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BMW's 4 cylinder cars account for most of its sales in Europe. Now BMW is betting that a big share of its sales in the USA will be 4 cylinder cars by 2012. A new type of technologically improved cars will be introduced to meet fuel efficiency and emissions standards and still provide the speed and agility BMW is known for.

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Glaxo spent $279 million in the first half of 2008, second only to Pfizer's 462 million. Much of this is televison advertising, which has come under criticism for exaggerating the benefits of drugs and minimizing the risks. Television advertising for prescription drugs is banned in most countries, except for the USA and New Zealand. Now Glaxo CEO, Witty says, Glaxo will do less television advertising than in the past.

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Claire Cain Miller provides this exceptional account of the ways lack of family friendly and maternity leave policies is hurting not just women in America, but America's economic and technological progress. Strangely one hears little about how the lack of paid leave for women for maternity and other reasons, even as it hurts economic growth with the lower participation of women in the labor force. This is being vigorously discussed in Germany and Japan with calls for more family friendly workplace policies and more child care facilities to encourage women to join the workplace or continue working and pursuing careers. This happens when the overall labor force participation rate for women and men in the U.S. is declining, making this an important issue. Equally significant is that this reduces the contribution women can make to technological and scientific progress, and productivity improvements, because 59% of higher education degress are now going to women. The case of a Toshiba research engineer who was able to tackle a problem critical to development of the next generation of television technologies after Toshiba let her continue in her research role with friendly maternity leave policy, is an example of the kind of technical progress lost to the economy without such policy in Japan or in the U.S. See the link for Toshiba. Miller provides the example of Google, where attrition for women employees dropped by 50% with family friendly maternity leave policies. For Google, Toshiba, and other companies with women having advanced degrees the cost of hiring a new employee or making up for the loss of losing valuable women employees is significant. The U.S. is the only developed country without paid maternity leave. Only 59% of workers say their employers offer them paid maternity leave. California is the first state in the U.S. to offer paid parental leave. ...

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The resurgence of the Pudong District of Shanghai, with large investments, an industrial base, migration to the cities, and favorable location at the mouth of the Yangtze River. Since 1995, 70 skyscrapers and 120 million square metres of floor space according to official estimates, have been built in Pudong. Real estate agency Jones Lang LaSalle says occupancy and rates compare favorably with Manhattan in New York. New York has 10.3% empty space compared to 9.5% for Pudong, and space is leased for $693 per square meter annually in Pudong, 10% higher than in midtown Manhattan. The migration to the cities and a growing middle class have proved skeptics wrong over the years about the ability of real estate developers to fill the space they created. Also helping is the central government's plans to focus investment on Shanghai as the business capital of China.

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Compared to the beginning of 2008 Fannie Mae's shares have fallen 61% and Freddie Mac's shares have fallen 65%. Congress has failed to overhaul regulatory supervision of the 2 companies that are now supposed to with the Federal Housing Administration support the mortgage markets. They are government chartered companies that provide the bulk of the finding for USA home mortgages. They own or guarantee about $5.2 trillion of home mortgages, or roughly half of all loans outstanding. The two have suffered combined losses of $11 billion in the 9 months ending march 31, 2008. There is no effective regulation of the 2 companies. The House has passed legislation creating a new regulator for the 2 companies and the Senate will vote probably this week on similiar legislation. The new regulator would have powers to increase the capital requirements of the 2 companies.

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For immigration bipartisan solutions such as the one Senator Lankford and president Biden and Senator Schumer worked out are the answer, intelligent solutions are the answer, as America will need to fill the vacant positions in its factories. As baby boomers retire Minnesota is short of workers as this story in WSJ shows. It is recruiting from Florida and Puerto Rico for people willing to relocate to the north and its severe winters. Marvin, $1.5 billion maker of windows and doors, founded in this town of Warroad near the Canadian border 112 years back can move but is attached to this town and its people. It has resisted trends of outshoring and keeps trying to get new workers replacing the ones retiring of the 700 workers at this factory.  About 2.1 million manufacturing jobs will remain unfilled by 2030 according to the Manufacturing Institute. This shows the other side of the immigration story where immigrants also add to meeting the needs of the Nation as they are absorbed over time. It is not immigration but the sudden surges that need to be handled carefully that is the problem as America will continue to need new workers to replace the workers who retire from its factories. ...

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Seantor Dan Sullivan and the WSJ say Alaska's economic potential and its standard of living was ignored with blanket blocking of any development of its resources. WSJ says under the Biden administration the state was turned into a nature museum.  WSJ says the state's leaders know that spoiling the environment would be mistake. Yet developing some of the state's resources would help the US in sourcing natural gas and rare earth minerals for renewable energy products. This would achieve a policy balance. One of the arguments North Dakota Governor Borghum and new US Interior Secretary makes is that China is building a coal plant every 2 weeks with 12 built in the first 6 months of 2024. As of July 2024 Statista shows China with 1161 coal plants operational, 6 times the 204 US coal plants and 4 times the 295 coal plants in India, 89 in Japan- and 90% of new coal power capacity added. This means climate change issues remain no matter what the US does. By using natural gas fired electricity the US gets transition time for the shift to renewables and can attack the cost of living, export to the EU.  ...

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Mass firings of government workers and closing of government offices created a sense of upheaval with the style of Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency. Musk says his disinterest in the workings of the government, and effort to do too much too quickly hurt his efforts, and the distraction has cost Tesla with loss of market and loss of loyalty of customers put off by DOGE style actions. Some actions were controversial such as asking federal government workers to list their 5 accomplishments each week or be fired, and are being withdrawn. Overall the media coverage created more miscomprehension for the president's goals and actions. President Trump has now distanced himself from Musk and Musk has withdrawn from the Washington scene. New reports suggest Tesla engineers now working for GM are building new EV battery technologies to drastically reduce the cost of EV's by 2028. One such report came out this week  shown in Lyrarc.com. Tesla imports its electric car batteries from China which could put it at a disadvantage in the current tariffs environment. German EV's market is collapsing in China so that Tesla faces many changes in just 6 months.  ...

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The legacy of U.S. president George H.W. Bush is a four year presidency that benefited from the growth under president Reagan and low inflation but was cut short in a loss to Bill Clinton in 1992, Persistent budget deficits and high unemployment were seen as a result of the supply side deficits Mr. Bush supported as vice president under Reagan, but derided as "voodoo economics" as president breaking his pledge of no new taxes to cut the deficit. The collapse of the savings and loan banks with poor lending happened during his administration, and was handled by Treasury officials including current Fed chairman Jerome Powell. Mr. Bush is chiefly remembered for his negotiating the issues leading to the fall of the Berlin Wall and reunification of Germany. His handling of the Iraq war left a unstable situation in Iraq that led to a major problem for his son George Bush who became president after Bill Clinton, leading to a second and protracted costly war in Iraq. The effects of that conflict led to the changes in the Republican Party with its new leader Mr. Trump and a U.S. non-interventionist policy in foreign conflicts. Greg Ip points to the defict reduction as a positive contribution under the elder Bush, yet much of these gains were wasted in the costly Iraq conflict with U.S. hasty intervention. ...

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Should Arthur Levinson and some of the team he has assembled at Genentech leave it will be a big loss for Roche, as it was his team that helped bring a series of new drugs to the market such as Avastin, Herceptin, and Rituxan to bring Genentech sales from $1 billion in 1999 to $9 billion in 2007. As drug companies buy biotechs in large numbers, with $70 billion in deals this year almost twice the toal for 2007, the question remains whether the drug companies have succeeded in retaining talent as consolidation yields cost savings but does not improve drug discovery. Drug companies are struggling with this, and a couple of models have emerged for keeping minds engaged in scientific discovery satisfied that they have the freedom to operate as they always have and work with the teams they have assembled, similiar to the work style and in the similiar culture as before. Almost like walking into the offices they use as if its like before. J&J has come up with a hub and spoke model to acquire companies and then leave them alone- preserving their management teams, unique cultures and brands. Centocor was bought in 1999 by J&J and 10 of the top executives stayed on and developed Remicade, a drug for inflammatory disease that has sales of $3.3 billion. Glaxo has developed a new structure under new CEO Andrew Witty, which breaks up the primary research labs into "discovery performance units" or DPUs, which also include new biotech startups. In April Glaxo acquired Sitris, a Cambridge, Massachusetts startup. The company had come up with a new science for tackling heart disease, diabetes and other diseases associated with aging. Harvard trained scientist and CEO, Christoph Westphal, went with Glaxo turning down other companies because the independence of the DPU appealed to him. Each DPU has a 3 year budget and this also appealed to Westphal. He could walk into the labs, says Westphal as if nothing had changed. Is Roche making a mistake in acquiring Genentech when it could have left it alone. Are the consolidation savings worth it if some of the discovery team at Genentech leaves and there is the feeling that the culture will change, and if Levinson feels that he was not consulted about Roche's move. These are questions that remain even when Roche's CEO, Severin, says he does not want to change things at Genentech because Roche's actions will speak louder than its words. ...

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Experts point out that Saudi oil price policies are set on a technocratic basis by a small group of advisors. An oil industry veteran Naimi, 79, leads this group of advisors. This means the new King Salman is likely to follow the same course as his predecessor King Abdullah. Gulf oil officials were expecting a drop to around $50 to $60 a barrel, the drop below $50 has surprised even the Saudis. NYT cites IMF estimates of a loss of oil revenues for Saudi Arabia and its allies in the Persian Gulf of about $300 billion in 2015. The Economist and WSJ reports say that for the long term shale oil production and advance in technologies are likely to play a lasting role in keeping oil prices low. At a time when Saudi society is changing, population growing, an older generation likely to transition to a younger generation in government, the cost of the social safety net and ample benefits will remain a concern for the Saudis for the long term.

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One senior real estate economst at Property and Portfolio Research says the value of New York metropolitan area office buildings will decline by 58% from its late 2007 peak. Losses of 40 % have already ocurred, bu there is a ways to go for commercial real estate losses.

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About half of the unemployed suffer from depression and anxiety, and four in ten parents see behavioural changes in their children resulting from their difficulties. A New York Times/CBS poll showed stuggle to maintain even basic necessities and major life changes for those out of work.

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Senator Schumer the Majority Leader in the Senate has shown a unique ability to bring together Republicans and Democrats in bipartisan efforts that would have been daunting to lesser men. He was a key driver of the efforts to bring Republican and Democrats together to invest in the country's aging infrastructure. This is a win-win situation for both. He did this again when at Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's suggestion at the end of October that action on the border be an essential part of aid to Ukraine, Schumer  did not say no, he struggled with it talking with his staff till he says an epiphany sort of lightning strikes. He realized it was needed to be tough on the border and to do it right was a win-win situation for both supporters of Ukraine and getting the border situation under control. Because so many Democrats were for Ukraine they would vote for a good border security bill. This report shows him making calls even on Christmas Day.  Only someone of Schumer's dedication, ability to talk and persuade others, and hard work could have done this. As in getting bipartisan support for infrastructure bills he had Democrats who had good relationships with Republicans to persuade Republicans that Democrats were sincere about taking strong action on the border. It is to the credit of president Biden and shows that his decades spent in Congress were worth it for America that he supported Schumer and worked with Republicans. It is this sincerity that made it possible for 22 Republican Senators nearly half of Republicans in the Senate to join Schumer in the new aid package for Ukraine, after a former president shut down the earlier bill that combined the border action with Ukraine. Many in the media and in the country have not grasped the meaning of the way some of the most senior members of Congress including Mr. Biden who was one of the longest serving senators in history are working together showing courage and wisdom in the face of many distractions and factional differences on the fringes of different parties. ...

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This report looks at the high tech devices that help monitor seniors at elder care facilities and at home in Japan. Japan has a rapidly growing seniors population with three million expected to be over 90 by 2025, and over 65's expected to be one third of the population by then. The government's goal is to keep seniors in their home for as long as possible, and use information technology to support caregivers. Of 92 Japanese startups looking for valuations over $1 billion 25 are focused on health care, with backing not much from VC's (only $32 million in 3rd quarter 2018) but from large companies looking for growth businesses. Patient monitoring devices are getting funding from companies such as Sharp Corp, Canon and others. Devices check details including whether people are at risk of falling out of bed or taking too long to get back from the toilet. Healthcare for elderly in Japan will reach about $300 billion by 2025 and new advances are expected in monitoring seniors- including for such devices as DFree that help patients  know about how to monitor bladders, also used by caregivers to know when to take someone to the bathroom.  ...

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David Brooks of NYT povides this exceptional essay on a long neglected question. If so much of the politics today is about different communities that are alienated from each  other, what is it about these communities that makes this happen, and how did this come about? After decades of integrating communities and building the economy after the second world war through a strong middle class, what has happened now to see all that progress reverse itself. Rural America and the less educated voted in one way and the urban areas voted in the opposite way, one feeling neglected and the other becoming more segregated in cultural outlook, education, and work. Brooks cites a new book by Richard Reeves of the Brookings Institution called the "Dream Hoarders." The book shows two structural barriers that divide America. One is the residential zoning restrictions, housing and construction rules that keep the less educated away from the opportunities and schools in cities such as Portland, San Francisco and New York. The second structural barrier is the college admissions game that favors the parents and children of the better educated classes. The immigrant communities who come from families that are struggling hard to get into the middle class and upper class work hard to get an edge. As a result about 70 percent of the students in the top 200 competitive schools in America are from the top 25% in the income distribution.  Other barriers are formed by the extent of investment parents in one group put into their children, estimated at 300% by Brooks compared to a flat line for the other group. This accelerated investment leaves the other group far behind. Social barriers form to prevent the kind of interactions one would find normal in an open democratic society. Brooks say the cultural differences show up in the language and product selections, in food and other choices. Just take a typical Brooklyite and someone from western New York state. It is not the intent of one group to look upon this as a desired result. It is their indifference to what is happening that is alarming for a free, open and democratic society. It is their lack of understanding about the implications for life in a free, open, democratic society, of segregating themselves from the vast expanse of humanity around them. It is their lack of knowledge of the history of this continent built on the idea of education and opportunities for all from the time of Benjamin Franklin in Pennsylvania and the early settlers, the idea of out of many one- E Pluribus Unum. Yet out of this crisis something good can emerge if a way is found, and leadership is needed in the right direction with the right ideas, consistent with the ideals that guided the best leaders from its past. What resentment, alienation and wrong direction cannot do, courage, perseverance and right direction can do.     ...

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What will China look like in the future depends on Li Qiang as well as Xi Jinping. Li Qiang is a close associate of Xi Jinping, as his chief of staff in the early 2000's in Zhejiang province. At that time he interfaced with Chinese companies on investment and economic policies. This WSJ report looks at Li Qiang and how he could be a moderating influence on Xi and provide another perspective for business and economic policy in China. He is seen as having his own instincts on policy, believing in competition, yet deferring to president Xi on broader policy issues for the CCP and China. He replaces Li Keqiang who was sidelined by Mr. Xi as Xi formed his own team from his early days in the provincial governments in China. Some of these connections date back to the early days under Xi's father, Xi Zhongxun, who was one of the leaders in Yenan in the war against the Japanese and the encirclement efforts of the Nationalists against the Communist party local governments in the north during the 1930's. Xi's father was later one of the leaders in the 80's shaping the opening up of China to a market economy under premier Deng- a role not tackled by hardly any of China's leaders from the 1930's. In this sense both Xi's having taken on difficult roles in shaping China's recent history, with the younger Xi building his own team to chart a new path for China. ...

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China's military exercises for air and sea blockade of Taiwan raise the political risk of doing business in China says this report in WSJ. It raises the risk level for American corporations such as Apple and Boeing and others, that have large investments in China. The escalating tension and freeze in relations between the US and China is a watershed moment says the WSJ. Looking back years from now it may be the year following the pandemic and the war in Ukraine that tensions took on a level that would lead to acceleration of the building of new supply chains for the US and European Union in Asia that separate from China. The Trump years as president escalated trade tensions and tensions over origins of Covid. The war in Ukraine and China's siding with Russia and forming a "no limits" partnership with Russia have created serious rethinking of the entire relationship from supply chains to defense. US president Biden sees Ukraine's defense as a way of showing that an attack on one country by a neighbor in violation of international law is not acceptable to the US, and particularly in the context of China's relations with Taiwan and the Indo-Pacific countries. In this situation the US is taking the initiative in the war in Ukraine with Gen. Cavoli at US Headquarters in Europe assisting in the effort to repel Russian aggression, and also send a message to China on the importance the US sees in not allowing this kind of violation of international law. ...

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Questions about the true cost of the Obama health care legislation and the assumption that the legislation cuts the deficit by billions of dollars. This WSJ editorial says one has to look at this closely, and not merely look at CBO projections, which may be based in a certain context and not reflect the true costs, especially because many accounting gimmicks and use of numbers to present a particular picture is taking place. The information this editorial cites is that: it uses 10 years of taxes to fund six years of subsidies, Social Security and Medicare revenues are double-counted to the tune of $398 billion, a new program funding long-tem care frontloads taxes but backloads spending, and the assumption of an automatic 25% cut to physician payments that Congress is unwilling to authorize. Rep. Rand Paul has tried to present an alternative view which needs to be studied just as closely, because of the enormous impact of a jump in spending at a time when the public finances are fragile. WSJ also cites the work of Richard Foster, the chief Medicare actuary, as an alternate perspective of how things could turn out, Doug Holtz-Eakin, and Eugene Steuerle. It calls for common sense in evaluating programs, entitlements, defense or other government spending. They not only cost money, but costs escalate over time as history has shown over decades, till they eventually are discovered to be not affordable unless the middle class is willing to dig deeper into its finances to pay for them. Alternate perspectives from a range of informed opinion, Howard Dean, Martin Feldstein, and the head of Harvard's Medical School show that the issue needs to be looked at closely and carefully and cannot be something in which CBO numbers can be trusted to tell the whole story. Especially when common sense, history, and informed opinion across a spectrum of thought advises caution, and fragile public finances also suggest caution. Howard Dean, former Governor of Vermont, says the health care bill is not real reform, and may do more harm than good. He says in a Washington Post article, December 17, 2009, the Obama health care bill does not insert competition into insurance markets, does not significantly reduce costs, and does not improve the delivery and use of health services. It was he says done with a political calculus and crafted for votes not real reform. Jeffrey S. Flier, Dean of the Harvard Medical School, gave the Obama health reform bill an "F" grade, saying in a Nov 18, 2009, WSJ article, that it was disingenuous to call this reform, Congress and the White House were simply deceiving the public. He said the bill will accelerate US health care spending, postpone most of the major health care problems, expecially the ones that drive cost, including the "fee for service" system and delivery of health care. He says in his discussions with economists and other health care leaders the opinion was unanimous that the bill will accelerate health care spending. He cites Massachusetts as an example, where access to care was expanded under the same dysfunctional system, and spending went up, and it doesn't work. Feldstein, who in early 2008 suggested proactive solutions to the mortgage debt crisis which were never adopted, says that the Obama health care law means higher taxes in the long run to pay for the $1 trillion cost of health care for the uninsured group over 10 years. Feldstein says that the Obama plan is to cut Medicare to cut spending, and will reduce the amount of medical services, as reduced spending comes from fewer services, not reducing payments to providers. And he asks if the cost reductions are weighted too heavily towards reduced services and not reduced payments to providers ,would this result in large cuts to services to affect the quality of healthcare for the 85% of the American people who are accustomed to a different pattern of healthcare. ...

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A drug store chain that invented the malt shake and had a store at every street corner in America from the 1900's Walgreens is taken private by Sycamore investment firm for $10 billion. At one time it was valued at $100 billion in 2017 and its stock hit new lows by 2024 hit by depressed margins for pharmacy drugs it reported lower earnings in 2024. In Jan 2025 the Department of Justice sued Walgreens for contributing to the opioid crisis in its dispensing of pills leading to its stock price dropping to $10 and its market value to $8.9 billion. Earlier Sycamore had taken Staples office supplies store chain private in 2017 for $6.7 billion.

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There are 240 Norwegian and Finnish companies in India, says this report in The Hindu. Nordic countries are providing green technologies to India. At the Nordic-India Summit held in Copenhagen in May 2022, the five Nordic prime ministers and prime minister Modi agreed to intensify cooperation on digitalisation, renewable energy, maritime industries and the circular economy. Denmark is helping India with ports and logistics. Trade ministers of Norway and Finland visiting India together  Feb 9-10 describe the efforts to provide Nordic technology solution in green transition to India. Trade between Norway and India has doubled in the last 3 years and the Norwegian Sovereign Wealth Fund is likely to become on the largest investors in India at $17.6 billion. Vestre us Norway's Minister of Trade and Industry, Skinnari is Finnish Minister of Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade. 

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Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif's PML-N party wins 125 of 269 seats in Pakistan's parliament. The Tehreek-e-Insaf party of Imran Khan won 31 seats and the PML-N party of the current president Asif Zardari won 32 seats mostly in Sindh province. Independents won 31 seats and some of these independents are likely to support Sharif in forming a new government. Election turnout of 60% showed a large degree of enthusiasm in this election and hopes for economic revival in Pakistan. The focus of Sharif will be on improving the economy, tackling electricity shortages, and building infrastructure. Sharif promised to pursue peaceful relations with India and Afghanistan, and keep the focus on the economy. Sharif and his advisers are bringing a new deftness in the dealings with the Army, the Pakistan Taliban, saying he would call for a halting of drone strikes, limiting the role the U.S. plays in the region, both positions popular in Pakistan, separating differences with former president Musharraf from the institutional role of the military. Small business owners and large business support Sharif's efforts to tackle electricity shortages, with an estimated loss of $12 billion in idled factories alone. The long period of political conflicts between the military, the judiciary and the political parties have led to neglect of Pakistan's economy, as neighboring countries in Asia surged ahead. The realization that popular pressure for improving standards of living and the economic opportunities are both huge has led to an extraordinary election, and put Sharif at the centre of an important new beginning for Pakistan. ...

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Moore points out that there are twice as many people working for the government in the U.S. (22.5 million) than in manufacturing (11.5 million). In 1960, the situation was quite different, there were 15 million workers in manufacturing and 8.7 million working for the government. More workers in the U.S. work for the government than in construction, farming, fishing, forestry, manufacturing, mining and utilites put together. Every state in the U.S. has more people working for the government- except for Indiana and Wisconsin- than people in manufacturing industrial goods. And California has 2.4 million government workers, which is twice the number in manufacturing in that state. New York and Florida have a 3:1 ratio, and New Jersey a 2.5:1 ratio of government workers to workers making industrial goods. Part of the reason for this is the huge increase in productivity and the advances in technology that make it possible to have higher production with fewer workers. This kind of productivity is missing in the government sector. And efforts to improve productivity tend to be blocked by the unions who favor the status quo....

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The narcotics revenue source is only one of three sources, says Defense Sec Gates. The other two are funds generated locally from the Pashtun minority in Pakistan, and funds generated from outside sources like people in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. A 2006 World Bank report says the hawala system- an informal money transfer system using a network of money brokers with little oversight- "carries out the majority of the country's cash payments and transfers." Of the local sources, its only now that the Pakistan government is making a serious effort to freeze these bank accounts traced to the Taliban. The CIA says it has identified the charities and organizations that send money, but it is not clear if these sources have been suspended. The implications of this is that the war could be sustained by the Taliban even if the opium crop was destroyed, or smuggling routes and labs were destroyed. Gates points out that the very same external funding channels for sending money by wealthy Muslims that the US supported in the 1980's to help Muslim militants expel the Russians may still be open today. His comment that "it would't surprise me if some of those channels were still open today," suggests that even the Defense Dept does not know how these channels operate because of their extreme secrecy. In a way this shows how the war and the people that the US supported have come back to hurt the US, just as the people on the Pakistani side find that the people they supported in the Afghan and tribal areas and the Taliban organization they created is now coming back to hurt Pakistan. What makes it deeply disconcerting is that as Gates points out, there is so little time before the patience of the American public wears out with rising casualties. And on the Pakistani side there is so little time also because the war is spreading to Pakistani cities. See the link to The Taliban's war on the ill trained Pakistani police forces across the country in the WSJ May 28, 2009. ...

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Tesla Motors delivers 10,350 vehicles in the 1st quarter 2015. This is a 55% increase over the same quarter in 2014. The target set by CEO Elon Musk of Tesla Motors is for deliveries of 55,000 in 2015, and reaching 500,000 by 2020. The new model Tesla Model X sport utility vehicle comes out in the second half of 2015. Tesla's expenses are going up rapidly with the higher sales, especially for a global supercharger network in North America, Europe and Asia, to meet new buyer concerns about the infrastructure. Capital expenditures budget for 2015 is $1.5 billion. Future expenditures include a $4-5 billion plant to make electric batteries. Tesla says it will not be profitable till 2020. Tesla is using attractive lease deals to overcome buyer resistance at a time of low gas prices. It is cutting back on plans for China. Tesla share price on April 2, 2015 was $191. This gives it a dizzy $24 billion capitalization, about half of the capitalization of GM at $58.8 billion in stock market capitalization, and Ford Motor at $63.4 billion. ...