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Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has reportedly reached a settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission after his abandoned attempt to the company private. As a result of the settlement, which is still subject to court approval, Musk will have to step down from his role as chairman for at least three years and pay a civil penalty of $20 million, CNBC reported Saturday. Tesla will also have to pay a $20 million if the settlement is approved. DEVELOPING

Regulators accuse him of misleading shareholders when he said he had funding for a corporate buyout Securities regulators on Thursday sued Elon Musk for fraud and sought to remove him from Tesla Inc., TSLA -0.67% raising doubts about the future of an electric-car maker synonymous with the audacious entrepreneur. The SEC’s lawsuit—sparked by Mr. Musk’s August comments that he had lined up funding for a corporate buyout—seeks civil penalties against Mr. Musk and asks a court to bar him from being the officer or director of a public company. [Emphasis mine] “These misleading statements, none of which were pre-cleared or...

JUST IN: Elon Musk, Tesla charged with fraud by SEC - CNBC This was also mentioned on the hearing live feed by Golden State Times.

Former General Motors Vice Chairman Bob Lutz discussed Elon Musk’s Tesla in a recent interview stating that the company is “headed for the graveyard.” In a recent interview with CNBC the former Vice Chairman of General Motors, Bob Lutz, does not have high hopes for the future of Elon Musk’s electric-car manufacturer Tesla. According to Lutz, Tesla is “headed for the graveyard,” given the recent announcement that both the company and Musk are being investigated by the DOJ and the SEC. “They will never make money on the Model 3 because the cost is way too high,” Lutz said during...

Tesla is under investigation by the Justice Department, a company spokesperson confirmed Tuesday. In a statement to The Washington Times, the Tesla spokesperson said the Justice Department reached out for documents after an August tweet by CEO Elon Musk about taking the high-tech car company private:

A downturn in China's car market has wrong-footed some of the world's biggest automakers, saddling them with factories they no longer need and that are costly to retool, according to a report from the Dow Jones Newswires supplied to EFE on Tuesday. Ford Motor, Peugeot and Hyundai Motor especially mistimed recent expansions, opening new plants just as the seemingly unstoppable growth of China's auto market went into reverse.

China is moving to cut import tariffs on American-made cars to 15 percent from the current 40 percent, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday citing people familiar with the matter. The step hasn’t been finalized and could still change, according to the report. Shares of U.S. automakers including General Motors Co (GM.N) and Ford Motor Co (F.N) rose about 2 percent in premarket trading on hopes that the move could revitalize sales that took a hit when China ramped up levies on U.S.-made cars.

At a near-empty Hyundai Motor (005380.KS) showroom in the Chinese mega city of Chongqing, the store manager is grumbling about his shortage of customers and a lack of bigger, cheaper SUV models popular in the world’s largest auto market. Even with discounting of as much as 25 percent, his dealership was selling barely a hundred vehicles a month, said the manager surnamed Li. A nearby Nissan (7201.T) dealership was selling about 400 vehicles a month, a store manager there said. “The sales are simply poor,” Li told Reuters. “Look at the Nissan store next door, they have tens of customers...

The Detroit-based company's proposal, modeled after a California program the Trump administration is seeking to undermine, would mandate that manufacturers garner an escalating percentage of total vehicle sales from automobiles powered by electricity or hydrogen fuel cells.

TUSCALOOSA, AL (WBRC) - MöllerTech is looking to hire more people to work in its Woodstock plant. The company, along with West Alabama Works and others, have organized a hiring event. MöllerTech builds interior parts for Mercedes SUV’s, but other Mercedes suppliers will consider applicants who apply for jobs with MöllerTech. “Mercedes has their other two plants being built now and the recent announcement of their battery plant and then we have all the other suppliers,” Donny Jones with West Alabama Works said. Applicants should wear khakis with a buttoned down shirt or polo. They’re also asked to bring a...

President Donald Trump has signed the first trade deal of his presidency: a revamped version of the six-year-old KORUS agreement with South Korea. “From day one, I promised the American people that I would renegotiate our trade deals to ensure that our agreements were fair and reciprocal,” said Trump after the signing. “The new U.S.-Korea agreement includes significant improvements to reduce our trade deficit and to expand opportunities to export American products to South Korea. In other words, we are now going to start sending products to South Korea.” As with many other countries, Trump had been incensed at the...

Humans have figured out lots of ways to shape metal -- casting it with a mold, stamping it, drilling holes and milling surfaces in a machine shop, even zapping it with a laser. Well, now you can add a new method: 3D printing. A number of companies offer metal 3D printing, which creates products and components layer by layer with a computer-controlled system tracing its lineage to ordinary inkjet printers. But on Monday, printing giant HP announced it's entered the market with the ambition to dramatically lower prices, courtesy of a $400,000 product called the Metal Jet. "We're really going...

Police have identified a woman killed when she tried to run across an I-35 frontage road in high heels in an alleged hit-and-run crash in Downtown Austin. According to the arrest affidavit, 21-year-old Felipe Hernandez is charged with failure to stop and render aid, a third-degree felony...A responding officer to the collision was told by the victim's sister that they were walking back from the bar Terminal 6 when a man asked if the woman could run fast in heels. The woman said she could, and before her sister could stop her, she ran across the road and almost made...

The Trump administration recently proposed the Safer Affordable Fuel-Efficient (SAFE) Vehicles Rule. The proposed rule offers modifications to Obama-era Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards with a “preferred alternative” for model years 2021 through 2026. Without a doubt, the Trump administration’s proposed revision is a welcome victory for consumers’ wallets and for consumer choice. The Obama administration implemented fuel-efficiency mandates that would force auto manufacturers to have a fleetwide fuel-economy average of 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025. The new rule’s “preferred” change would maintain the existing fuel-economy mandate through 2020 (increasing to 37 mpg) and keep the level at...

Hyundai Motor has developed a sound system for vehicles in which passengers and the driver can hear different songs or make totally private phone calls. It is the first such system in the world, the carmaker announced Sunday, and will be offered in Hyundai Motor cars within a year or two. Korea’s largest carmaker calls the system a “separated sound zone” and unveiled it on its official website and on YouTube last Sunday. In the YouTube video, classical music plays in the front of the car where two parents are sitting, while pop music plays in the back for children....

It all started back in 2006 when Kia Motors announced that Peter Schreyer would become its new Chief Design Officer. At the time, this move seemed equally audacious and puzzling: smart hire by Kia boss Eui-sun Chung, the son of Mong-koo Chung, the billionaire chairman and CEO of Hyundai Motor Group (HMG), but perhaps foolish for Schreyer. After all, what could the smaller automaker offer besides handsome compensation, frequent flyer miles, and a top-down corporate culture? Schreyer, a legit rock star in the design world (with the back-in-black wardrobe to match), already had an impressive résumé that listed icons such...

A global transportation company that handles incoming parts and finished goods for other businesses is expanding to the Charleston region to support the Mercedes-Benz Van plant. Logistics giant Kuehne + Nagel Inc. said it plans to create 180 jobs over the next three years at its new Palmetto Commerce Park operation in North Charleston. Hiring for the positions is already underway. The firm is setting up shop on the expanding Mercedes-Benz campus, between Ashley Phosphate and Ladson roads. Its services will include taking deliveries, managing inventory and transporting parts to the Sprinter plant assembly line as needed on a "just-in-time"...

A state-controlled economy is forcing the world's largest car market to embrace electric car solutions, and fast. Here's what China can tell us about the automotive future. I clung for life to my translator as we spun in circles through shoulder-to-shoulder crowds, trying to take in the sheer madness of the Beijing Motor Show. An American can catch a few familiar sights; there’s a Chevy Volt, but branded as the Buick Velite 5 in China, a place where Buick remains a premium brand. I spy a Toyota Camry, but here it’s called a “Levin” and is a plug-in hybrid. Mostly,...

Three Saudi-based female influencers have visited Korea as part of Hyundai’s outreach to women drivers in the Kingdom, and as brand ambassadors for the carmaker. The three women include entrepreneur and lifestyle influencer Bayan Linjawi; radio presenter, travel blogger, and fashion lover, Shadia Abdul Aziz; and business-owner and fashion career coach, Reem Faisal. During their tour of Korea they received detailed briefings about Hyundai and its products, and toured production, design and research facilities. The program gave them an understanding of the innovative and advanced thinking that underpins today’s Hyundai models, and also included opportunities to experience Korean culture and...

The myth of Korean cars being cheaply made and problematic to own should, by now, be well and truly busted. But, if you've had your head in the sand for the last few years, here's some fairly definitive proof for you: J.D. Power's Initial Quality Study has Genesis, Kia and Hyundai in its top three spots. This is a big deal, too, because it represents the first time that the three Korean brands have topped the list. Kia is no stranger to the top, having been the top-ranked mass-market brand for the last four years. Genesis has only been an...