"Overall, I think, while there were challenges associated with Model 3 ramp, we were in a deeper level of hell than we expected, so a few levels deeper than we'd like to be, but swiftly exiting, I think." Those chastened but seemingly optimistic words came from the CEO of Tesla, Elon Musk, during a conference call discussing the company's... Tesla Model 3 variants delayed; will some buyers lose $7,500 tax credit?
"Overall, I think, while there were challenges associated with Model 3 ramp, we were in a deeper level of hell than we expected, so a few levels deeper than we'd like to be, but swiftly exiting, I think." Those chastened but seemingly optimistic words came from the CEO of Tesla, Elon Musk, during a conference call discussing the company's... 
What a difference a few months makes. In June, one month before the delivery of the first 30 Tesla Model 3, we polled our Twitter followers on how many of the lower-priced electric cars Tesla would deliver by the end of this year. The view then was pretty rosy, with more than half the respondents saying the company would have sold more than 10,000... 
Both Hyundai and Kia planned to approach the electric and plug-in car market aggressively, but now the Korean siblings plan to boost production even over totals announced earlier this year. This past summer, both brands said they would increase their electrified car production to 50,000 units next year. Now, according to a report earlier this... 
Relatively few auto-company CEOs would publicly mention sleeping on the roof of one of their factory buildings. But Tesla CEO Elon Musk is not like most other chief executives of auto companies. Most also don't break news via tweet, for instance. A tweet by Musk Thursday evening referred to the eighth circle of Hell and suggested he'd slept on the... 
With an evolving shift to electrified and plug-in electric cars, the changes that will bring to the auto industry are far from limited to the powertrains. The entire mass-production and vehicle assembly process the industry pioneered a century ago will require major restructuring, it appears. Electric cars require significantly fewer parts and... 
General Motors didn't have to construct an all-new assembly plant to build its affordable, mass-market Chevrolet Bolt EV electric car. In fact, it produces the electric car at the existing Orion assembly plant in Michigan, which opened in 1983. That's not the most interesting aspect of Bolt EV production, though: GM actually builds the... ![Mercedes-Benz EQ electric car concept [photo: Axel Harries]](http://images.hgmsites.net/tmb/mercedes-benz-eq-electric-car-concept-photo-axel-harries_100597897_t.gif)
The first vehicle in history considered to be an automobile was the Benz Motorwagen of 1885. It was also the first vehicle from an automaker that has been around for the duration of the industry: we know it today as Mercedes-Benz. In other words, the company has been building cars for 132 years. DON'T MISS: Mercedes to launch 10 electric cars by... 
Electric-car maker Tesla is at a pivotal time in the 13-year-old company's history as production of its mass-market Model 3 ramps up and ambitious plans to roll out additional vehicles loom. Coinciding with the production start of the Tesla Model 3 are plans for a major expansion the Silicon Valley automaker's assembly plant in Fremont...