Volkswagen is making its first all-electric SUV available to American customers with deliveries to U.S. dealerships beginning this month.
"Obviously there's a movement at hand, and Volkswagen likes to lead and likes to be part of the movement," Volkswagen Group of America CEO Scott Keogh told Cheddar. "We think electric vehicles are ready to explode. It's already happening worldwide, and we want to be part of the lead."
The ID.4 model is currently manufactured in Germany and China but will begin U.S. production in 2022. Volkswagen's plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, will produce the electric vehicle locally.
Keogh said the ID.4 was competitive at $39,995 but noted that the federal tax credit for electric vehicles helped put the model right in the "sweet spot" for the U.S. car market.
"Make no mistake, I think it is important," he said of the credit. "This is technology we want to have adopted. It's technology we want embraced by all American consumers, and certainly, the $7,500 tax credit helps build and lengthen that runway to get this off the ground."
The German automaker's stock price has soared in recent weeks, even as industry leader Tesla's sky-high valuation has shrunk.
Keogh attributed this to "old auto" showing its strength in the new electric vehicle market.
"In any competitive industry, there never is just a number one," he said. "There's always a two, and there's always a three, and frankly Volkswagen has now joined the game."
He also said the market is responding to the company's commitment to the Paris Climate Agreement, and its plan to reach net-zero emissions by 2050.
"The market buys the future. The market believes the future, and right now they're believing us."
As for how the ID.4 stacks up to Tesla's Model Y, another fully electric SUV, Keogh touted Volkswagen's sales infrastructure and market penetration.
"We have 650 dealers across the country," he said. "They've been trained. We have EV specialists. They're ready to sell the car. They're ready to service the car. They're ready to embrace the car."
This footprint, he added, gives the company an edge in capturing new customers in the electric vehicle market, which is more important than clawing customers away from Tesla.
"We need internal combustion engine owners to look at this car," he said.
Microsoft is expected to report financial results for its second fiscal quarter of 2022. It comes after the company beat on its top and bottom line in its previous four quarters. John Freeman of CFRA Research explains what investors will be keeping an eye out for as Microsoft continues to expand its domain.
Sam Stovall, Chief Investment Strategist at CFRA, tells us what to expect as the month of January comes to a close, and whether or not recent market volatility is at all indicative of how the year will likely forecast.
Plant-based meat giant Beyond Meat's reign over the fast food world continues, as McDonald's announced that it is expanding its test of Beyond's McPlant burger, to nearly 600 restaurants, an increase from the eight that it's been testing in since November. This comes less than two weeks after Beyond Fried Chicken made its nationwide debut at KFC restaurants, the first time that plant based chicken has been widely distributed in a fast food capacity. Arun Sundaram, Senior Equity Analyst at CFRA Research explains why these latest collaborations may be proof that Beyond Meat products could slowly be becoming an unlikely staple in the fast food and chain restaurant world as consumers opt for more healthy food options.
It's a big weekend for sports betting, with the NFL conference championships and Australian Open finals expected to bring the industry even more traffic. And if record viewership of the divisional playoff game between the Chiefs and Bills was any indication, sports betting will only continue to grow as football season comes to an end. Joe Raineri, sports betting analyst at SportsGrid, joined Cheddar to discuss how these sporting events could impact the industry, which is expected to get even bigger in 2022.
Ross Gerber, Co-Founder, President, and CEO of Gerber Kawaski Wealth and Investment Management, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell, where he says now is a great opportunity to buy low on Tesla after shares fell in light of the EV giant's latest earnings report.
High-speed connectivity solutions provider Credo went public on the Nasdaq on Thursday, raising $200 million in its IPO. CEO Bill Brennan, joined Cheddar to discuss its entry into the capital markets and the next chapter for the company. "We're going to be focused on what we have been focused on, which is really creating, creating innovative connectivity solutions that really pushed the edge on efficient power as well as very effective cost," he said.
BD Veritor is a variation of the at-home COVID test that uses a smartphone to interpret the results. The test is taken via a nose swab test strip that is then scanned by your phone’s camera with the result clearly displayed as positive or negative. James Walker, vice president of integrated diagnostics USA for BD, joined Cheddar to discuss how the test hopefully takes the "guesswork out of testing." Walker also went into what BD is doing to deal with the surging demand for at-home tests amid the omicron spread. "While we don't disclose how much we produce, we have capacity to manufacture up to 12 million rapid antigen tests per month and are delivering on our commitments to distributors and retailers," he said.
