2021 Tesla Model S Plaid on 2040-cars

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Tesla dropped to 'junk bond' status by S&P

While Tesla Motors' Model S is a piece of pristine, well-designed metal, the company's bonds have now been rated as "junk." But maybe that's better than the other way around. We'll let the investors decide. Standard & Poor's gave Tesla's bonds a 'B-' rating this week, indicating so-called "junk status," Automotive News says. That means investors are saying the company has a relatively high chance of defaulting on its loans. S&P cites Tesla's short history, competition from some very large companies and relatively narrow product line (none of which are new facts), and estimates that investors would be able to recover 30 to 50 cents on the dollar should the company default. Tesla has been issuing billions of dollars in bonds this year to raise funds for its planned gigafactory somewhere in the southwestern US, a project that Tesla estimated will cost $5 billion ($2 billion from Tesla, $3 billion from partners). Tesla said earlier this month that it took a first-quarter loss of $49.8 million, compared to year-earlier net income of $11.2 million. While revenue rose 10 percent to $620.5 million, selling and administrative costs more than doubled while research and development costs jumped 48 percent. And while Tesla's share price has doubled during the past 12 months (it's at around $209 today), the company's liabilities doubled to $3.52 billion from the beginning of the year to the end of the first quarter. There's a short video on the situation from CNN Money below.

Lexus says it's not worried about LS sales decline in face of S-Class, Model S

The Lexus LS is old. Sure, it received a refresh for model year 2013, but it hasn't had a clean-sheet redesign since George W. Bush was in office. It's the oldest vehicle in its segment, debuting in 2007, a full year before the current-gen BMW 7 Series, two years before the Hyundai Equus and Jaguar XJ and three years before the Audi A8.
This is particularly troubling as buyers flock to the heavily redesigned Mercedes-Benz S-Class, which debuted late last year, and the all-electric Tesla Model S. Despite this move, though, Lexus is (worryingly in our minds) not at all concerned.
"We don't feel it's a problem with the car," Brian Smith, VP of marketing for Lexus, told Wards Auto. "Many of the buyers in that segment want what's new and they're trying it."

Google CEO Larry Page says his billions should go to Elon Musk

When you have basically all the money in the world, it can be tough to spend it all. It will be even tougher to spend when you're dead. If you're Google CEO and co-founder Larry Page, though, you already know how you want your money to live on after you're gone: support innovators like Tesla CEO Elon Musk. That's what Page said at the TED conference in Vancouver, Canada this week, anyway, adding that the already-wealthy Musk is worthy of the Page billions because he's one of the people who can change the world. Page said: He wants to go to Mars. That's a worthy goal. We have a lot of employees at Google who've become pretty wealthy. You're working because you want to change the world and make it better; if the company you work for is worthy of your time, why not your money as well? We just don't think about that. I'd like for us to help out more than we are. On top of Tesla, Musk also runs SpaceX and Solar City. Tesla said in a statement to Automotive News that, "[Musk] is honored by Larry's comments and very much admires what he has accomplished with Google."