The automaker that, for the longest time, could do no wrong is capping\u00a0off a rough 2022 with an awful December.<\/p>\n
Tesla lost about $219 billion (R3.73 trillion) of market value just this month entering Friday\u2019s session, which is almost as much as Toyota \u2014 the second-most valuable car company \u2014 is worth.<\/p>\n
Price and\u00a0production cuts<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0in China and\u00a0heavy discounting<\/a><\/strong> in the US, where Tesla\u2019s growth seemingly was unabated for a decade, has combined with investors growing increasingly concerned that CEO Elon Musk is more focused on overhauling Twitter than keeping at bay the many legacy automakers pushing into the electric vehicle market.<\/p>\n Musk\u2019s\u00a0pledge<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0late Thursday that he\u2019ll stop selling\u00a0Tesla\u00a0shares at least through next year isn\u2019t doing much to help the stock.<\/p>\n After all, he made similar proclamations in\u00a0April<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0August<\/a>,<\/strong> only to then keep offloading\u00a0billions\u00a0more<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n What Tesla needs next year are reinforcements\u00a0for its product line.<\/p>\n The company recently\u00a0started delivering<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0its long-awaited\u00a0Semi\u00a0truck\u00a0\u2014 several years late, it should be noted \u2014 and plans to start producing its first pickup, the\u00a0Cybertruck<\/a>,<\/strong> in 2023.<\/p>\n Tesla is far from finished as a growth story, but\u00a0a tough economy with high inflation and rising interest rates will challenge even the indomitable Musk.<\/p>\n Tesla isn\u2019t the only carmaker facing critical moments next year. Here are some additional storylines to watch:<\/p>\n General Motors has been talking about its\u00a0Ultium battery platform<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0and cell factories for several years.<\/p>\n The first two Ultium-based vehicles, the Cadillac Lyriq and GMC Hummer pickup, are being built in very small numbers.<\/p>\n With the battery plant in Lordstown, Ohio, ramping up production, 2023 will be the year GM goes big on EVs.<\/p>\n Assembly should ramp up for both vehicles, and GM will start producing the fleet version of the Chevrolet Silverado EV, followed by the Chevy Blazer and Equinox EVs. The lower-priced Equinox goes on sale in the fall.<\/p>\n This year will be a major proof point for CEO Mary Barra\u2019s strategy. No more investor presentations and slide decks \u2014\u00a0it\u2019s time to build and sell some EVs.<\/p>\n December brought some good news for autonomous vehicles, a\u00a0sector\u00a0that\u2019s been getting\u00a0little love<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0from\u00a0investors recently.<\/p>\n GM\u2019s Cruise\u00a0expanded<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0to Phoenix and Austin, Texas, while Alphabet\u2019s\u00a0Waymo\u00a0applied<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0for the final permit it needs to sell driverless rides and\u00a0opened up<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0trips to the Phoenix airport to the public.<\/p>\n While Ford and Volkswagen\u00a0buried<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0their self-driving venture Argo AI this year and Tesla\u2019s robotaxis are still\u00a0missing<\/a>,<\/strong>\u00a0Cruise and Waymo will be trying to prove they can build\u00a0viable businesses in 2023.<\/p>\n Earlier\u00a0this month, Carvana creditors including Apollo Global Management\u00a0and Pacific Investment Management signed a\u00a0pact<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0pledging not to fight each other while the online used-car retailer tries to\u00a0restructure its debt<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n Carvana had $316 million in cash and more than $7 billion in debt at the end of the third quarter, according to Bloomberg data.<\/p>\n A heavy debt load and falling used-car values have hammered profits,\u00a0pushing shares down\u00a098% this year.<\/p>\n The key moment could come in March, when Carvana has an interest payment due on its 2029 bonds. If Carvana pays, then a deal could be in the works to restructure debt. If not, it\u2019s a sign bankruptcy is possible, according to Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Joel Levington.<\/p>\n Bloomberg Intelligence sees auto captive-finance profits falling 35% this year.<\/p>\n What does that mean for all of these investments in EVs and self-driving cars?<\/p>\n When profits get lean, projects tend to be delayed or cancelled, and new technologies with challenging margins often are most at risk.<\/p>\n Next year will be a tough test for a lot of the companies we follow for Hyperdrive.<\/p>\n Tesla, legacy carmakers and a slew of new-technology startups all have enjoyed strong growth and easy-money capital markets for years.<\/p>\n That\u2019s poised to change in 2023.<\/p>\n Tesla lost about $219 billion (R3.73 trillion) of market value just this month entering Friday\u2019s session, which is almost as much as Toyota \u2014 the second-most valuable car company \u2014 is worth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":341034,"featured_media":463009,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"idle","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"","_sma_facebook_post_id":"","_sma_instagram_post_id":"","_sma_threads_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[29366],"tags":[61721,67290,11373,73082,83175,20719],"class_list":["post-474949","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-motoring","tag-cybertruck","tag-electric-vehicles-evs","tag-elon-musk","tag-general-motors-gm","tag-robotaxis","tag-tesla"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474949"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/341034"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=474949"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474949\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":474955,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474949\/revisions\/474955"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/463009"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=474949"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=474949"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=474949"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}GM\u2019s EV Push<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Robotaxis at a Crossroads<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Used Car Pain<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Auto-Lending Squeeze<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Now read: Petrol vs electric car costs from Joburg to Cape Town<\/a><\/h2>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"