Investors chide Toyota's Toyoda for questioning combustion car ban

Monday, 10 May 2021, 12:06:30
https://www.investing.com/news/stock-market-news/investors-chide-toyotas-toyoda-for-questioning-combustion-car-ban-2500834
— Investing.com

Several of Tesla's EV competitors advertised their products during Elon Musk's ‘SNL' appearance

Sunday, 9 May 2021, 11:10:34
Summary List Placement As Tesla CEO Elon Musk took to the “Saturday Night Live” stage, competing electric vehicle makers saw an opportunity to advertise. Lucid Motors, Ford, and Volkswagen each advertised their electric vehicles during the NBC broadcast, according to multiple reports. The Verge reported that the commercials all aired within the first half-hour of the show. Musk during his opening monologue said he'd “reinvented” electric cars. He also poked fun at Toyota's Prius. “One reason I've always loved ‘SNL' is because it's genuinely live. A lot of people don't realize that,” he said . “We're actually live right now, which means I could say something truly shocking, like, ‘I drive a Prius.'” Volkswagen advertised its VW ID.4, while Ford advertised its Mustang Mach-E, according to USA Today . After Musk's opening monologue, there was an ad for Lucid Motors' upcoming Lucid Air, which is expected to travel up to 500 miles without a charge, Fox Business reported. CNET reported on Friday that Lucid Motors, founded by a former Tesla employee, had posted a tweet about the commercial.
— Business Insider

Greylock and Baillie Gifford explain why they're betting on Nuro, the white-hot $5 billion self-driving startup

Friday, 7 May 2021, 13:15:00
Summary List Placement With a growing war chest and an enviable collection of blue-chip partners, Nuro is one of the hottest startups in the autonomous-vehicle industry. Founded by two early members of Google's autonomous-vehicle project (which has since spun out as Waymo), the startup is developing self-driving delivery vehicles. Nuro aims to one day eliminate delivery fees while offering a wide range of products, including food, groceries, and prescriptions. Since its 2016 founding, the startup has run pilots with Walmart , CVS, and Domino's Pizza while raising $1.5 billion and earning a $5 billion valuation . Insider asked three of Nuro's investors — Baillie Gifford, Greylock Partners, and Toyota's Woven Capital subsidiary — why they took stakes in the startup. Here's what they said. A narrow focus on a big opportunity While some of Nuro's competitors in the autonomous-vehicle industry are building diverse business models that include a combination of ride-hailing, logistics, trucking, and deliveries, Nuro has kept its sights trained on deliveries since day one.
— Business Insider

BIG3 Announces Return of Toyota as Official Vehicle Partner

Thursday, 6 May 2021, 17:22:00
LOS ANGELES , May 6, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — Today, the BIG3 announced the return of Toyota Motor North America as the league's Official Vehicle Partner for the upcoming fourth season. Together, Toyota and the BIG3 will continue to deliver the most entertaining and engaging play to fans with a series of enhancements ready for the 2021 season. Key features of the partnership include: Toyota as the official vehicle partner of the BIG3 Return of the RAV4-Point Shot Interactive on-site activations for BIG3 fans to experience the 2021 Toyota vehicle lineup “Toyota has been an early and eager supporter of the BIG3, and we couldn't be happier to welcome them back as a major partner again for season four,” said BIG3 Co-Founders Ice Cube and Jeff Kwatinetz . “The … Full story available on Benzinga.com
— Benzinga

Car sales expected to decline amid second wave

Tuesday, 4 May 2021, 04:19:33
With several state governments announcing or extending restrictions to check the spread of the coronavirus pandemic and top automakers temporarily closing plants, automobile dealers expect vehicle sales this month to fall further from April. Automobile sales had declined in double digits sequentially last month, mainly due to the restrictions imposed by local administrations. The industry had recorded zero sales in April last year due to a nationwide lockdown.With nine states including Maharashtra, Delhi, Karnataka, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and West Bengal imposing curfews, almost 45-50% of the automobile retail network currently remains shut. Several dealers ET spoke to said walk-ins in markets that were open had also dropped by 35% in the passenger vehicle segment and 75% in two-wheelers in the past few weeks. There are around 26,500 automobile outlets in India.“Walk-ins have dropped drastically, firstly because of localised lockdowns and also because of the increase in the number of containment zones in other major markets,” said Vinkesh Gulati, president at the Federation of Automobile Dealers’ Association, adding: “While in the passenger vehicle segment, we expect demand to bounce back once lockdowns ease, in two-wheelers and commercial vehicles, demand has been hit badly.”82376932Most carmakers currently are sitting on an order book of several months.
— Economic Times India