Tesla shares rise after 'flying' car launch

Luke Wilson (0:00)

Doubts over Tesla's flying car, but investors seem happy. It's World Business Express from the BBC World Service. I'm Luke Wilson. The EU's chemical industry calls for more action on Chinese imports, and Australia's hospitality industry hit back at calls to cut immigration levels.

Shares in Tesla have climbed after Elon Musk's carmaker launched the next generation of its Roadster sports car. What's so significant about that? Well, in an event hosted by the Tesla boss in Texas on Thursday night, the car appeared to fly. The BBC's Archana Shukla was watching.

Archana Shukla (0:43)

In the controlled environment of the stage, it did take off from the floor. It was a very theatrical presentation where that car actually went up that backward curving ramp. Then it took off. It did a flip in the air and landed using thrusters. So in that controlled environment, it did go off the ground. Tesla says that it is a mix of technology from Tesla as well as SpaceX. And that what also interested people and fans was the fact that they said it could go from zero to 60 miles per hour in less than a second, and that could make it the fastest car in the world.

Luke Wilson (1:19)

Guy Orgel was Tesla's Director of Western Europe until 2018 I asked him why Musk unveiled the Roadster in this way.

Guy Orgel (1:27)

I think the Roadster is a passion project. I think Elon is an engineer at heart. He's also someone that has often said he wants to imagine a positive future. And someone like Elon reads science fiction books and has basically spent his life trying to bring them to life. And so, you know, here you've got the billionaire or occasionally trillionaire, who now has the capability to bring his own dreams to life. And that's what we're seeing. I mean, I was gobsmacked when I watched the, even in my sort of wildest imagination of what the Tesla Roadster might turn out to be.

I was not expecting what they showed us last night.

Luke Wilson (2:07)

And Tesla shares doing pretty well off the back of this announcement. What do you think investors liked?

Guy Orgel (2:13)

We've lots of different classes of investors. So I would imagine that what they have in common is that they all like the innovation. They like Tesla doing things that no one else can do. We used to be blown away by apples and one more thing. And other companies have had these moments in history where the world waits with baited breath for what's next.

I don't see a lot of that from other companies at the moment, but Tesla has just put out a pretty strong statement that says, we do things no one else can expect. And so I think it's that ability to do things no one else thought were possible or might even have had the imagination to attempt to pull off. That's what investors back with Elon.

Luke Wilson (2:57)

Georg El, former director at Tesla.

EU leaders are meeting in Brussels with its two biggest members, France and Germany, calling for tougher action against Chinese imports, particularly chemicals and plastics. European manufacturers say cheap imports and high energy costs are putting factories and jobs at risk. Marco Mensic, director general of the European Chemical Industry Council, Cefiq, told me about the impact imports are having.

Marco Mensink (3:23)

The impact is huge and it actually got stronger after the COVID crisis. We've shut down 37 million tonnes of capacity now. We're 20 percent below 2021 levels. And one of the main reasons is indeed the imports from China.

Luke Wilson (3:38)

And what impact has that had on your industry in terms of the capacity that you operate at?

Marco Mensink (3:44)

So in our industry, you use something called capacity utilization rate. And if you want to make money in the chemical industry, that needs to be around 82 percent. Right now, we're at 73.2, which means we're underutilizing the vast majority of the plants in Europe. And you can see one of the reasons is indeed lesser exports but also lesser imports, which is putting our activity levels down. And that's the competition with not only China, but also with the US., which is having an impact, and actually the lack of demand in Europe.

Luke Wilson (4:17)

So France and Germany are among the countries calling for tougher action on Chinese imports. What does that look like for you to help the European chemical industry?

Marco Mensink (4:27)

What we need first and foremost is our situation in Europe to improve. And that has to do with energy costs, with regulatory costs, with permitting time. So let's always start there. Europe needs to get its own act together. But then secondly, we need to bear global trade and currently, we are in a situation where the Chinese, with their currency, with their production volumes, are entering the market everywhere. So what the EU leaders are discussing is that after the trade deal with Automotive, a second trade deal would be in the making for chemicals. And in trade terms, that would be a combination of safeguard measures and anti-dumping measures.