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Blind Spot: The Coming Of The “Digital Car”

August 28, 2013 By

curbsideclassic

A good friend of mine, a brilliant dev/ops guy with several successful startups under his belt, option-trades Tesla’s stock when he’s not developing cloud systems and social platforms. Like many successful tech workers, this friend has an unshakeable faith in technological progress which underpins his support for Tesla. “Look,” he tells me when I suggest that Tesla’s stock valuation is wholly unmoored from its fundamentals, “new technology takes over and transforms everything. We see it again and again in other sectors, why wouldn’t it be the case for cars?”

His favorite example: the transition from film to digital photography. “Sure, it was crazily expensive to develop… but it matured rapidly, took over the market and nobody looked back. Why wouldn’t electric cars be the same?” Attempting to answer his question got me thinking: what would it take to fundamentally revolutionize the auto industry to the extent that digital revolutionized film? More specifically, what would the “digital” car look like?

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Filed Under: Analysis, Blind Spot Tagged With: , , , , , First published on August 28, 2013 12:08 am

Blind Spot: Un-Hyping The Hyperloop

August 15, 2013 By

Hyperloop - picture courtesy core77.com

Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk’s recent release of “alpha” designs for a “Hyperloop” transportation system made a huge splash in media and technology circles. Prepared with the help of engineers from Tesla and SpaceX, Hyperloop imagines rapid and efficient transit in the form of pods flying through a tube between Los Angeles and the San Francisco.

This bold vision easily created the kind of public splash that PR bosses at mainstream automakers can only dream of. At the same time, it highlighted Tesla’s dependence on the “visionary” exploits of its mercurial and overstretched CEO. This dependence is proving to be a brilliant tactic in the short term, but it has troubling implications on the firm’s long-term strategy.

[ There is more … ]

Filed Under: Analysis, News, U.S.A Tagged With: , , , , First published on August 15, 2013 6:10 am

Welcome to General Tso’s Motors (SWWE)

April 30, 2013 By

GM Shanghai Motor Show 2013

After decades of slogans like “See the USA in Your Chevrolet” and “Baseball, Hot Dogs, Apple Pie and Chevrolet,” General Motors GM +1.27% has retreated from its overtly patriotic marketing approach since emerging from government-funded bankruptcy. Maybe that was a wise move, given that American taxpayers paid for the $50 billion bailout of “Government Motors” and not all of them were happy about it.

But another dynamic also seems to be at work: The auto maker has fundamentally shifted its focus. American taxpayers may have rescued GM during its moment of need, but it is China that is disproportionately benefiting from the bailout of America’s erstwhile automotive icon. [ There is more … ]

Filed Under: Boneyard, Ed's Boneyard, Wall Street Journal Tagged With: , , , , First published on April 30, 2013 6:20 pm

Romney’s Plan Would Also Have ‘Saved’ Detroit (SWWE)

November 2, 2012 By

Mitt Romney - Pictufre courtesy Huffingtonpost.com

Of all the issues broached in the presidential campaign, the auto-industry rescue of 2008-09 stands out as an example of the triumph of spin over facts.

Keying off the New York Times’s headline for Mitt Romney’s 2008 op-ed, “Let Detroit Go Bankrupt,” President Obama has argued that the only alternative to his “bold” rescue of General Motors and Chrysler would have been a disorderly liquidation of the entire U.S. auto industry. Yet a close reading of Mr. Romney’s op-ed reveals that his proposal was actually quite similar to the course of action the president took, right down to government funding of the bankruptcy reorganization process and warranty backstops. [ There is more … ]

Filed Under: Boneyard, Ed's Boneyard, Wall Street Journal Tagged With: , , , , , First published on November 2, 2012 6:03 pm

A Green Detroit? No, a Guzzling One (SWWE)

December 15, 2010 By

Gas guzzlers - Picture courtesy savingadvice.com

WHEN President Obama announced in March 2009 that his administration would guide General Motors and Chrysler through a government-financed bankruptcy, he made it clear that the taxpayers’ $80 billion would buy nothing less than a sweeping transformation of the entire auto industry. [ There is more … ]

Filed Under: Boneyard, Ed's Boneyard, New York Times Tagged With: , , , First published on December 15, 2010 4:00 pm

G.M.’s Electric Lemon (SWWE)

July 29, 2010 By

Electric Lemon - Picture courtesy hilaroad.com

Note: This op-ed disturbed GM a lot. Ed wrote it for the New York Times when he and I were at TTAC. While we were still talking, GM’s Selim Bingol complained to me that the story is unfair, and that a car can’t possibly be a lemon before it’s launched. I replied that I’m not the New York Times, and to complain there. Soon, there was no more talk.

GENERAL MOTORS introduced America to the Chevrolet Volt at the 2007 Detroit Auto Show as a low-slung concept car that would someday be the future of motorized transportation. It would go 40 miles on battery power alone, promised G.M., after which it would create its own electricity with a gas engine. Three and a half years — and one government-assisted bankruptcy later — G.M. is bringing a Volt to market that makes good on those two promises. The problem is, well, everything else.

[ There is more … ]

Filed Under: Boneyard, Ed's Boneyard, New York Times First published on July 29, 2010 3:53 pm

Taking Taxpayers for a Ride

November 30, 2009 By

blogcdn.com

GENERAL MOTORS raised more than a few eyebrows last week by announcing plans to repay what it describes as $6.7 billion in outstanding loans to taxpayers. So provocative was this announcement that it all but overshadowed the real news of the day: G.M. had lost $1.2 billion since exiting bankruptcy in July, and its fourth-quarter results were expected to be worse.

The company’s chief executive, Fritz Henderson, called the repayment plan “a personal commitment.” The Obama administration, wardens of the 60 percent taxpayer stake in the company, declared itself “encouraged” by the news. Many commentators followed suit. But in the premature rush to herald the beginning of the end of the government’s involvement in the auto industry, a number of key considerations were left out. [ There is more … ]

Filed Under: Bailout, Boneyard, Ed's Boneyard, New York Times Tagged With: , , First published on November 30, 2009 7:10 pm
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