Short torque

Uber's ex-CEO to sell 29 percent of stake

Ousted Uber boss Travis Kalanick plans to sell 29 percent of his stake in the United States ride-sharing giant for about $1.4 billion, Bloomberg reported Thursday, citing an unnamed source familiar with the matter. Kalanick, who co-founded the company and owns 10 percent of it, would sell the shares as part of the deal that will see a group of investors led by Japanese tech titan SoftBank acquire a major stake in Uber. The new investment, which will be finalized in January, was based on calculations valuing Uber at $48 billion, Bloomberg said.

Hyundai, VW partner Aurora Innovation

Hyundai and Volkswagen each say they're partnering with a US autonomous vehicle tech firm led by former executives from Google, Tesla and Uber. On Thursday, the companies announced partnerships with Aurora Innovation, started last year by ex-Google autonomous car chief Chris Urmson and others. VW says its collaboration will help bring self-driving cars to roads worldwide quickly, while autonomous Hyundais are expected to be on the market by 2021.

Germany's growth streak continues

More cars were registered on German roads in 2017 than in any year this decade, as sales continued a long-running growth streak, government and industry figures showed on Thursday. New registrations grew 2.7 percent year-on-year to some 3.4 million vehicles, according to data from the Federation of the Automotive Industry (VDA) and the KBA vehicle licensing authority. "The German auto market grew last year for the fourth year in a row and reached its highest volume this decade," VDA chief Matthias Wissmann said.

Tesla misses Model 3 production targets

Electric carmaker Tesla Inc has again fallen short of production goals for its new Model 3 sedan. The Palo Alto, California-based company made 2,425 Model 3s in the fourth quarter. That's only a fraction of the 20,000 per month that CEO Elon Musk promised last summer when the car first went into production. The company exceeded its overall sales targets, with 101,312 Model S sedans and Model X SUVs bought in 2017, up 33 percent over 2016. Tesla at one point had more than 500,000 potential buyers on the waiting list for the Model 3.

Motoring - Agencies

(China Daily 01/08/2018 page19)