Month: February 2025

Teslas turn toxic as sales crash in Europe and the UK

EV sales in the region are growing, but not for Tesla.

Early car sales data for January is starting to arrive from countries across the pond, and they paint an alarming picture for Tesla. Sales are crashing in France, Germany, and the UK—all affluent countries that are key markets for Tesla's electric vehicles. Coming on the heels of a large financial miss, it's just one more problem for the automaker.

Tesla sales dropped around 13 percent across Europe in 2024, but so far this year, the scale of the problem is far greater. In France, sales of new Teslas fell by 63 percent, while total car sales in the country fell by just 6 percent, with EV sales dropping just half a percent.

Germany was already looking like lost ground for Tesla—its 41 percent drop in 2024 accounted for most of Tesla's lost sales across Europe. That must make the 59 percent drop in German Tesla sales recorded during January even more painful on the profit and loss statements.

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After a wrenching decision by NASA, private lunar lander finds a new customer

“When VIPER was removed, that was definitely a setback. Our team felt that.”

Last year was not a good one for a lunar lander company based in Pittsburgh named Astrobotic.

In January, the company's very first spacecraft finally launched after years of delays, carrying dozens of payloads, scientific instruments, and time capsules. But within hours of launch, the Peregrine spacecraft developed a propellant leak in its propulsion system. Although the Astrobotic engineering team fought valiantly, they could not control the leak long enough to attempt a lunar landing. Instead, operators returned it to Earth's atmosphere, where it burned up.

This immediately raised questions about Astrobotic's next mission. Its second spacecraft, Griffin, would be larger. The company had received a large "task order" from NASA to use this lander to deliver the VIPER robotic rover to the south pole of the Moon in 2025 worth more than $300 million. However, NASA officials were concerned that, after Peregrine's problems, the significantly more ambitious Griffin lander might fail.

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$58 billion Honda-Nissan merger is in deep trouble

Honda’s proposal to turn Nissan into fully owned subsidiary didn’t go over well.

A proposed $58 billion merger to create the world’s fourth-largest carmaker appears on the verge of collapse after Honda made an unexpected proposal to turn Nissan into a fully owned subsidiary, according to three people familiar with the matter.

The two rivals announced discussions on a combination in December, but just over 40 days later the talks have already soured, as Honda faces shareholder and internal pressure to take full control of Nissan to turn around the ailing carmaker.

The latest proposal, delivered to Nissan at the weekend, deviates from initial plans to bring the two companies under a jointly owned holding company, a structure that would have provided room to retain Nissan’s brand and decision-making powers.

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Apollo-Mondproben: Herkunft des Mondwassers entschlüsselt

Die größte Menge des Wassers auf dem Mond ist bereits seit seiner Entstehung vorhanden. Weiteres kam durch Kometen. Der Sonnenwind liefert dagegen nur wenig Wasser. (Mond, Wissenschaft)

Die größte Menge des Wassers auf dem Mond ist bereits seit seiner Entstehung vorhanden. Weiteres kam durch Kometen. Der Sonnenwind liefert dagegen nur wenig Wasser. (Mond, Wissenschaft)

Ascend 910C: Huaweis KI-Beschleuniger holt zu Nvidia auf

Chinas KI-Branche setzt vermehrt auf Hardware von Huawei, deren Leistung deutlich gestiegen ist. Ein Foto zeigt, wie das mit 7-nm-Technik klappt. (KI, Cuda)

Chinas KI-Branche setzt vermehrt auf Hardware von Huawei, deren Leistung deutlich gestiegen ist. Ein Foto zeigt, wie das mit 7-nm-Technik klappt. (KI, Cuda)