A Tesla electric car appeared in my street in London the other day, causing passers-by to stop and stare at its elegant shape and peer in the window at its revolutionary dashboard and controls.
A few minutes later another drove by causing heads to turn, and in the space of an hour I saw four. At the weekend in the country a friend took me for a ride in his gleaming Model S, which he reckons is the best car he has ever owned – including, he remarked modestly, his Ferrari, which now sits idle in his garage.
Tesla’s luxury model, starting at £62,000 (Dh296,801) in the United Kingdom, was launched six years ago but worldwide production of its two existing models, the S and the X, was still only 82,000 in 2016, not many of which reached the streets of London. This weekend, however, Tesla launches its eagerly awaited Model 3, designed as the world’s first mass-market electric vehicle which will, according to its South African-born creator Elon Musk, “transform the automotive industry forever”. Not since John DeLorean unveiled his DMC-12 gullwing sports car in 1980 has a new model created such worldwide interest.
But don’t rush just yet to buy one: 400,000 Tesla fans have already put down deposits on the Model 3, which will have a price starting at US$35,000, and the first models will go exclusively to Tesla employees. Next year Tesla hopes to ramp production up to 500,000 cars a year and a million by 2020, but even that, if he can produce them, will not meet demand.
Unlike DeLorean, whose Belfast-based car maker ran out of cash and went into bankruptcy after making just 9,000 cars, Tesla has attracted as much interest on the stock market as it has among the public. The prospect of the Model 3 has driven the share price from $50 to a peak of $390 in the past four years before it encountered headwinds on rumours that Mr Musk, not for the first time, could not deliver on his production promises. In a torrid week early this month, the price fell all the way back to $306, a fall of 20 per cent in just two weeks, before rallying again to $342. Investors are hoping for a smoother ride in the car than on the stock market.
Even at its current price, Tesla commands a daunting market value of $54 billion, bigger than either Ford or General Motors, which have both been around for more than a century. GM alone made nearly 10 million vehicles in 37 countries last year, with sales of $166bn, and in the past two years – while Tesla has burnt up more than $2bn in cash – GM has generated more than $20bn. It has also hedged its bets by launching its own mass-market electric car, the Chevrolet Bolt, undercutting the Model 3. Analysts, who have stripped the car apart and costed every component, reckon GM, probably the lowest-cost producer in the world, cannot make money at Tesla’s starting price for the Model 3 but can afford to sell it at a loss for as long as it takes. That could be a long time: sales have hit only 7,200 so far this year, while customers have lined up outside Tesla showrooms to register their interest, raising comparisons with the rush to buy the iPhone when it was first released almost exactly a decade ago. Mr Musk is emerging as the car industry’s equivalent of Steve Jobs, probably the most effective showman in automobile history.
There are plenty of doubters, of course, and sceptics point to Volvo’s recent announcement that as from 2019 all its models will either be wholly or partly electric. Volkswagen, still smarting from its diesel scandal, promises to install an electric motor in all its cars from 2020 and the Chinese are said to be lining up to produce even cheaper models once they have got their hands on the Model 3.
There are also growing fears that Mr Musk, with his grandiose plans to solve the world's energy problems with revolutionary battery power and conquer space, will inevitably come unstuck – or worse. The Financial Times recently fulminated that his grandiose proposals to colonise Mars could not just threaten his car company but seriously damage the environment of the unexplored Red Planet. "The world would be far better off if Mr Musk concentrated his brilliant mind on preserving Earth, and forgot about Mars until that job was even halfway done," it wrote. But investors know all that and are not put off in the slightest. When Mr Musk needed more money this year, he effortlessly raised another $1.4bn to top up his coffers and could have had more if he needed it.
This weekend, however, the focus will remain firmly on earth as Mr Musk’s greatest contribution to a cleaner environment, the Model 3, shuffles off the production line and into the history books. For the moment at least, Mars will have to wait.
RESULT
Manchester United 2 Burnley 2
Man United: Lingard (53', 90' 1)
Burnley: Barnes (3'), Defour (36')
Man of the Match: Jesse Lingard (Manchester United)
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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The more serious side of specialty coffee
While the taste of beans and freshness of roast is paramount to the specialty coffee scene, so is sustainability and workers’ rights.
The bulk of genuine specialty coffee companies aim to improve on these elements in every stage of production via direct relationships with farmers. For instance, Mokha 1450 on Al Wasl Road strives to work predominantly with women-owned and -operated coffee organisations, including female farmers in the Sabree mountains of Yemen.
Because, as the boutique’s owner, Garfield Kerr, points out: “women represent over 90 per cent of the coffee value chain, but are woefully underrepresented in less than 10 per cent of ownership and management throughout the global coffee industry.”
One of the UAE’s largest suppliers of green (meaning not-yet-roasted) beans, Raw Coffee, is a founding member of the Partnership of Gender Equity, which aims to empower female coffee farmers and harvesters.
Also, globally, many companies have found the perfect way to recycle old coffee grounds: they create the perfect fertile soil in which to grow mushrooms.
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
Switching%20sides
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NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
Director: Shady Ali
Cast: Boumi Fouad , Mohamed Tharout and Hisham Ismael
Rating: 3/5
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
Specs
Engine: Electric motor generating 54.2kWh (Cooper SE and Aceman SE), 64.6kW (Countryman All4 SE)
Power: 218hp (Cooper and Aceman), 313hp (Countryman)
Torque: 330Nm (Cooper and Aceman), 494Nm (Countryman)
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh158,000 (Cooper), Dh168,000 (Aceman), Dh190,000 (Countryman)
THE BIO
Family: I have three siblings, one older brother (age 25) and two younger sisters, 20 and 13
Favourite book: Asking for my favourite book has to be one of the hardest questions. However a current favourite would be Sidewalk by Mitchell Duneier
Favourite place to travel to: Any walkable city. I also love nature and wildlife
What do you love eating or cooking: I’m constantly in the kitchen. Ever since I changed the way I eat I enjoy choosing and creating what goes into my body. However, nothing can top home cooked food from my parents.
Favorite place to go in the UAE: A quiet beach.
Favourite book: ‘The Art of Learning’ by Josh Waitzkin
Favourite film: Marvel movies
Favourite parkour spot in Dubai: Residence towers in Jumeirah Beach Residence
KEY HIGHLIGHTS
Healthcare spending to double to $2.2 trillion rupees
Launched a 641billion-rupee federal health scheme
Allotted 200 billion rupees for the recapitalisation of state-run banks
Around 1.75 trillion rupees allotted for privatisation and stake sales in state-owned assets
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
Match info
Manchester United 1 (Van de Beek 80') Crystal Palace 3 (Townsend 7', Zaha pen 74' & 85')
Man of the match Wilfried Zaha (Crystal Palace)
Qosty Byogaani
Starring: Hani Razmzi, Maya Nasir and Hassan Hosny
Four stars
Election pledges on migration
CDU: "Now is the time to control the German borders and enforce strict border rejections"
SPD: "Border closures and blanket rejections at internal borders contradict the spirit of a common area of freedom"
Super 30
Produced: Sajid Nadiadwala and Phantom Productions
Directed: Vikas Bahl
Cast: Hrithik Roshan, Pankaj Tripathi, Aditya Srivastav, Mrinal Thakur
Rating: 3.5 /5
Specs
Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
On sale: Available for pre-order now
Price: On request
Score
Third Test, Day 1
New Zealand 229-7 (90 ov)
Pakistan
New Zealand won the toss and elected to bat
The Year Earth Changed
Directed by:Tom Beard
Narrated by: Sir David Attenborough
Stars: 4
Cry Macho
Director: Clint Eastwood
Stars: Clint Eastwood, Dwight Yoakam
Rating:**
Dhadak
Director: Shashank Khaitan
Starring: Janhvi Kapoor, Ishaan Khattar, Ashutosh Rana
Stars: 3
