Shifting Gears: Tesla's stock price makes no sense, an interview with Rocket Lab's CEO, and the new Ford Bronco
Happy Friday and welcome back to Shifting Gears, Business Insider's weekly roundup of all things transportation.
We're back from a few weeks' hiatus and there's plenty of things to catch you up on. Don't forget to sign up here to get this sent straight to your inbox every week.
Let's dive in:
Tesla's stock price has been on a tear — again.
The world's most valuable automaker can gain and lose the entire market value of one of its Detroit competitors in a single day's trading. The meteoric rise has even made Wall Street analysts scratch their head to explain it.
To understand the stark difference between Elon Musk and his competitors, there are two key charts to digest. Here's what you need to know.
Rocket Lab's CEO opens up
Dave Mosher interviewed Peter Beck, founder and CEO of SpaceX competitor Rocket Lab, and talked about its recent mission failure and what comes next.
"You don't get into this business and don't expect to have a failure," he said. You can read all the conversation's highlights here.
Ford's new Bronco broke its website
The automaker this week revealed a fresh version of its iconic Bronco SUV — the one of OJ Simpson fame — and the pre-order frenzy crashed its website.
Kristen Lee points out that "love for off-roading and 'go-anywhereness' never went away, as evidenced by fans and buyers of the off-roading Ford F-150 Raptor pickup truck. Match that enthusiasm with the return of a body-on-frame, cartoonishly boxy four-wheel-drive off-roader with a famed nameplate and cultlike following, and it could challenge the Jeep Wrangler. No wonder customers said the site crashed."
Air travel's rebound stutters
Airlines saw an uptick in reservations as lockdown orders began to lift, helping the stocks get their feet back under them a bit. But with virus cases still surging in the US — more than anywhere else in the world — travel plans seem to have hit a plateau.
And with money from the first round of economic stimulus soon to run out at the end of July, many of the largest airlines have warned of impending layoffs. In hindsight, Warren Buffett's exit seems very well timed.
Everything else:
- Elon Musk is now officially richer than Warren Buffett after Tesla's stock hits an all-time high
- I flew on 7 flights with the largest US airlines in June. Here's what surprised me the most about flying during the pandemic.
- No one can seem to agree on how much Uber and Lyft drivers actually get paid
- Subaru updated its popular Crosstrek with a new front end and new engine options for 2021 — see all the upgrades
- German court rules Tesla's Autopilot claims are misleading and bans the company from using them in ads
- Nikola's CEO reveals what Elon Musk rival Trevor Milton is really like as a boss
- Fiat Chrysler and Peugeot just announced a new name for their merging companies: 'Stellantis'
- Virgin Galactic just hired a Disney theme park executive to be CEO and run its space tourism business
- American Airlines and JetBlue are trying to corner the market in the Northeast in an unexpected new partnership