Here are the car news stories you might have missed out on this week.
Things are getting interesting in the automotive industry as we move further into 2023. We have military-inspired civilian vehicles, Tesla exceeding expectations, and the EV market starting to see a contraction, plus more.
Rezvani Vengeance is generating some interesting buzz.
American boutique automaker Rezvani is known for its tactical SUVs, especially the Tank, which was featured in the Amazon Prime series The Terminal List. The company’s latest model, called Vengeance, can be outfitted with some pretty interesting features like EMP protection, a pepper spray dispenser, electrified door handles, smoke screen, gas masks, and strobe lights designed to blind people outside the vehicle. Some media outlets are questioning who would be interested in such a vehicle. With a price well into the six digits, the answer should be obvious.
Learn more about the Rezvani Vengeance here.
Car insurance rates are increasing for everyone. Learn more here.
Tesla posts record revenue, beats earnings estimates.
There’s been a deluge of negative press about Tesla, with both automotive and mainstream outlets spinning just about everything pertaining to the automaker as something negative. Some are even trying to spin the news that Tesla’s Q4 2022 revenue of $24.32 billion and earnings per share of $1.19 is a horrendous failure. It’s also worth noting the American automaker was able to shrink gross margins for automobiles to 25.9%, the lowest figure it’s achieved in 5 years. Instead of focusing on this, you’ll probably continue to see just negative spin about Tesla. I’m not a big Tesla fan, but you need to call the wins and losses fairly and this is a win.
There’s plenty more good in the report, which you can learn about here.
GM cancels a battery plant.
That’s right, everything isn’t just sunshine and roses for the EV market these days. Some were shocked when GM and LG canceled plans for a fourth US battery plant. Predictably, the news has seen little light as many publications focus on either why Tesla is very bad or how EVs are the future of the auto industry. Thanks to that, we know precious little about the cancellation of this plant, in part because both companies won’t acknowledge it yet.
Learn a little more about why this deal went south here.
Honda reorganizes its global business structure.
While some automakers are hedging their bets on an electrified future, Honda seems to be going all-in. The Japanese company announced this week a shuffling of its operational structure globally in an effort to accelerate the development and deployment of new EV products. Keep in mind Honda makes a lot more than cars, being one of the big players in the powersports market. But Honda historically has also provided a lot of small generators, which is ironic on several levels if you really think about it.
Get the details of this move here.
Buttigieg says it out loud.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg raised plenty of eyebrows during a media interview this week when he said “every transportation decision in the 21st century is a climate decision, whether we recognize it or not.” Depending on how you feel about public policy, this could be a damning statement or completely benign, but it does help make sense of decisions made under Buttigieg’s leadership.
Image via Rezvani
