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Amid flagging sales, General Motors confirmed on Monday that it will no longer make the plug-in hybrid Chevy Volt, ceasing production on March 1st, 2019. The news comes as part of a wider plan by GM to slash car production in North America and halt production of several low-selling brands. Trading on GM shares was briefly halted on the stock exchange early on Monday in anticipation of “major operational changes,” according to CNBC. GM plans to “unallocate” three assembly plants — in Oshawa, Ontario; Detroit, Michigan; and Warren, Ohio — putting the future of those plants in doubt, Reuters reports....

DETROIT (AP) — General Motors will lay off up to 14,000 factory and white-collar workers in North America and put five plants up for possible closure as it restructures to cut costs and focus more on autonomous and electric vehicles. The reduction includes 8,100 white-collar workers, some of whom will take buyouts and others who will be laid off. Some U.S. factory workers could transfer to truck or SUV factories that are increasing production.

CE car sales are down and EV sales are up. Most people know this much. Also, EV sales are not up by as much as ICE car sales are down. The two metrics are believed to be independent of one another. I believe they are related. When someone purchases a Tesla Model 3, that car sale is an EV and not a new ICE vehicle. So that is a first sale the ICE industry loses. Next, the new EV owner often trades in a used ICE car and someone else will purchase that car. Some number of car buyers will...

For me, the Model 3 Performance is the most impressive Tesla I’ve driven to date, and easily the most fun. It benefits from having a super short nose up front, which makes it easy to just point and shoot wherever you want it to go. The Model 3 Performance handles like a legit sports car, and that’s not a descriptor I toss around lightly, especially for a sedan. The night after the drive, and even now, I found myself still thinking about what it was like to be behind the wheel. I get to drive a lot of fun cars...

A guy I know harbors the atypical lefty viewpoints on climate, government, the right, etc. Liberalism in general, but totally hypocritical on other issues such as trade and firearms. He & his wife put deposits on twin Model 3s and wait...and wait...and wait...until finally they got theirs earlier this year. One day I noticed that his old car was being driven so I poked around and got the skinny: His brand-spankin-new Model 3 was taken for a cross-country trip and ended up with a very minor problem which any mechanic could have fixed in 30 minutes. In this case, it...

Ending program immediately for purchases directly from manufacturer is unfair, customers say Some Tesla customers say they now have to fork over an extra $14,000 for their new Model 3 electric cars because of Ontario's sudden decision to end an incentive program for electric and hydrogen vehicles. The provincial government announced Wednesday that the program will end on Sept. 10 for those who have their vehicle delivered, registered, and plated if it was purchased from a dealer, but it ended immediately for those who ordered their electric and hydrogen vehicle directly from the manufacturer. As Tesla does not have dealers...

Tesla CEO Elon Musk attacked sell-side analysts from Bernstein and RBC apparently because they supported short sellers of Tesla stock. Tesla is at a critical point in its 15-year history, losing vast amounts of money while still riding a high stock price.Musk hasn't endured this serious a threat to his vision since Tesla's early days, and the strain is showing. If you were the CEO of a company that had been around for 15 years, never posted an annual profit, but had seen a nearly 1,000% appreciation in your stock and were considered — by some — to be the...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Tesla Inc shares fell sharply again Wednesday, reeling from a credit downgrade by Moody's Investors Service, federal probes of a fatal crash and concerns about Model 3 production. On Tuesday, Tesla tumbled 8.2 percent to its lowest close in almost a year after the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board opened an investigation into a fatal crash and vehicle fire in California on March 23. On Wednesday, a second federal regulator, the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA), said it was sending a team to California to investigate the crash. On Tuesday, Moody’s Investors Service downgraded Tesla’s...

This marks a significant acceleration in production for the electric car company. Tesla has been hyping its Model 3 vehicles since they were announced in 2014. The car was designed to be an affordable all-electric sedan, but despite receiving approximately half a million pre-orders the company has so far only delivered a few hundred units. However, that might be about to change: Electrek is reporting that ‘hundreds’ of new Model 3s have been leaving the Tesla factory over the past few days. Electrek published drone video footage yesterday of a parking lot at the Tesla factory in Fremont full of...

Electric car maker Tesla has rolled out its new Model 3 vehicle - the company's cheapest car to date. The first 30 customers - most of them employees of the company - received their cars on Friday. Chief executive Elon Musk said the Model 3 was the "best car for its cost, either electric or gasoline". Prices start at $35,000 (£26,650), which the firm hopes will bring mass market interest. The price is still higher than that of rival electric car the Nissan Leaf, which starts at $30,680, or the hybrid Chevrolet Volt, which goes for $34,095.

Tesla Motors recently reported that it has received close to 400,000 orders for its yet to be released, $35,000 Model 3. Most of the pre-ordered vehicles are not even expected to be delivered until after 2018. While congratulations may be in order to Tesla for seemingly developing a mainstream electric vehicle (EV) that has so much consumer interest that demand is far outpacing supply, one question must be asked. Why the hell is the vehicle being subsidized to the tune of $1.5 billion in future tax credits? If Tesla has proven that EVs can be profitably manufactured, it is...

As it continues to defy common sense and the laws of economics with its lofty stock price, Tesla has again shown it has little corporate competence in the ability to deliver a consistently functional product that satisfies customers. The latest evidence comes in the recently rolled out Model X, which is allegedly an SUV, but looks like just another car. Retailing at a price only the extremely wealthy can afford ($138,000), the all-electric follow-up to the similarly troubled Model S automobile has stumbled out of the gate. The problems were outlined in a Consumer Reports article posted online Tuesday,...

You’ve got to marvel at the man’s sense of timing and showmanship. Whenever there’s bad news on the horizon, Tesla CEO Elon Musk just takes off his top hat, waves a magic wand, and pulls out a shiny new rabbit. He may have missed last quarter’s production target, but then, he pulled out the shiny new Model 3. And all is forgiven. Well, not exactly. The master of hyperbole has proven that Tesla can ship tens of thousands of luxury electric cars – albeit years later and for $30,000 more apiece than originally promised. And, even at $106K, Tesla still...

After the dust settled on the Tesla Model 3 jamboree, preorder deposits approached $300 million, topping up Elon Musk's capex war-chest. His new electric car's reviews are insanely great, but some commentators are wondering if it's really an elaborate Ponzi scheme.

Tesla has unveiled its much-anticipated Model 3 electric car - its lowest-cost vehicle to date. The company's chief executive Elon Musk said the five-seater would start at $35,000 (£24,423) and have a range of at least 215 miles (346km) per charge. He added that his goal was to produce about 500,000 vehicles a year once production got up to full speed. The California-based company needs the vehicle to prove popular if it is to stay in business. The first deliveries of the vehicle are scheduled to start in late 2017, and it can be ordered in advance in dozens of...