Tesla’s Musk Mocks Marketing

Tesla’s Musk Mocks Marketing
by Roger C. Lanctot on 12-27-2020 at 10:00 am

Teslas Musk Mocks Marketing

The Automotive News had a standout year in 2020 – thriving at a time when many publishers suffered. With factories and dealerships shuttered in the spring due to the pandemic, the outlook was bleak but the Automotive News dug in amplifying its reporting with multiple podcasts and video content documenting the ups and downs

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Tesla: The Eyes Have It

Tesla: The Eyes Have It
by Roger C. Lanctot on 12-13-2020 at 6:00 am

Tesla The Eyes Have It

David Zipper of Harvard’s Kennedy School writes in Slate that the incoming Biden Administration should “bring the hammer down” on Tesla Motors for its mis-labeled and therefore misleading Autopilot application and the recently updated Full Self-Driving software beta in the interest of the general public. Zipper’s plan,

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Elon Musk’s Aspirational Automation

Elon Musk’s Aspirational Automation
by Roger C. Lanctot on 11-01-2020 at 8:00 am

Elon Musk Aspirational Automation

Tesla Motors kicked off the release of its latest earnings with news of record results and the release of the company’s Full Self Driving beta. Leading up to the earnings, most attention was focused on whether Tesla will meet its original target of 500,000 vehicle shipments this year in spite of the negative impact of the pandemic.

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COVID-19: A Pandemic Made for Tesla

COVID-19: A Pandemic Made for Tesla
by Roger C. Lanctot on 05-17-2020 at 6:00 am

COVID 19 A Pandemic Made for Tesla

With Tesla Motors’ CEO Elon Musk spewing accusations of civil rights violations and fascism in the face of restrictions forcing him to keep his Fremont, California factory closed it is tempting to assume that Tesla is suffering through the shutdown with the rest of us. Don’t kid yourself. The COVID-19 pandemic is a crisis tailor-made

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Tesla’s 2019 Turning Point

Tesla’s 2019 Turning Point
by Roger C. Lanctot on 03-29-2020 at 10:00 am

Tesla’s 2019 Turning Point

2019 will be remembered as the year the automotive industry decided to right-size its autonomous vehicle ambitions. Multiple auto makers tempered their vaunted claims for delivering fully autonomous cars within a few years and Daimler Chairman of the Board Ola Kälenius declared in December that the pursuit of autonomous “robotaxis”

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Leave the Driving to Musk!

Leave the Driving to Musk!
by Roger C. Lanctot on 09-03-2019 at 10:00 am

For years Tesla Motors’ CEO Elon Musk has been taunting the global insurance industry that he would offer insurance coverage directly from Tesla if he was dissatisfied with the industry’s own underwriting. That shoe dropped last week with a resounding thud as Tesla Insurance Services launched in California.

As part of the filing,… Read More


Where Have You Gone, Lee Iacocca

Where Have You Gone, Lee Iacocca
by Roger C. Lanctot on 07-04-2019 at 8:00 am

The automotive industry is a funny business. It is simultaneously ruled by ego driven “visionaries” and penny-pinching bean counters. (Don’t believe me? Just ask Bob Lutz.) This id-superego tension plays out in business section headlines every day most recently including the death of FCA’s Sergio… Read More


Why we will all benefit from the next space race

Why we will all benefit from the next space race
by Vivek Wadhwa on 01-27-2019 at 7:00 am

Until January 3, no human being had ever set eyes upon the “dark side” of the moon: the side always facing away from the Earth. It always remained a mystery. But no longer. China’s National Space Administration successfully landed a lunar lander, Chang’e-4, at South Pole-Aitken, the moon’s largest and deepest basin. Its lunar rover… Read More


Volvo: Car-less is Better Than Clueless

Volvo: Car-less is Better Than Clueless
by Roger C. Lanctot on 12-09-2018 at 7:00 am

Sweden has embraced the movement toward a cashless society with banks no longer taking cash deposits and retailers, like Ikea, experimenting with cashlessness. Perhaps taking a cue from the Swedish financial sector, Volvo Cars last week revealed its plans for a car-less stand at this week’s L.A. Auto Show – and the co-located … Read More


Musk the Magician and Data Monetizer

Musk the Magician and Data Monetizer
by Roger C. Lanctot on 10-19-2018 at 7:00 am

Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk pulled a rabbit out of his hat last month making thousands of cars vanish and converting reports of production and delivery hell into market leadership for premium sedan deliveries. Following SEC legal action and a podcast where he appeared to be drinking scotch and smoking marijuana and after surrendering… Read More