Selling in the EV space extended into the holiday-shortened week, amid the prospect of production disruptions due to component shortages and plant shutdowns in China. The broader market weakness did little to help improve sentiment. EV pioneer Tesla, Inc.'s TSLA stock closed below the $1,000 level, while Rivian Automotive, Inc. RIVN and Faraday Future Intelligent Electric Inc. FFIE bucked the downtrend.
Here are the key events that happened in the EV space during the week:
Tesla Gig Shanghai Updates, Musk's Twitter Bid & More: After remaining shut for about three weeks, Tesla is gearing up to restart operations in phases in a "closed loop" on Sunday, Bloomberg reported. This would mean workers will live on site and be regularly tested for COVID. The company will ramp up production gradually, depending on how the pandemic situation pans out.
A Reuters report suggests that Tesla may have lost 50,000 units of vehicle production due to the Giga Shanghai shutdown.
CEO Elon Musk pushed ahead with his quest to reform social media platform Twitter, Inc. TWTR by making a hostile bid for the company. This stirred anxiety among Tesla investors over whether Musk's divided attention on his flagship EV manufacturing venture will affect the company.
Longtime Tesla bull Cathie Wood's Ark Invest announced an updated price target for the company's stock. The fund's base-case scenario suggests Tesla share will gallop to $4,600 by 2025.
Related Link: How Tesla Stock Can Be Overvalued And Substantially Undervalued At The Same Time
Ford's F-150 EV Truck To Arrive Shortly: Ford announced that its much-awaited EV pickup truck will be launched on April 26. The company plans to host customers and employers to celebrate the launch of the F-150 Lightning at its Rouge EV center in Dearborn, Michigan.
Separately, Ford said its China sales fell 18.8% year-over-year to 125,000 units in the first quarter, weighed down by chip supply constraints, pandemic restrictions and its accelerated business transformation.
Volkswagen Keen On EV Pickup Truck: Volkswagen AG VWAGY is keen on having an EV pickup truck in the North American market, the group's America CEO Scott Keogh said in an interview to Business Insider. The top brass sees a BEV pickup truck presenting a huge opportunity for the company in the "hot American pickup truck market."
GM Stitches Deal With Glencore: General Motors Corp GM announced a deal with Australian miner Glencore plc GLNCY to procure cobalt meant to be used in its Ultium battery cathodes that would go into its EVs. GM's China sales also suffered in the first quarter. After delivering 2.9 million vehicles in 2021, the company said it sold 613,000 units in the first quarter.
Fisker Sets Up Indian HQ: Fisker, Inc. FSR said it would set up its India headquarters in Hyderabad, wherein the focus will be on software and virtual vehicle development.
"Our expansion into India represents both a strategic market opportunity and a significant boost to our global engineering capabilities," Chairman and CEO Henrik Fisker said.
Lucid Launches Grand Touring: Lucid Group, Inc. LCID said deliveries of its high-end Lucid Air Grand Touring Performance will begin in June. The vehicle will be priced $10,000 more than the Dream edition.
Toyota Unveils bZ4X: Toyota Motor Corp TM launched its electric bZ4X SUV, which has a starting price of $42,000 and range of 252 miles. The vehicle will be available at the dealerships, starting in May.
EV Stock Performances for The Week:
Related Link: Tesla Wrests SUV Leadership In China; Model Y Tops Category In Q1
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