storage capacity: 100 cubic feet of exterior, lockable storage including the vault, frunk, and sail pillars. Suspension: 4" in either direction Touchscreen size: 17" Body: Ultra-Hard 30X Cold-Rolled stainless steel. If there was something better, we'd use it. Seating capacity: Up to six adults Charging: Can be charged at home, at Destination Charging locations, and with our network of more than 14,000 Superchargers, including on our newest V3 technology, which is helpful for long hauls and towing.

The rising cost of car ownership in Singapore has only made owners baby their cars more. Despite how much we baby our car, there are some instances where damage to our car is inevitable. Watch the following video to know why: What Happened? The above video was retrieved from Tesla's sentry mode, which continuously monitors and surveys the surroundings of the Tesla while it is parked. The following incident occurred at an HDB estate in Clementi, where a man was caught on video loitering around a parked Tesla and behaving suspiciously. After ensuring no one around him, he took out a key and gave the parked Tesla a long, good scratch as he walked past it. Little did he realise that his act of vandalism would be captured by the Tesla that he scratched in HIGH DEFINITION. His vandalism may be motivated by pure mischief or an act of vengeance. Regardless, it is plain wrong to commit such an act. Below is the aftermath of the act of vandalism on the Tesla: Looking at his modus operandi, I highly doubt this was his first act of vandalism. I hope the culprit is brought to justice with ample video evidence and a detailed description of the vandal. Netizens' Comments Pretty sure it will be effortless to track him down since his physical description and the area he resides in have already been established. Because getting caught on a regular dashcam is too mainstream. This made me laugh. ========= Be the first to get the latest road/ COE news, and get first dibs on exclusive promos and giveaways in our Telegram SGCM Community. Join us today!

On Saturday (6 April), a Complaint Singapore member posted his experience purchasing paper offerings. The man claimed the stall owner told him the Tesla paper offering was “more expensive” since it was an “electric car”, and he was unable to provide a discount. Just as he was about to leave the store after spending S$100 on the Tesla-themed offering, he was stopped. The stall owner allegedly said: “Ah boy arh, you forget to buy charging port.” Seeing as the Tesla was an “electric car”, the man agreed to purchase the charging port for another S$100. https://mustsharenews.com/paper-tesla-offering/

First photo of the entry level EV from Tesla. It will be officially unveil in the next couple of hours. Stay tuned. In order to be as fair as possible, there will be a different queue for each region. And as a thank you to our current owners, existing customers will get priority in each region. Model 3 production is scheduled to begin in late 2017. When production begins, we will begin deliveries in North America starting on the West Coast, moving east. As we continue to ramp production, we will begin deliveries in Europe, APAC and right-hand drive markets. It is not possible to ship to all regions simultaneously because regulators in each part of the world have slightly different production requirements. Staggering deliveries in this way also allows us to provide the best possible customer experience. We recognize that everyone wants to get their Model 3 as quickly as possible. Our overarching goal is to maximize total customer happiness within the bounds of what is physically possible. Tune in to the Model 3 unveil on March 31st at 8:30pm PT on Tesla.com. We can't wait to show you what we've been working on.

This informative video explains the real world challenges that electric vehicles are facing, which is not about the cost, battery technology and range.

Can afford Tesla, cannot afford to charge? Just go to your nearest condo I guess. What happened? A Tesla Model Y at Sol Acres condominium was reported to have broke the lock to a wall plug to charge using the condo’s electricity, despite not being a resident vehicle. Pictures in the Facebook post show that the Tesla was using a wall plug in order to charge the car. The plug was apparently locked and subsequently broken, though no signs of damage were shown in the photo. According to a forum post on Tesla Motors Club, it might take 30-40 hours to charge the car up from empty using a 13A wall plug like in the picture. So the owner will have to leave the car there for 30-40 hours, by which time maybe security will get wise and put clamps on the car. If that happens, they would need to pay to remove the wheel clamp so the whole ordeal would have cost about the same plus the additional wasted time and embarassment. Online chatter Many presented very simple solutions to this problem. Many also ridiculed the Tesla owner for buying such a car but being unable to charge it. ========= Be the first to get the latest road/ COE news and get first dibs on exclusive promos and giveaways in our Telegram SGCM Community. Join us today!

<Elon Musk Frantically Warns Employees of Potential SpaceX Bankruptcy Musk advised employees to work over the weekend after reading Raptor engine production issues were far worse than previously thought. Image: Win McNamee (Getty Images) SpaceX employees received a nightmare email over the holiday weekend from CEO Elon Musk, warning them of a brewing crisis with its Raptor engine production that, if unsolved, could result in the company’s bankruptcy. The email, obtained by SpaceExplored, CNBC, and The Verge, urged employees to work over the weekend in a desperate attempt to increase production of the engine meant to power its next-generation Starship launch vehicle. “Unfortunately, the Raptor production crisis is much worse than it seemed a few weeks ago,” Musk reportedly wrote. “As we have dug into the issues following exiting prior senior management, they have unfortunately turned out to be far more severe than was reported. There is no way to sugarcoat this.” SpaceX did not immediately respond to Gizmodo’s request for comment but Musk did Tweet about the report Tuesday afternoon. “The magnitude of the Starship program is not widely appreciated” Musk tweeted. “It is designed to extend life to Mars (and the moon), which requires ~1000 times more payload to orbit than all current Earth rockets combined.” Though Musk did not confirm or deny the email’s veracity he spoke to its content saying that, while he did not believe bankruptcy was likely, it wasn’t impossible either. The CEO went on to apparently quote Intel founder and former CEO Andrew Grove, writing “only the paranoid survive.” In his email, Musk advised workers to cut their holiday weekend short and called for an “all hands on deck to recover from what is, quite frankly, a disaster.” Summing up the problem, Musk warned the company could face bankruptcy if it could not get Starship flights running once every two weeks in 2022. If all of this sounds familiar, that’s because Musk has previously spoken publicly about times where both SpaceX and Tesla were on the verge of bankruptcy in their early years. More recently Musk claimed Tesla came within “single digits” of bankruptcy as recent as 2018. Raptor’s engine is a critical component of Starship, which SpaceX hopes will one-day transport cargo and people to the moon and Mars. Starship’s ability to meet these ambitious goals is critical to SpaceX’s long-term success which is built upon Elon Musk’s promise of multi-planetary human exploration. According to Musk’s email, Starship will also play a critical role in launching Starlink’s next-generation satellites into orbit. Musk’s stressed-out email follows a tweet earlier this month where the CEO admitted the Raptor 2 would need a “complete design overhaul” to make multi-planetary life possible. Not long after that, two SpaceX vice presidents abruptly left the company according to CNBC. One of those executives, Will Heltsley, who had been at the company since 2009, was working on the Raptor project but was taken off due to a lack of progress. The alarming news comes near the close of what’s been an otherwise stellar year for SpaceX. In 11 months SpaceX managed to launch 25 successful Falcon 9 missions, sent a dozen astronauts to space and drew a roadmap to mass commercialization with its Starlink satellite internet service. You can read the full email over at The Verge.>

Tesla hits record high in first trading session of 2021 source: https://www.theedgemarkets.com/article/tesla-shares-set-start-2021-record-high NEW YORK/BENGALURU (Jan 4): Tesla Inc shares rose to a record high in the first trading session of 2021, extending last year's more than eight-fold surge that helped it become the world's most valuable carmaker. The company on Saturday (Jan 2), beat Wall Street targets for annual vehicle deliveries but missed by 450 units of Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk's target of half a million cars in 2020. The stock's meteoric rise was supported by five straight quarters of profit, which helped the electric-car maker stand out in the global auto industry that has been witnessing a slump in sales, quarterly losses and supply chain disruptions. "We are raising our forecasts to reflect higher 4Q deliveries and reports of strong demand for the Model Y in China, which is also suggestive of higher future deliveries," J.P. Morgan analysts said in a client note. The brokerage also raised its price target on Tesla to US$105 from US$90. Street's median target on the stock is US$424.50, US$319 below its current trading price, according to Refinitiv data. Tesla, however, faces an uphill task of ramping up production. Its delivery push so far has been supported by the new Shanghai factory, the only plant currently producing vehicles outside California. "The bad news is to keep up with this demand, the company needs to quickly build new factories in Austin, Texas, and Brandenburg, Germany," said Gene Munster, managing partner at Loup Ventures. "... Ramping production is difficult and will be one of the most important Tesla topics in 2021, along with the status of FSD (Full Self-Driving)". Shares of the company, which joined the benchmark S&P 500 index in December, were up as much as 5.4% at US$743.74 in early trading.

SAN FRANCISCO - Tesla has assured its millions of electric car owners that their privacy “is and will always be enormously important to us”. The cameras it builds into vehicles to assist driving, it notes on its website, are “designed from the ground up to protect your privacy”. But between 2019 and 2022, groups of Tesla employees privately shared, via an internal messaging system, sometimes highly invasive videos and images recorded by customers’ car cameras, according to interviews by Reuters with nine former employees. Some of the recordings caught Tesla customers in embarrassing situations. One former employee described a video of a man approaching a vehicle completely naked. Also shared were crashes and road-rage incidents. One crash video in 2021 showed a Tesla being driven at high speed in a residential area and hitting a child riding a bike, according to another former employee. Other images were more mundane, such as pictures of dogs and funny road signs that employees made into memes by embellishing them with amusing captions or commentary, before posting them in private group chats. While some postings were shared between only two employees, others could be seen by scores of them, according to several former employees. Tesla states in its online “Customer Privacy Notice” that its “camera recordings remain anonymous and are not linked to you or your vehicle”. But seven former employees told Reuters the computer programme they used at work could show the location of recordings – which potentially could reveal where a Tesla owner lived. One former employee also said that some recordings appeared to have been made when cars were parked and turned off. Several years ago, Tesla would receive video recordings from its vehicles even when they were turned off, if owners gave consent. It has since stopped doing so. “We could see inside people’s garages and their private properties,” said another former employee. “Let’s say that a Tesla customer had something in their garage that was distinctive, you know, people would post those kinds of things.” Tesla did not respond to detailed questions sent to the company for this report. To report this story, Reuters contacted more than 300 former Tesla employees who had worked at the company over the past nine years and were involved in developing its self-driving system. More than a dozen agreed to answer questions, all speaking on condition of anonymity. Reuters was not able to obtain any of the shared videos or images, which former employees said they had not kept. The news agency also was not able to determine if the practice of sharing recordings, which occurred within some parts of Tesla as recently as 2022, continues today or how widespread it was. Some former employees contacted said the only sharing they observed was for legitimate work purposes, such as seeking assistance from colleagues or supervisors. The sharing of sensitive videos illustrates one of the less-noted features of artificial intelligence systems: They often require armies of human beings to help train machines to learn automated tasks such as driving. Since about 2016, Tesla has employed hundreds of people in Africa and later the United States to label images to help its cars learn how to recognise pedestrians, street signs, construction vehicles, garage doors and other objects encountered on the road or at customers’ houses. To accomplish that, data labellers were given access to thousands of videos or images recorded by car cameras that they would view to identify objects. Two former employees said they were not bothered by the sharing of images, saying that customers had given their consent or that people long ago had given up any reasonable expectation of keeping personal data private. Three others, however, said they were troubled by it. One said: “I’m bothered by it because the people who buy the car, I don’t think they know that their privacy is, like, not respected... We could see them doing laundry and really intimate things. We could see their kids.” One former employee saw nothing wrong with sharing images, but described a function that allowed data labellers to view the location of recordings on Google Maps as a “massive invasion of privacy”. Associate Professor David Choffnes, executive director of the Cybersecurity and Privacy Institute at Northeastern University in Boston, called the sharing of sensitive videos and images by Tesla employees “morally reprehensible”. He noted that circulating sensitive and personal content could be construed as a violation of Tesla’s own privacy policy – potentially resulting in intervention by the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which enforces federal laws relating to consumers’ privacy. An FTC spokesman said it does not comment on individual companies or their conduct. To develop self-driving car technology, Tesla collects a vast trove of data from its global fleet of several million vehicles. The company requires car owners to grant permission on the cars’ touchscreens before Tesla collects their vehicles’ data. “Your data belongs to you,” states Tesla’s website. In its customer privacy notice, Tesla explains that if a customer agrees to share data, “your vehicle may collect the data and make it available to Tesla for analysis. This analysis helps Tesla improve its products, features, and diagnose problems quicker.” It also states that the data may include “short video clips or images”, but is not linked to a customer’s account or vehicle identification number, “and does not identify you personally. https://www.straitstimes.com/world/tesla-workers-shared-sensitive-images-recorded-by-customer-cars?utm_campaign=stfb&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook

I would make a self driving joke but I’ve been told I can’t if I have no evidence. Roll the clip! What happened? A Tesla Model Y was spotted causing a massive jam at Woodlands Checkpoint because it’s at the motorcycle lane. The footage of the video is short but it shows that someone is behind the wheel so… What is going on? How did it come to this? Besides that we can see the sea of motorcycles waiting behind the tesla, as well as a picture showing that the Tesla might have been able to cross the checkpoint despite the incorrect lane. There is no indication that any self driving technology was involved. Online chatter While I may not be able to joke about the whole self-driving thing, the internet can do it on my behalf! Others criticised the driver for lack of skill, not reading any signage or knowing where to go in the checkpoint. ========= Be the first to get the latest road/ COE news and get first dibs on exclusive promos and giveaways in our Telegram SGCM Community. Join us today!

Tesla Model Y is finally here prices from $142,271 excluding COE

https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Automobiles/Tesla-earns-5-times-more-per-car-than-Toyota-earnings-show?utm_campaign=GL_JP_update&utm_medium=email&utm_source=NA_newsletter&utm_content=article_link&del_type=4&pub_date=20230210085958&seq_num=6&si=44594 Tesla earns 5 times more per car than Toyota, earnings show EV maker catching up to Japan's top automaker in net profit Tesla electric vehicles at a sales and service center in California. The U.S. EV maker has a limited lineup of just four high-end models. © Reuters KEI MIYATA and YUKI FUKUMOTO, Nikkei staff writersFebruary 10, 2023 05:20 JST NAGOYA, Japan -- Toyota Motor earned less than a fifth in per-vehicle earnings compared with Tesla during the April-December period as Japan's giant automaker struggles to absorb rising costs. Toyota earned 240,000 yen ($1,820) in net profit per unit during that time span last year. In contrast, Tesla raked in the equivalent of 1.26 million yen per vehicle during the same period. This discrepancy shows the limits of Toyota's "multi-solution" strategy that puts out gasoline vehicles alongside fuel cell and electric vehicles. The wide-ranging approach has exposed Toyota to a costlier business environment while Tesla has remained more insulated by its EV-focused lineup. During the nine months ended December 2022, Toyota's raw material costs increased 1.1 trillion yen compared with a year earlier. Toyota expects 210 billion yen in groupwide cost savings for the financial year ending March, but that number falls well short of offsetting the extra costs. The trend is particularly conspicuous in Toyota's North American operations, where it is normally easier to pass on higher costs to sticker prices compared with Japan. In the three quarters through December, Toyota earned 49.2 billion yen in operating profit in North America, a decline of roughly 450 billion yen from the year-earlier period. The company suffered an operating loss in that region during the October-December quarter. "The price hikes on vehicles haven't kept up" with increased material costs, said a manager. In Japan, an executive at a parts supplier in Aichi prefecture that works with Toyota expressed a sense of relief despite facing rising fuel expenses. "It looks like Toyota will pay for 70%-80% of it," said the executive. Toyota has been partly covering energy bills and material costs for suppliers since summer last year. The parts supplier in Aichi has successfully negotiated a deal with Toyota in which the automaker will shoulder most of the extra fuel costs. "There's no other automaker that takes care of electricity and gas bills like Toyota," said a senior manager at another parts supplier. A Toyota dealership in Michigan. Toyota Motor's North American operation has been unable to cover cost increases through price hikes. © Reuters Globally, Toyota does business with roughly 400 first-tier suppliers alone. Covering fuel and material outlays for that number of suppliers is a highly cost intensive endeavor. Toyota looks to maintain its supply chain so that it can realize cost savings jointly with suppliers, though much of the scale comes from the fact that Toyota, the world's top-selling automaker, has adopted a strategy that spans roughly 50 models from gasoline vehicles to EVs. Because of that full-lineup business model, the higher costs have started to weigh on Toyota. The company's per-vehicle profit in April-December is down by 56,000 yen from a year earlier, while Tesla is up by the equivalent of 500,000 yen. Unlike Toyota's wide-ranging lineup, Tesla fields just four high-end models. Since 2021, Tesla has significantly expanded its production and sales volume, which improved the company's earning capacity. For the three quarters through December, Tesla earned the equivalent of 1.26 trillion yen in net profit, which is closing in on the 1.9 trillion yen Toyota generated during the same period. BYD, the Chinese maker of mass-market EVs, is earning between 190,000 yen to 200,000 yen per vehicle and is gaining on Toyota. Last year, BYD sold 1.86 million electrics, including plug-in hybrids, a volume that is up by a factor of 3.1. This momentum comes courtesy of BYD's vertical integration. The company manufactures automotive batteries in-house and controls a subsidiary that makes semiconductors. BYD is quickly expanding operations worldwide, the latest move being the launch of EV sales in Japan this January. Along with Tesla, BYD is steadily making a name for itself through its strong earning capacity. For Toyota to stage a comeback against the rivals, the company faces the immediate challenge of boosting production volume. Toyota plans to sell up to 10.6 million units this calendar year under the Toyota and Lexus brands. If Toyota achieves its production goals, it would be able to use its economy of scale to bring costs down while not missing out on sale opportunities. Raising prices on vehicles would likely become easier under this scenario. However, ramping up production is easier said than done. Toyota on Thursday said it plans to only make 9.1 million units this fiscal year, a downgrade of 100,000 units due to a semiconductor shortage. Toyota looks to respond by minimizing the number of semiconductors used per vehicle. For example, if each Lexus vehicle comes with just one keyless fob instead of two, that would free Toyota to manufacture roughly 100,000 extra vehicles. In addition, Toyota group company Aisin is redesigning transmissions and other components it produces. Aisin is adopting designs that can accommodate off-the-shelf semiconductors. This spring, Lexus will add the fully electric RZ to its lineup. Koji Sato, Toyota's incoming president, oversaw the development of the model. Toyota plans to expand its EV lineup, an approach that had been delayed by the company's multi-solution strategy.

https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Automobiles/Tesla-earns-8-times-more-profit-than-Toyota-per-car?utm_campaign=GL_JP_update&utm_medium=email&utm_source=NA_newsletter&utm_content=article_link&del_type=4&pub_date=20221108090000&seq_num=2&si=44594 Tesla earns 8 times more profit than Toyota per car Focus on few, higher-priced models puts EV maker in lead on net earnings A Model Y electric vehicle at a Tesla Gigafactory in Germany. The company has focused solely on EVs at the upper end of the market. © Reuters KAZUHIRO NOGUCHI, Nikkei staff writerNovember 8, 2022 03:28 JST NAGOYA -- Tesla earned eight times as much profit per vehicle as Toyota Motor in the July-September quarter despite being outsold more than 7 to 1, a Nikkei analysis shows, putting the American electric-vehicle maker ahead in quarterly net profit for the first time since going public in 2010. Tesla reported a $3.29 billion net profit in that quarter. Toyota earned 434.2 billion yen -- the equivalent of $3.15 billion based on the average exchange rate for the period of 138 yen to the dollar. Toyota's decline stemmed in part from extraordinary factors. The automaker is currently shouldering increased material and electricity costs for its suppliers. Higher materials costs, including such assistance to suppliers, pushed down quarterly operating profit by 450 billion yen ($3.07 billion), which was only partially offset by a 370 billion yen boost from a weak yen. It also booked one-time expenses of 96.9 billion yen from shutting down production in Russia. "The decreased profit in July-September does not equate to a decline in Toyota's actual earnings potential," said Kota Yuzawa at Goldman Sachs Japan. Toyota came out ahead in terms of operating profit, at the equivalent of $4.08 billion to Tesla's $3.69 billion. Still, Tesla has become one of the most profitable automakers in the world. Though its net profit fell short of Mercedes-Benz's in July-September, it outearned both BMW and Volkswagen. Its net profit margin came to 15% for the quarter. Tesla's success stems largely from the profitability of each of its cars. The Toyota group sold 2.62 million vehicles in the quarter, 7.6 times as many as Tesla's 344,000. But its net profit per vehicle came to around $1,200 -- just one-eighth of Tesla's $9,570. Tesla is believed to lead the industry in terms of net profit per vehicle sold, even ahead of players like Mercedes-Benz. Tesla vehicles at charging stations. (Courtesy of Tesla, Inc.) Tesla's profit per vehicle has grown especially quickly since April-June 2021. Investors have responded favorably to the gains, and the company's market capitalization was roughly triple Toyota's as of Monday at around $655 trillion. The gap is a result of the fundamentally different strategies pursued by the two automakers. Toyota offers a wide range of vehicles from gasoline-powered cars to hybrids, electrics and fuel-cell vehicles, and at a variety of sizes and price points. Meanwhile, Tesla has focused solely on EVs. The Model Y and Model 3 account for over 90% of its sales, which have nearly doubled in two years despite their relatively high price tags. Even the cheaper Model 3 starts at around $40,000 in the U.S. Confident in its strong brand appeal, Tesla has not hesitated to raise prices to pass on higher material costs to customers. It also started offering lucrative self-driving software as an add-on option ahead of rival automakers. "The biggest factor behind Tesla's profit growth is sales volume, then prices hikes and a rise in self-driving software sales," said Koji Endo at SBI Securities. Tesla has been installing so-called Giga Press casting machines to reduce the steps needed for assembly. In general, the use of such a machine could undercut quality but speed up mass-production. Teslas are also sold directly online in principle, a method that offers higher margins than selling via dealerships. Toyota's bZ4X electric vehicle. (The license plate number has been obscured) EVs are becoming widespread much faster than experts had anticipated. Boston Consulting Group in June said the share of EVs in global new car sales would reach 39% in 2030, upgrading the estimate it issued a year earlier by 11 points. The group cited tighter environmental regulations in the U.S. and Europe, lower costs and higher demand in revising the figure. Toyota has set the goal of selling 3.5 million EVs in 2030, but currently the bZ4X is its only mass-produced model. A top Toyota official said at an earnings briefing on Nov. 1 that the automaker is exploring other options for mass-producing EVs, while another betrayed a sense of urgency, saying, "We cannot lose out in EVs." Electric vehicles still face challenges. "In regions that are heavily reliant on fossil fuels, EVs are not the best solution to cutting carbon dioxide emissions," said a top Toyota official. Furthermore, charging infrastructure remains insufficient and further technological advances are needed.

https://www.asiaone.com/digital/tesla-video-promoting-self-driving-was-staged-engineer-testifies A 2016 video that Tesla used to promote its self-driving technology was staged to show capabilities like stopping at a red light and accelerating at a green light that the system did not have, according to testimony by a senior engineer. Come, let's do the billionaire awkward dance, yo! Let's celebrate the hoax. All you suckers who got tricked, let's dance, yo! Meanwhile at Ford... We got laughed at but hey, we are not the only one. Sigh. Americans and their car marketing.

Tesla Model 3 in for Full STEK DYNOmatt

Over the past decade, more businesses and service providers are moving towards SaaS (Software as a Service) and subscription model, which claims to provide user with the most up to date products and technologies. While I am not a supporter for such business model (I am still using MS Office 2019 instead of Office 365), I have no issue with it since it is one of the many options for consumers. But the recent move by Tesla and Mercedes actually have me sit up and wondering if the whole automotive industry is also moving towards this "new" business model, at the expense of consumer's interest? For those who are not aware, Tesla's full self-driving capability is now available via subscriptions instead of a lump sum cost up front. Full Self-Driving Capability Subscriptions Tesla has started offering a monthly subscription for its Full Self Driving package for $199 per month (i.e. $2,388 per annum). Tesla owners who bought the since-discontinued Enhanced Autopilot package can get the FSD subscription for $99 per month, according to Tesla’s support page. Until now the automaker had sold its FSD package for a one-time fee of $10,000, but the monthly subscription lets users test the FSD features without a long-term commitment. Tesla owners can cancel their monthly FSD subscription at any time, according to the terms on the Tesla website. And shortly after that, Mercedes follow suit with an annual subscription plan for Full Rear-Wheel Steering for its EQS in Germany. Mercedes-Benz EQS To Offer Rear-Wheel Steering As A Subscription All Mercedes-Benz EQS models leave the factory with all the hardware necessary to turn their rear wheels by up to 10 degrees, they just need the right software. Auto Motor und Sport reports that German customers can pay €489 ($571) per year to have the feature unlocked or put down €1,169 ($1,376) upfront to have the software for three years. Interestingly, the publication notes that the system also requires the 360-degree camera which itself is a €1,130 ($1,331) option. In Singapore, where we are literally leasing a car for 10 years, such subscription are simply adding on to the owner's expenses (without taking into consideration the saving in vehicle taxes if the cost were to be paid up front). Going at this rate, what will be next, virtual cockpit, AEB, FCW, etc. to be provided on subscription basis? And what if the owner did not make timely payment, will the important safety features be disabled suddenly, resulting in accident(s)? Share your view here.

A local company has started offering a mobile charging service for electric vehicles (EVs). This is said to be the first of its kind in Singapore. The service by Power Up Tech (P.Up) is targeted at EV owners who may not have convenient access to a permanent charging point. Each visit lasts 30 minutes to an hour to bring the EV up to about 80 per cent of battery charge. So range anxiety is not a problem anymore. Maybe while waiting can also charge handphone. 😄

My personal opinion is that the Model 3 is the better looking car and is where I would put my money (not that I have any). I used to think that it looks identical to the Mazda3, at least the frontal and side profile but after having driven one, I concede my impression did changed for the better. I don't know about the Polestar 2 but the surround sound system in the Model 3 Performance is superb 😆 Plus the oddly tall ride height of the Polestar 2 resembles a crossover more than a sedan, and that's not exactly to my liking. Read our comparison review on the Model 3 vs Polestar 2 here https://www.sgcarmart.com/news/review.php?AID=1889 The banner is in yellow and blue for obvious reasons...