Business Spotlight: Tesla Part 2

Continued from Part 1… More innovations followed, including a driver-assistance system in 2014 that promised to drive cars automatically, and home battery packs that set the company in a new direction beyond automobiles. After acquiring a solar power company in 2017, Tesla Motors shortened its name to Tesla to reflect the many sides of its business. In late 2017, the Model 3 sedan went into production, though there were many delays and manufacturing problems. Another source of problems was Musk’s shoot-from-the-hip style. In an August 2018 tweet, he claimed he had secured funding to take Tesla private, thus giving him more control over its long-term strategy. Unfortunately, the tweet was seen as harmful to Tesla’s investors, and he and Tesla were each fined $20 million (¥2.2 billion) for the incident. Tesla recovered and in 2020 released the Model Y, which helped the firm surpass Toyota as the world’s most valuable carmaker. Nowadays, Tesla is known for having its finger on the pulse. Just recently, they decided to accept bitcoins as payment and continue to work hard on a high-speed train, the Hyperloop. The company continues to strengthen, despite its CEO’s tweets. (Jasmin Hayward) This article was provided by The Japan Times Alpha.