Tesla Just Passed GM to Become Top U.S. Carmaker
Source: Bloomberg.com
Elon Musk’s Tesla Inc. surpassed General Motors Co. to become America’s most valuable carmaker, eclipsing a company whose well-being was once viewed as interdependent with the nation’s.
Tesla climbed as much as 3.7 percent in early Monday trading, boosting its market capitalization to $51 billion. The company was valued at about $1.7 billion more than GM as of 9:35 a.m. in New York and the two have jostled for the lead spot in subsequent trading.
The turnabout shows the extent to which investors have bought into Musk’s vision that electric vehicles will eventually rule the road. While GM has beat Tesla to market with a plug-in Chevrolet Bolt with a price and range similar to what Musk has promised for his Model 3 sedan coming later this year, the more than century-old company has failed to match the enthusiasm drummed up by its much smaller and rarely profitable U.S. peer.
“Tesla engenders optimism, freedom, defiance, and a host of other emotions that, in our view, other companies cannot replicate,” said Alexander Potter, an analyst at Piper Jaffray Cos., who upgraded the stock Monday after owning a Tesla for seven months and meeting with management. “As they scramble to catch up, we think Tesla’s competitors only make themselves appear more desperate.”
Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-04-10/tesla-passes-gm-as-musk-s-carmaker-becomes-america-s-top-valued
Tesla Motors is an all Electric car company
= new reply since forum marked as read
Preston Tucker's gotta be grinning broadly from on high. 
Last week I was caught next to a Tesla in about twelve miles of stop-and-go traffic. I'd pass it, it would pass me.
Assuming it was charged the night before, it was running on a mix of hydroelectric and nuclear power, with some wind and natural gas mixed in. Except for a few Priuses and other hybrids, most of the rest of us were driving cars with gasoline engines running in their least efficient mode.
I don't think a Tesla or other electric cars solve any problems, however. The problem is our car culture. We ought to be rebuilding our cities and higher density suburbs in such a way that most people don't need or desire to own a car.
Instead of building and expanding urban and suburban freeways, we ought to be tearing them down and letting the cards fall where they may. The problem with freeways today is that if you build or expand them the cars will come.
I was reading about the Alaskan Way Viaduct replacement in Seattle the other day, about the giant tunneling machine Bertha breaking through to daylight, and I was thinking the best solution might have been to simply remove all traces of the dangerous earthquake damaged highway, and not replace it with *any* accommodation for automobiles.
When my wife and I met we were both Los Angeles commuters. I remember days it would take me more than an hour to get to or from work, days it was faster to ride my bicycle, but only if I cared to risk my life. (Los Angeles drivers are notoriously unaware of bicycles and pedestrians...)
By some planning and greater good fortune my wife and I have been able to avoid the commuter lifestyle since the mid 'nineties, but we still own cars. Unless you live in the heart of a big city like San Francisco, a place with adequate public transportation, you're not considered a fully functional adult in our society if you don't have a car. In my community if you don't have a car people assume you are blind, epileptic, or have too many DUI's.
