Tesla Motors Inc, the electric-car maker being reviewed by US regulators over battery-related fires, said the safety rating for its Model S sedan is reaffirmed for next year’s model.
The flagship vehicle from the Palo Alto, California-based company, with a US$70,000 base price, retains a five-star rating for crashworthiness, the highest designation given by the US’ National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). The agency opened a review of the car last month after fires in Tennessee and Washington state occurred when drivers struck metal debris.
“People that really want a Model S have researched it and know it’s a very safe car,” said Jessica Caldwell, an analyst for Edmunds.com, a vehicle pricing and data service in Santa Monica, California.
“Those same buyers are also likely to dismiss concerns about the battery,” she added.
Tesla shares have plunged 26 percent from a record high closing price of US$193.37 on Sept. 30 after the battery-related fire reports. A third fire occurred in Mexico when a driver hit a concrete barrier at high speed. There have been no reported injuries resulting from any of the collisions.
NHTSA has not said when its review will be completed. Germany’s transportation regulator cleared the Model S of any safety defect this month, removing the possibility of a recall of the car in that country.
“While Tesla is awaiting feedback from NHTSA regarding their investigation of recent fire incidents, the German Federal Motor Transport Authority, Kraftfahrt-Bundesamt, recently concluded its review of the incidents, finding no manufacturer-related defects or need for further action,” Tesla said on Monday in an e-mailed statement.
European sales of the Model S began this year and Tesla plans to start selling the car in China next year. The company, led by billionaire Elon Musk, has set a goal of delivering 21,500 units of the rechargeable sedan globally this year.
Tesla shares rose 0.2 percent to close at US$143.55 on Monday in New York.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day
Thousands of parents in Singapore are furious after a Cordlife Group Ltd (康盛人生集團), a major operator of cord blood banks in Asia, irreparably damaged their children’s samples through improper handling, with some now pursuing legal action. The ongoing case, one of the worst to hit the largely untested industry, has renewed concerns over companies marketing themselves to anxious parents with mostly unproven assurances. This has implications across the region, given Cordlife’s operations in Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, the Philippines and India. The parents paid for years to have their infants’ cord blood stored, with the understanding that the stem cells they contained