Strategy – Page 6826 – I wish I had more to offer

Electric pickup trucks are not in GM’s plans for the next couple decades, says exec

Electric propulsion is rapidly taking over many segments of ground transportation and pickup trucks, which are the biggest profit centers for American automakers, are expected to be next. Yet, the GM executive in charge of global strategy says that electric pickup trucks are not in the company’s plans. Mike Abelson, GM’s vice president of global strategy,… Continue reading Electric pickup trucks are not in GM’s plans for the next couple decades, says exec

Nissan: Alliance Ventures invests in Transit, a Montreal-based multi-modal transportation mobile app

Transit’s mobile app aggregates and maps real-time transportation data, functional in more than 175 metropolitan areas around the world PARIS, TOKYO and YOKOHAMA – Alliance Ventures, the strategic venture capital arm of Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi, has announced today that it has invested in the latest round of funding in Transit, a multi-modal transportation mobile app company based… Continue reading Nissan: Alliance Ventures invests in Transit, a Montreal-based multi-modal transportation mobile app

Artificial Intelligence: Continental Aims to Strengthen Worldwide Network of Experts by 2021

“ Technology company Continental to widen network of experts in the field of artificial intelligence (AI) to around 700 by 2021 Continental to increase the usage of artificial intelligence in product development and process automation Functions like Right Turn Assist or quality assurance in production will benefit from AI Joint research activitities with research facilities… Continue reading Artificial Intelligence: Continental Aims to Strengthen Worldwide Network of Experts by 2021

SEAT takes its first step towards its micromobility strategy with the new eXS KickScooter

As cities continue to grow, achieving efficient mobility has become one of the major challenges that institutions and carmakers have to tackle. Traffic jams, the lack of parking spaces and reduced emissions zones in city centres are just some of the daily challenges that drivers are faced with. If we add to this a 20%… Continue reading SEAT takes its first step towards its micromobility strategy with the new eXS KickScooter

Tesla — “Apple Of Cars” — Entering Its Golden Age

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Published on November 10th, 2018 |

by Guest Contributor

Tesla — “Apple Of Cars” — Entering Its Golden Age

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November 10th, 2018 by Guest Contributor

Originally published on EVANNEX.
By Charles Morris

Comparisons between Tesla and Apple are nothing new, but with the Silicon Valley automaker poised for a new wave of growth, it’s a good time to revisit the parallels between the two disruptive companies. A recent article from ARK Investment Management explains the similarities in eerie detail.

In 2007, Apple had already existed for three decades, but beginning in that year, a wave of new products — the iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and App Store — catapulted the company into a new dimension, and caused revenue and market cap to grow tenfold.

Before blastoff, Apple was selling computers, which were widely regarded as a commodity product, mainly to a few niche markets such as audio/video professionals, people who resented Bill Gates and people who just had to be different. However, the company’s strategy of vertical integration and consumer focus — precisely the opposite of the business model that PC makers were pursuing — allowed it to charge premium prices and command fanatical customer loyalty.

ARK Invest Founder and CEO, Cathie Wood, talks about Tesla and points out similarities with Apple (Source: Yahoo Finance)

The parallels to Tesla should already be apparent, but looking at Tesla’s position in 2018, they become even more striking. ARK’s analysts see “the outlines of another Apple in the making,” and point out that “Tesla resembles Apple in three key areas: a strategy of vertical integration, an imminent product inflection, and a business model transitioning from hardware to services.”

Apple’s strategy of vertically integrating hardware, software, services, and retail was very much a contrarian one. In 2007, conventional wisdom was that companies should focus on “core competencies.” Apple’s competitors all specialized in one layer of the stack. However, in a time of rapid innovation, vertical integration can enable a company to get a head start on the rest of an industry by developing key enabling technologies in-house. To give just one example, Apple was able to create the first multi-touch smartphone because it created its own multi-touch system, something no other company was anywhere close to developing.

Vertical integration similarities (Source: ARK Investment Management)

“Tesla picks up on Apple’s vertical integration strategy but takes it further,” write the ARK analysts. “In addition to hardware, software, and retail, Tesla also owns and operates manufacturing facilities as well as a global Supercharger network. Vertically integrating battery pack production at its Gigafactory is why Tesla is the only high-volume EV manufacturer today. Had Tesla waited for the supply chain to catch up, it wouldn’t have been able to launch and scale the Model 3 for years. In our view, this is a key reason why no automaker has released a viable competitor to the Model 3 thus far and why no company will be able to do so until 2020 at the earliest.”

Apple’s spectacular 2007 to 2012 growth was driven by the release of the iPhone, iPad, and the App Store in quick succession. As is the case with Tesla, Apple’s vision of the products it wanted to build was often ahead of current computing, microprocessor, and battery performance. Things started to take off around 2007 because the enabling technologies to build a high-performance handheld computer finally became available. “Having built up decades of software and hardware expertise, Apple was positioned to seize this opportunity and create the blueprint for modern mobile computing,” notes ARK.

Falling cost of lithium-ion batteries (Source: ARK Investment Management)

Like Mac computers in the early 1990s, Tesla’s vehicles haven’t broken into the mainstream, because they are simply too expensive. The main reason for this is battery costs, which are dropping rapidly. ARK estimates that the cost of lithium-ion batteries will fall below $100/kWh, achieving cost parity with gasoline cars, by 2022. Elon Musk has said that he expects to reach this tipping point by the end of 2018.

This cost decline is a big deal, to put it mildly. Once EVs reach cost parity, there will simply be no technical reason for anyone to build fossil fuel cars anymore (although financial and political reasons are likely to keep them on life support for quite a while). “Tesla has spent more than a decade preparing for this moment and, in our view, has the most compelling EV pipeline of any company,” says ARK. “The Tesla Model 3 and Model Y (a crossover SUV) have the potential to catapult EVs into the mainstream, much like the one-two punch from the iPhone and iPad in mobile computing.”

A look at the growth trajectory of both Apple and Tesla (Source: ARK Investment Management)

Tesla’s vertical integration — it’s selling not just a car, but an “ecosystem” of products and services — creates many income opportunities. “In the 2000s, Apple’s iPod+iTunes combination created a dual revenue stream from hardware and music,” ARK notes. “Today, thanks to its massive installed base of iPhones, Apple offers a range of services spanning music subscriptions, cloud storage, and app sales that generates $36 billion annually and accounts for roughly a third of Apple’s market cap. Competitors like Samsung that do not control the customer relationship generate no material revenue from services.”

In ARK’s view, every successful growth company goes through a “golden era” when the stars align and expansion takes place more rapidly than anyone could have foreseen. “For Apple, that time was from 2007 to 2012. For Tesla, we believe the golden era is just beginning.”

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SecurityMatters, a portfolio company of Robert Bosch Venture Capital, is acquired by ForeScout Technologies

About RBVC GmbH Robert Bosch Venture Capital GmbH (RBVC) is the corporate venture capital company of the Bosch Group, a leading global supplier of technology and services. RBVC invests worldwide in innovative start-up companies at all stages of their development. Its investment activities focus on technology companies working in areas of business of current and… Continue reading SecurityMatters, a portfolio company of Robert Bosch Venture Capital, is acquired by ForeScout Technologies

More Background On New Tesla Chair Robyn Denholm

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Published on November 8th, 2018 |

by Dr. Maximilian Holland

More Background On New Tesla Chair Robyn Denholm

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November 8th, 2018 by Dr. Maximilian Holland

As reported earlier today, Tesla has announced the appointment of Robyn Denholm to the chair of the board at Tesla, replacing Elon Musk who has been in the role since 2004. Denholm had already been an independent director on Tesla’s board since 2014 and has decades of experience in senior finance and strategy roles at auto, technology, and software companies.

The appointment follows Tesla’s recent settlement with the SEC, which set a timeline for putting in place an independent chair, whilst Musk remains in the role of CEO and largest investor at Tesla. Since January 2017, Denholm has been engaged as Chief Operations Officer of Telstra Corporation, and will transition out of that role and into the Tesla Chair role full time over the next 6 months.

Below, we highlight a few more aspects of Denholm’s career and invite your input on this change at the top.

Robyn Denholm

Denholm has a bachelor’s degree in economics and a master’s degree in commerce. She started her career at accountants Arthur Anderson & Co (1984–1989) before moving to Toyota Australia (1989–1996) in finance and corporate reporting roles.

She was with Sun Microsystems between 1996 and 2007 in finance and strategic planning roles, moving from the Australia offices to the US in 2001. Previous to her recent 2 years as COO at Telstra, from 2007 to 2016, Denholm was with Juniper Networks in the roles of CFO and COO.

As well as serving on the board at Tesla since 2014, she also served on the board of Swiss electrical equipment multinational ABB from 2016 to 2017, a notable cleantech leader in various ways.

Denholm has extensive experience in both finance and corporate strategy, areas of discipline that will be key to Tesla maintaining its lead in the energy transition in the coming years. Denholm’s strengths should prove complementary to Musk’s vision, creativity, and technological engineering talents.

Denholm released the following statement:

“I believe in this company, I believe in its mission and I look forward to helping Elon and the Tesla team achieve sustainable profitability and drive long-term shareholder value”

Musk added:

“Robyn has extensive experience in both the tech and auto industries, and she has made significant contributions as a Tesla Board member over the past four years in helping us become a profitable company… I look forward to working even more closely with Robyn as we continue accelerating the advent of sustainable energy.”

What do you think of the appointment? Please share your thoughts in the comments.

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Dr. Maximilian Holland Max is an anthropologist, social theorist and international political economist, trying to ask questions and encourage critical thinking about social and environmental justice, sustainability and the human condition. He has lived and worked in Europe and Asia, and is currently based in Barcelona.

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Mitsubishi committed to future PHEV development

Mitsubishi says its plug-in hybrid technology is essential to meet increasingly tough CO2 emissions regulations – and the next-generation Outlander PHEV will have an electric-only range of around 60 miles. The Outlander is currently the bestselling plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) in the UK. While increasingly tough CO2 regulations are pushing several car firms towards pure-battery EV… Continue reading Mitsubishi committed to future PHEV development

SG’s ComfortDelGro to set up $100m VC fund to invest in mobility startups

November 9, 2018 Singapore’s largest taxi operator ComfortDelGro announced that it is setting up a $100-million corporate venture capital fund to focus on incubation and investments in mobility technologies and solutions that complement the company’s land transport business. The fund – ComfortDelGro Capital Partners (CCP) – will invest in startups that plug technology gaps, and… Continue reading SG’s ComfortDelGro to set up $100m VC fund to invest in mobility startups

Mubadala’s venture arm leads $60m round for US logistics startup Turvo

November 9, 2018 Abu Dhabi state fund Mubadala Investment Company, through its venture capital arm Mubadala Ventures, has led a $60-million funding round for California-based logistics platform Turvo, according to an announcement. The Series B funding round also saw participation from new investors G2VP and Next47, the Siemens-backed global venture firm. Existing investors Activant Capital, Felicis… Continue reading Mubadala’s venture arm leads $60m round for US logistics startup Turvo