Tesla Model 3 Mid Range, page #28

Auto blog

Top horsepower-per-dollar cars in 2017

Bang for the buck. That quasi-scientific statistic is bandied about by motor heads everywhere from classrooms to barrooms, though the truth of the matter is that it's exceedingly complex to measure. A fair performance-per-dollar index would include something like cross-referencing MSRP (Manufacturers Suggested Retail Price) with point-to-point times on a track or driving route, which is obviously hard to do comprehensively. But, for the sheer joy of talking about cars and playing with a big spreadsheet, there's always the horsepower-per-dollar index, which is more straightforward, albeit hilariously flawed. There are vagaries even with this simple formula, of course: MSRP for vehicles can change at a moment's notice, to say nothing of the bottom-line shifting that happens with local deals or showroom negotiation. For this list we're running with the straight MSRP wherever possible, and as recently reported as we can get it. All the vehicles on this list are 2017 models, and all trims are reported where the lowest price and differing power levels intersect. Some choices were made for personal preference and some for sanity, avoiding things like all 48 trim levels of the Ford Transit, all with the same horsepower). If this list were a simple top ten, or even a top fifty, you'd be bored to tears with all the red, white and blue that is represented. Following perfectly with conventional wisdom, American cars really do lead the world where hp/$ is concerned. So, for the sake of variety (and the sheer joy of seeing a minivan 'win' one round of this thing) I've sorted out some top five and bottom five lists for broad power categories. Let's dive in. Less Than 100 Horsepower Okay, okay, this is hardly a category we'll grant you. But we've often tried to click off all the sub-100-hp cars on sale in the US, and making this list gave us an excuse. It also illustrates that none of these smallish vehicles bring cheap horsepower to the table - for that you'll need a motorcycle. The segment-leading Chevy Spark (above) asks just over $139 for each hp, and that Smart Fortwo Electric Drive has hp on sale for about the same price as its very distant family cousin, the Mercedes-Benz SL65 AMG (insert your favorite Smart joke here... we know you want to).

Recharge Wrap-up: Kia Soul EV wins MotorWeek award, Virgin Hotels offering Tesla Model S rides

The Kia Soul EV has been awarded a MotorWeek's Drivers' Choice Award. Winning the honor for Best Eco-Friendly Vehicle, "The Kia Soul EV is the perfect EV," according to MotorWeek host and executive producer John Davis. "It has more power and range compared to other affordable all-electric vehicles. Plus, its funky style makes driving the Kia Soul EV really cool." The Soul EV has a driving range of about 93 miles on a single charge, and offers an interior roomy and comfortable enough to earn MotorWeek's praise. Read more in the press release below. Virgin Hotels will provide its Chicago guests car services in the Tesla Model S. Guests can get rides to and from the hotel in a red, dual-motor Model S P85D. Virgin Hotels offers the EV services as part of its sustainability program. "Tesla is the hottest electric car on the road right now, and we're elated to provide our hotel guests with this chic house-car service while also helping to reduce our carbon footprint," says Virgin Hotels vice president of sales and marketing Doug Carrillo. "For Virgin Hotels it's important to provide services our guests desire but do so with the environment in mind whenever possible." Hyundai has announced the first lease of its Tucson Fuel Cell in Canada. Hyundai chose the Vancouver couple, Jennifer Ma and Clayton Crawley, as the first buyers in part because they live near both a dealership and a fueling station, the latter of which sources its hydrogen from a chemical company that produces the gas as a byproduct. Crawley, whose children love the beach, says, "Getting there while reducing our environmental impact will be awesome." Read more at Automotive News. The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) is providing $30 million in grant money for Proterra electric buses. Six transit agencies will buy 28 of the EV buses for a variety of projects. Proterra CEO Ryan Popple calls the funding a "tremendous validation for the company." In total, the FTA is handing out $55 million in grant money for the deployment of American-made electric buses. Four other agencies will receive buses from BAE Systems and New Flyer as part of the program. Read more at Charged EVs. Kia Soul EV Wins 2015 MotorWeek Drivers' Choice Award Kia's First All-Electric Vehicle Wins Best Eco-Friendly Honor - Soul EV praised for funky style, power, range and roomy interior - MotorWeek's annual list of winners serves as a buying guide for the show's nationwide audience CHICAGO, Feb.

Weekly Recap: The cost of Tesla's ambitious plans for growth

Tesla has ambitious plans for growth, and they won't come cheap. The electric-car maker said this week it plans to spend $1.5 billion in 2015 to expand production capacity, launch the Model X crossover and continue work on its Gigafactory, which is being built outside of Reno, NV. The company is also investing in its stores, service centers and charging network, which is expected to grow by more than 50 percent this year. Plus, it's still working on the Model 3, which is scheduled to arrive in 2017. "We're going to spend staggering amounts of money on [capital expenditures]," Tesla chairman and CEO Elon Musk said on an investor call. He then added: "For a good reason. And with a great ROI [return on investment]." They're bold plans, and Musk is clearly willing to put Tesla's money where his mouth is. That's why the company is projecting a whopping 70-percent increase in deliveries this year, for a total of 55,000 cars. A large chunk of that growth will come from the addition of the Model X crossover to Tesla's portfolio, and the company already has nearly 20,000 reservations for it. More than 30 Model X prototypes have been built, and it is expected to begin shipping to customers this summer. Musk said he's "highly confident" the vehicle, which has experienced delays, will arrive on time. The company also had more than 10,000 orders for the Model S at the start of the year. The big spending plans caused a stir, even though Tesla spent $369 million on capital expenditures in the fourth quarter alone. In a note to investors, Morgan Stanley analysts called the costs required to keep pace with Tesla's demand "eye-wateringly high," and said the $1.5-billion figure was nearly double their expectations. Still, Musk is not thinking small and suggested that his company could be as big in 10 years as Apple is now if Tesla's growth continues. His optimism comes as the company actually reported a $294-million net loss in 2014, more than its $74-million loss in 2013. The money, however, continues to roll in, and total revenues increased to $3.2 billion in 2014, up from $2 billion in 2013 and a dramatic surge from $413 million in 2012. More of the same is expected this year, and the company could reach $6 billion in revenue. As Morgan Stanley noted, it "seems Tesla is preparing to be a much larger company than we have forecasted." It's certainly spending that way.

Tesla stock drops 8.4 percent in premarket trading

Tesla's stock slid in premarket trading Thursday as the electric car maker's fourth-quarter performance was stung by delayed shipments and a stronger dollar. TSLA shares dropped $17.80, or 8.4 percent, to $195 in premarket trading about two hours before the market open. Yesterday, Tesla reported an adjusted loss of 13 cents per share and adjusted revenue of $1.1 billion. This fell short of the forecasts of analysts polled by FactSet, who were looking for a profit of 30 cents per share on revenue of $1.23 billion. Tesla said that during the period there was a delay in shipments of its new all-wheel-drive Model S sedan. The Palo Alto, California, company said it held back shipments of its new all-wheel-drive version of the Model S sedan – which was launched in November – to make sure it would meet customers' expectations. While it was able to make up production later in the quarter, it was unable to ship about 1,400 vehicles in December. Brad Erickson of Pacific Crest Securities said in a client note that "the delivery shortfall does raise execution concerns." But the analyst said that Tesla is growing more than 60 percent this year and may grow 80 percent to 90 percent next year, so he doesn't believe the current valuation represents the company's longer-term opportunity. Erickson kept an "Outperform" rating. The AP contributed to this report.

Tesla will deliver 70 percent more vehicles in 2015

While everyone would still like Tesla Motors to announce monthly sales numbers, at least we now have the latest quarterly delivery figures from the all-electric automaker. Tesla says it delivered 9,834 vehicles in the last quarter of 2014 and built 11,627 vehicles. Tesla says the production delays for the new, dual-motor P85D version of the Model S pushed some deliveries back to the first quarter of 2015. That 11,627 is a record number of vehicles made in any quarter for the automaker and it helped Tesla hit its stated goal of building 35,000 vehicles in 2014. In its latest shareholder letter released today, Tesla said it expects to increase its number of vehicle deliveries by more than 70 percent in 2015. That includes the Model S as well as the upcoming Model X, which is going to start deliveries within the next six months. At the start of 2015, Tesla says, it had "over 10,000 orders for Model S and almost 20,000 reservations for Model X." The company says that over 30 beta versions of the X have been built and are being tested. We saw one just the other day, in fact. Regarding reports of low Model S sales in China, the letter says, "Despite initial challenges in China, we remain convinced of the vast potential of this market and are concentrating our efforts on the cities we are in currently, before launching into new cities." Tesla also reported a loss of $107.6 million in the fourth quarter of 2014. The company said it had a loss of 86 cents per share. Losses, adjusted for non-recurring costs and stock option expense, were 13 cents per share. The results fell short of Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 25 cents per share. The electric car maker posted revenue of $1.1 billion in the period, which also fell short of Street forecasts. Analysts expected $1.19 billion, according to Zacks. The automaker says its fourth-quarter profits fell from the impact of a strong dollar and delayed vehicle shipments. TSLA was down $3.49 today, a drop of 1.61 percent, to $212.80. The stock is up slightly more than 8 percent in the last 12 months but shares dropped two percent to $208.65 in aftermarket trading. View 11 Photos The AP contributed to this report.

Elon Musk is NOT happy with just 150 Model S sales in China in January

There's been some debate about how Tesla is really doing in China - a cornerstone market for the California company - and whether media stories about troubles there are overblowing the situation. Just last July it was breaking quarterly records with the help of 1,000 sales in China and we called the momentum "gangbusters." Then the news trend went the opposite direction for the rest of the year, with the company's two top managers resigning and a constant rill of speculative articles laying out the various issues Tesla was having there and why it's switching up its disclosures. Well, the issue might be overblown, but there is definitely something brewing in China. Reuters was shown a transcript of an e-mail Elon Musk sent to regional managers at the end of January after they sold 120 cars for the month. Those 120 sales were on the heels of "unexpectedly weak" sales in Q4 last year, when Musk said the China situation would "be in pretty good shape probably in the middle of" 2015. In the missive he said managers could be fired or demoted if they can't show that they're "on a clear path to positive long-term cash flow." He also wrote that that specialized roles and any personnel outside of vehicle production would need to be justified because, "There is no way that we can afford to subsidize a region of any size in the long term without causing serious harm to the company." In 2013, when Tesla was ramping up for sales in China, Musk predicted that market would be about on par with the US by this year; Tesla sold almost 19,000 cars in the US last year, and a 120-unit January won't get China anywhere near those numbers. We're sure there'll be a lot of questions about the e-mail, the Chinese market, and Tesla's projections when the company holds a conference call for analysts after presenting its 2014 results later today. For one in-country assessment of Tesla's troubles, check out this piece on Car News China. We reached out to Tesla about the China email, but were told the company had no comment.

Recharge Wrap-up: Mirai earns Toyota "Most Innovative" honor, Tesla cold-weather range

A Tesla driver has graphed the effect of cold weather on the driving range of his Model S. Rob at Teslarati kept track of the amount of miles driven and energy used and mapped that against temperature readings to find how the colder temperatures affect efficiency. The results were an average of 10 miles of range lost for every 10-degree drop in temperature. Also, he calculated that drivers will lose about 25 percent more range when the roads are slippery. Read more at Teslarati. Albany Engineered Composites (AEC) is teaming with automotive engineering and consulting company Ricardo to provide lightweight components to the automotive industry. AEC produces composites for the aerospace industry, and having proven themselves in that field, they show promise for helping automakers make their cars lighter and more efficient without sacrificing structural integrity. "The agreement announced today is excellent news for our global automotive customers as we work to find further weight reductions in vehicles to meet future CO2 reductions," says Ricardo CEO Mark Garrett. With carbon composite prices expected to drop, Garrett believes this is an "attractive solution" for structural components. Read more at Ricardo's website. Toyota Motor Europe (TME) wants to recover all of its hybrid batteries for remanufacturing. TME currently recovers 91 percent of Toyota and Lexus batteries at the end of the vehicles' lives through dealerships, and is now working with independent end-of-life vehicle treatment operators to recover the rest. Beyond just being recycled, Toyota is looking into remanufacturing batteries for other vehicles or for stationary energy storage systems. Read more in the press release below. Fast Company Magazine has recognized Toyota as one of the 50 Most Innovative Companies for 2015 for its Mirai fuel cell sedan. "Toyota plans to do for fuel cells what its Prius did for hybrids: make them ubiquitous and top of mind for environmentally conscious consumers," says Fast Company. The article also notes that Toyota has also made its fuel cell patent public and invested in hydrogen fueling infrastructure. Toyota is ranked number 18 in the Most Innovative list, just below Tesla. Read more at Fast Company.

Connecticut might allow direct Tesla sales

Add Connecticut to the list of states that may let Tesla Motors sell its electric vehicles directly to the public without third-party dealerships. And add Connecticut dealership organizations to the list of groups decrying such an allowance. The cold weather has no impact on that rather heated discussion, apparently. Late last week, Connecticut legislators discussed the possibility of exempting Tesla from the current state law requiring a third-party distributor to sell cars, according to the San Jose Mercury News. Tesla, which already has a vehicle-repair facility in Milford, may be allowed to have a handful of dealerships throughout the Nutmeg State. The issue gained momentum last month when Art Linares, a Republican senator from Connecticut, had to go to a dealership in White Plains, NY, to buy his Tesla Model S. That effort has given credence to the argument that the state is losing business and revenue-collecting opportunities by forcing buyers to go to neighboring states such as New York or Massachusetts to shop for and ultimately buy a Tesla. Earlier this month, Arizona's House Commerce Committee moved a little closer to allowing direct Tesla sales there by voting in favor of House Bill 2216. States like Texas, Michigan and New Jersey remain holdouts in preserving the current dealership laws and preventing direct Tesla sales.

Why Tesla Model X is late (hint, it could be the falcon doors)

Watching Tesla Motors first show off its Model X SUV at a blingy event three years ago, this reporter heard a lot of "oohs" and "ahhs" when the car's falcon-winged rear doors reached for the sky. Now, those doors are likely causing the automaker's engineers to emit a lot of "args" and, likely, a bunch of unprintables. Such is the price of progress. Initially slated to start production in late 2013, Tesla has pushed back production of the Model X to sometime this year. Company CEO Elon Musk has already said that the doors are a challenge, but Green Car Reports talked with some unnamed suppliers to learn more about how, exactly, those doors are creating delays. It turns out, those heavy doors require large torsion springs that need to be perfected. Additionally, making sure the door seals are sufficient, as well as ensuring that those doors can withstand enough abuse to give the Model X a top safety rating are also keeping the SUV from going into production. Last November, Musk, responding to a question from Goldman Sachs' Patrick Archambault, confirmed that the Model X would have a third-quarter 2015 launch, and that the doors were causing much of the delay. Additional issues have popped up with the production of the model's second row of seats and the company's efforts to replace the Model X's side mirrors with video cameras – which would improve aerodynamics (always key for an electric vehicle's single-charge range) – are being stymied by rules that say mirrors are still required for safety.

Arizona may soon allow direct Tesla EV sales

Arizona was one of a handful of states in the southwestern US to lose out on getting Tesla Motors' massive gigafactory (Nevada won those honors last year). But one can't exactly accuse state legislators of being sore losers. That's because some Arizona politicos are looking to free up state laws and allow for direct automaker-to-consumer sales for the electric vehicles, says Hybrid Cars. Last week, Arizona's House Commerce Committee voted in favor House Bill (HB 2216), which gets the state at least one step towards the approval of Tesla sales. The catch is that, for one, Tesla can't have an established relationship with a dealer (we don't think that's an issue), and, two, Tesla will have to build a service center in Arizona for repairs, recalls or warranty issues. "Consumers should be allowed the choice of how they wish to purchase their vehicles and the Commerce Committee vote validates that choice," Tesla spokeswoman Alexis Georgeson wrote in an e-mail to AutoblogGreen. "Tesla looks forward to working with legislators as this bill moves through the legislative process." For now, though, Arizona remains in the same boat as Michigan (home to the Big Three US automakers), Texas (which is fiercely protective of its existing dealership interests) and New Jersey in barring Tesla sales within its borders. A number of other states, such as Georgia and Connecticut, continue to be in play in terms of working on laws that may allow for Tesla to sell to its citizens.