Weird Week: Tesla's Green Cars Win, Trina's Green Energy Loses
Among the big wins and rough patches revealed in the business world this week: Tesla ramps up for coast-to-coast drives, and Trina Solar has its share of ups and downs.
tesla motors
Along the Road to a Greener America, an Awful Lot of Roadkill
The global financial crisis helped slam the brakes on clean-tech dreams from electric cars to solar panels, but the roots of green energy's mid-life crisis run far deeper.
It's Electric! Tesla Motors Shifts Into Profitability
A business can’t have a much better week than Tesla Motors'. The electric car maker posted its first-ever quarterly profit and received Consumer Reports’ best-ever score.
5 Stocks to Watch This Week
With news coming from Disney, Tesla and more, there will be plenty of to move the market this week. Let's go over some of the items likely to get the attention of Wall Street.
Tony Stark, Meet the Real-Life 'Iron Man'
"Iron Man 3" flew into theaters this week, but there's been a real-world Tony Stark toiling among us all along: Elon Musk. Here are a few of the uncanny resemblances.
Big Business Is Finally Waking Up to Global Warming
2012 was the second most extreme weather year in U.S. history, and the corporate world is at last starting to realize that climate change could cost it a fortune.
5 Things to Watch This Week
Nobody can predict all the news that will move the markets in a given week, but here are a few things we do know will help shape the week ahead on Wall Street.
Bill Gates Was Right: Green Energy Wasn't Ready for Prime Time
Two years ago, Bill Gates famously dismissed green energy as too inefficient and expensive to make a dent in global warming. Today, investors are beginning to agree.
5 Winners and Losers of the Week in Business
It's been an interesting week in the world of business, from a smartphone pioneer losing another major client, to travel troubles on land and sea that have cost two companies some serious goodwill. Here's a rundown of this week's biggest wins and losses.
Dispatches from CES: The Hottest Mobile Tech Here Is On Wheels
Forget transforming your living room: There are a dozen or so automakers at this year's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas proposing new technologies to transform your car, from Bluetooth health-monitoring to self-driving vehicles.
Wall Street Watch Wednesday: Electric Cars Take Another Blow
Despite today's high gas prices, it's been one piece of bad news after another lately from electric car makers. Last week it was Smith Electric Vehicles calling off its IPO. On Tuesday it was Tesla Motors lowering its near-term outlook.
Is the Electric Car Revolution Running Out of Juice?
Electric car sales are nowhere near what the auto industry -- or Washington -- hoped they'd be by now, though Tesla Motors' hot Model S sedan doing great, and the the Chevy Volt is finally getting some traction. But is the electric revolution stalled, or just accelerating too slowly?
What to Watch This Week: Tablets, Teslas, Books and Bedding
Here are a few things that will shape the week ahead on Wall Street: Microsoft will show off Windows 8 tablets; Tesla's hot Model S will reach buyers; Cricket gets the iPhone; Barnes & Noble opens its books; and Bed Bath & Beyond turns back the covers on earnings.
Recharge of the Cool: The Electric Car You'll Want Is Finally Coming
Tesla Motors has some good news for fans of the American maker of electric cars. The Model S -- its first reasonably priced vehicle -- may hit the streets as early as June. Will this be the vehicle that jump starts electric car sales?
What to Watch this Week: Electric Cars, Earnings and Eccentrics
What will help shape the week that lies ahead on Wall Street? Video game companies will let us know the score; satellite TV providers will give us a signal; Tesla and Priceline are traveling forward; and Johnny Depp and Tim Burton could put some teeth in the year's box office numbers.
America's Wealthy Step Up to the Plate
This month, 12 more billionaire families committed to donate at least half of their wealth to charity by taking the Giving Pledge. Here are introductions to some of the new signatories and their pet philanthropic projects.
GM's Not Unplugging Chevy Volt ... But It's Low on Juice
Bad news for GM: The Chevy Volt still isn't selling the way the automaker hoped it would, so it's temporarily halting production of the battery-powered hybrids for five weeks. Worse news for GM: Shutdowns like this only make the Volt a harder sell.
3 Reasons Why You're Not Buying an Electric Car
The electric car has arrived, but odds are that there isn't one in your driveway. Several factors have gotten in the way of the eco-friendly automotive revolution, but at least now we can ask conspiracy theorists -- who argue that oil companies and the government are blocking plug-in cars from the road -- to leave the room and take their tinfoil hats with them. The electric car is here; drivers simply don't want them yet.
What to Watch This Week: Games, Cars, Love and Z's
There's never a dull moment on Wall Street, especially now that the market is hitting multi-year highs again. Let's go over some of the items that will help shape the week that lies ahead.
Toyota's Still Tops to Consumers, but Ford's Closing In
Despite its troubles in recent years, Toyota retained its crown in Consumer Reports' annual survey of auto-brand perception, but the survey also showed that Ford is rapidly closing the gap, and other brands aren't far behind.
Corvette Autumn: Will the Next New Vette Be the Last?
Last week, the auto paparazzi brought us pictures of the prototype 2013 Corvette, which will apparently reprise the classic Vette formula. But in an era of high gas prices and tightening environmental regulations, how much longer can GM's horsepower party last?
Will You Buy an Electric Car? Tesla Hopes So
Upstart automaker Tesla Motors confirmed this week that its groundbreaking Model S, an all-electric luxury-sports sedan, was on track to enter production by this summer. It already has pre-orders for more than 8,000. Is the moment coming soon when electric cars go mainstream?
Ford Fusion Revamp Steals the Detroit Auto Show
There was nothing wrong with the old Ford Fusion. In fact, it had its best sales year ever in 2011. It's a good-looking, high-quality sedan and a good value. But when Ford took the wraps off the new Fusion this week, it had been transformed from a good hybrid to a deluxe hottie.
Red Star Rising: Is U.S. Losing the Space Race?
On Sept. 29, 2011, the first module of a new space station blasted into orbit, initiating an era of space exploration different in one key respect: We didn't launch this station; China did. And while China's ascendance to space superpower confirms changes in the global economy, you shouldn't count the U.S. out of space just yet.
Tesla's Annual Loss Triples as It Prepares to Launch the Model S
Tesla Motors, which went public with much fanfare last June, nearly tripled its losses for 2010 as it invested heavily to engineer and get ready for producing the Model S, its second offering and the first that targets a broader consumer market.
GM Makes a Deal for Cheaper, Longer-Lasting Batteries
The automaker has licensed technology from the Energy Department's Argonne National Laboratory that will boost the performance of lithium-ion battery cells for its electric Chevy Volt. The next-generation power packs will be made at a new plant in Michigan by Korea's LG Chem.
Toyota Revives Miss. Plant, Will Boost U.S. Production
Toyota plans to rev up its vehicle production in the U.S., despite November's 7.3% drop in U.S. sales. The automaker has hired the first of an expected 2,000 workers for a new Mississippi Corolla plant, and says it expects to boost overall capacity utilization significantly from last year's weak levels.
Toyota Sues Old GM for Exiting California Joint Venture
Toyota Motor is reportedly suing what remains of the discarded assets of the "old GM," officially known as Motors Liquidation Co., for pulling out of the companies' joint venture in California, a manufacturing plant known as Nummi.
Toyota Plug-In Hybrid Coming in 2012
Toyota says it will bring a plug-in hybrid to the American, Japanese and European markets in 2012. The company, which seemed to fall behind rivals Mitsubishi, Nissan and GM in coming out with a next-generation hybrid vehicle, says its technology isn't behind at all.
Panasonic Recharges Tesla Motors with $30 Million
Panasonic is recharging electric-car company Tesla Motors with $30 million. The electronics manufacturer, which provides batteries for Tesla's cars, will now own 2% of its customer. The deal also puts Tesla back in the battery business.