Latest news with #Franz
TimesLIVE
21 hours ago
- Entertainment
- TimesLIVE
‘Coppélia' ballet thrills Durban audience
The ballet Coppélia thrilled the audience at the Durban Playhouse on Saturday. The show tells a sweet story about love, fun and magic that everyone can enjoy. Presented by The Playhouse Company, the performance features the talented Cape Town City Ballet, with music by the KwaZulu-Natal Philharmonic Orchestra. Kirstél Paterson stars as the lively Swanhilda, Jordan Roelfze plays the charming Franz and Leusson Muniz is Dr Coppélius, the quirky inventor. Conductor Brandon Phillips led the orchestra, adding beautiful music and feeling to every scene. Hannah Ward appeared as Prayer. In some shows, Maryana Pobuta played Swanhilda, Axton Green was Franz, and Caitlin Smith took on Prayer. Coppélia mixes classic dance with humour and emotion, making it a joyful live show. Set in a busy European village, the ballet tells a story about mistaken identity, young love and a lifelike doll causing playful trouble. Full of humour and heart, Coppélia continues to charm audiences of all ages with its magical story and classic style.
IOL News
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- IOL News
Experience the magic of dance and comedy at Durban's upcoming arts events
Durban is set to be a vibrant hotspot for the arts with two exhilarating productions sure to captivate audiences of all ages. "Coppélia" Featuring the Cape Town City Ballet in collaboration with the KwaZulu-Natal Philharmonic Orchestra, this production promises to charm families and seasoned dance enthusiasts. The story steeped in mischief and magic and revolves around the youthful exuberance of Franz, who finds himself torn between his fiancée, Swanilda and the mysterious doll-maker, Dr. Coppelius, who has crafted a life-like doll named Coppélia. The ballet unfolds as a tale of love, jealousy and the quest for identity, weaving together poignant moments and comedic interludes that highlight the richness of human emotion. This production is ideal for both families looking for an engaging cultural experience and lovers of the ballet seeking a heartfelt narrative. Where: Playhouse Opera Theatre, Durban central. When: Saturday, May 31 at 2pm and 7pm. Upcoming:
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
There's been a rise in Tesla owners switching over to Cadillac EVs, exec says
Cadillac said it's seeing a rise in Tesla owners switching to its Lyriq EV models. Cadillac has expanded its EV lineup, and California registrations have increased by 60% year over year. The automaker's growth comes as Tesla had a tough first quarter and experienced declining registrations in multiple markets. Cadillac appears to be eating into Tesla's customer base. The automaker told Business Insider it's seen a rise in Tesla owners switching to its EV brand. The company said its EVs have a conquest rate of about 75% — or the percentage of sales coming from customers switching brands — with 10% being former Tesla owners. Cadillac told BI its first EV model, the Lyriq, launched in 2022 and is seeing a roughly 80% conquest rate, with 25% of buyers coming over from Tesla. At a recent event showcasing its Vistiq model, Cadillac's director of global marketing, Brad Franz, told CNBC the company has seen "a good jump" in the rate and that General Motors' luxury vehicle division has "always had good interaction with Tesla customers," with the Lyriq conquest rate of Tesla owners ranging from 10% to 15%. Franz told CNBC that the figure is now on the rise as the car brand expanded its luxury EV lineup, and it sees potential for even greater growth. Cadillac has added three additional EVs to its portfolio in the past 6 months, including the Escalade IQ, Optiq, and Vistiq. Cadillac told BI it's not targeting any brand specifically and its mission is to "build great Cadillacs" that capture buyers based on the quality of its products and delivery on brand promise. The luxury brand reported a 21% increase in retail sales, with its EV segment up 37% in the first quarter of the year. In California, a crucial market for EVs that's often seen as a bellwether state for the broader market, industry data shows Cadillac registrations jumped about 60% year over year, rising from 1,000 to 1,609 in the first quarter of 2025. Tesla, which remains the EV market leader in the US by a large margin, has seen its sales decline recently in several countries. The same data shows that Tesla registrations decreased 15% year-over-year in California, although its Model Y and Model 3 remain the top two selling EVs in the state, and the Model Y continues to be the best-selling car overall. Tesla did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider. The rise in Cadillac EV ownership comes as Tesla faces a rocky start to the year. The EV giant fell short of revenue expectations in the first quarter, reporting a 9% year-over-year decline. Tesla's automotive revenue dropped 20% year over year, and the company backed away from its 2025 "return to growth" forecast for its auto business. Tesla reported first-quarter deliveries numbers below analyst expectations and 13% lower than the same period last year. Tesla CFO Vaibhav Taneja said in the company's earnings call last month that the assembly line changeover for the refreshed Model Y impacted delivery numbers. Anti-Tesla hostility also "had an impact in certain markets," he added. Following months of boycott efforts aimed at Tesla, the automaker and SpaceX both saw declines in brand reputation, according to the Axios Harris Poll 100. Tesla dropped to 95th place, a decrease from its ranking in 63rd place last year and eighth place in 2021. Other automakers scored higher on the list compared to Tesla, with Ford landing at 60th and Volkswagen Group at 53rd. Amid continued political backlash against Elon Musk and a challenging EV landscape, Cox Automotive data from April reveals Tesla's used-car sales volume rose 27% month-over-month, meaning that more Tesla owners are trying to sell their vehicles. The surge boosted its share of the used EV market to 47%, according to Cox Automotive's data. Musk said in a recent interview at the Qatar Economic Forum that while the company has "lost some sales, perhaps on the left," Tesla also gained sales from the right. "The sales numbers at this point are strong, and we see no problem with demand," Musk said, adding that the stock price is the best indicator of where the company stands. Despite Tesla stock plummeting over 50% in March and being down 10% year-to-date, the automaker's share price is up 43% this month as the billionaire has taken a step back from his DOGE involvement. While Tesla sales continue to drop in Europe, which Musk described in the forum as its weakest market, the automaker has seen some positive momentum. Cox Automotive data shows that Tesla was among the few manufacturers reporting month-over-month growth in EV sales. Tesla's market share increased by over 3% in April, according to the data, driven by 25,231 sales of the Model Y. Read the original article on Business Insider Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Business Insider
22-05-2025
- Automotive
- Business Insider
There's been a rise in Tesla owners switching over to Cadillac EVs, exec says
Cadillac appears to be eating into Tesla's customer base. The automaker told Business Insider it's seen a rise in Tesla owners switching to its EV brand. The company said its EVs have a conquest rate of about 75% — or the percentage of sales coming from customers switching brands — with 10% being former Tesla owners. Cadillac told BI its first EV model, the Lyriq, launched in 2022 and is seeing a roughly 80% conquest rate, with 25% of buyers coming over from Tesla. At a recent event showcasing its Vistiq model, Cadillac's director of global marketing, Brad Franz, told CNBC the company has seen "a good jump" in the rate and that General Motors' luxury vehicle division has "always had good interaction with Tesla customers," with the Lyriq conquest rate of Tesla owners ranging from 10% to 15%. Franz told CNBC that the figure is now on the rise as the car brand expanded its luxury EV lineup, and it sees potential for even greater growth. Cadillac has added three additional EVs to its portfolio in the past 6 months, including the Escalade IQ, Optiq, and Vistiq. Cadillac told BI it's not targeting any brand specifically and its mission is to "build great Cadillacs" that capture buyers based on the quality of its products and delivery on brand promise. The luxury brand reported a 21% increase in retail sales, with its EV segment up 37% in the first quarter of the year. In California, a crucial market for EVs that's often seen as a bellwether state for the broader market, data from California's Auto Outlook shows Cadillac registrations in the state jumped about 60% year over year, rising from 1,000 to 1,609. The same data shows that Tesla registrations decreased 15% year-over-year in California, although its Model Y and Model 3 remain the top two selling EVs in the state. Tesla's Model Y is also leading as the best-selling car overall. Tesla did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider. The rise in Cadillac EV ownership comes as Tesla faces a rocky start to the year. The EV giant fell short of revenue expectations in the first quarter, reporting a 9% year-over-year decline. Tesla's automotive revenue dropped 20% year over year, and the company backed away from its 2025 "return to growth" forecast for its auto business. Tesla has also experienced declining delivery rates in a number of countries, and reported first-quarter deliveries numbers below analyst expectations and 13% lower than the same period last year. Tesla CFO Vaibhav Taneja said in the company's earnings call last month that the assembly line changeover for the refreshed Model Y impacted delivery numbers. Anti-Tesla hostility also "had an impact in certain markets," he added. Following months of boycott efforts aimed at Tesla, the automaker and SpaceX both saw declines in brand reputation, according to the Axios Harris Poll 100. Tesla dropped to 95th place, a decrease from its ranking in 63rd place last year and eighth place in 2021. Other automakers scored higher on the list compared to Tesla, with Ford landing at 60th and Volkswagen Group at 53rd. Amid continued political backlash against Elon Musk and a challenging EV landscape, Cox Automotive data from April reveals Tesla's used-car sales volume rose 27% month-over-month, meaning that more Tesla owners are trying to sell their vehicles. The surge boosted its share of the used EV market to 47%, according to Cox Automotive's data. Musk said in a recent interview at the Qatar Economic Forum that while the company has "lost some sales, perhaps on the left," Tesla also gained sales from the right. "The sales numbers at this point are strong, and we see no problem with demand," Musk said, adding that the stock price is the best indicator of where the company stands. Despite Tesla stock plummeting over 50% in March and being down 10% year-to-date, the automaker's share price is up 43% this month as the billionaire has taken a step back from his DOGE involvement. While Tesla sales continue to drop in Europe, which Musk described in the forum as its weakest market, the automaker has seen some positive momentum. Cox Automotive data shows that Tesla was among the few manufacturers reporting month-over-month growth in EV sales. Tesla's market share increased by over 3% in April, according to the data, driven by 25,231 sales of the Model Y.
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Is Albemarle Corporation (ALB) The Best Small Cap EV Stock To Buy?
We recently compiled a list of the 12 Small Cap EV Stocks to Buy Now. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB) stands against the other small-cap EV stocks. In 2024, electric vehicles (EVs) represented 8.1% of the 16 million vehicles sold in the United States, according to Cox Automotive. While this was a record share, it was still below the 10% that analysts had expected at the beginning of the year. Despite this, some believe that the EV market may be picking up pace. READ ALSO: 11 Stocks That Will Bounce Back According To Analysts and 11 Best Stocks Under $15 to Buy According to Hedge Funds. Despite the fact that overall EV adoption has been slower than expected, brands like Cadillac are expanding their electric lineup. By the end of 2025, Cadillac plans to offer five EVs. These include the Escalade IQ, Optiq crossover, Lyriq, the upcoming three-row Vistiq, and the luxury Celestiq. Cadillac expects roughly one in three vehicles it sells in the US this year will be all-electric. Brad Franz, Cadillac's director of marketing, told CNBC that the company is launching EVs to grow its business and attract new customers to the brand instead of just shifting sales from gas-powered cars. According to Franz, the EV portfolio will offer customers more choices. In 2024, the company sold about 29,000 EVs. For 2025, Cadillac aims for EVs to make up between 30% to 35% of its sales in the US. However, Cadillac has abandoned its earlier plan to sell only EVs by 2030. Instead, the company said that customer demand will determine the elimination of gas-powered vehicles. This approach reflects a broader trend. A number of automakers have turned their back on plans to exclusively sell EVs in the near future as customer adoption has not been as fast as expected. To compile our list of the 12 small-cap EV stocks to buy now, we reviewed our own rankings and consulted various online resources to compile a list of the best small-cap EV stocks. Please note that we defined small-cap stocks as those with a market capitalization between $500 million and $10 billion. From an initial pool of more than 20 small-cap EV stocks that met our criteria, we focused on the top 12 stocks most favored by institutional investors. Data for the hedge fund sentiment surrounding each stock was taken from Insider Monkey's Q4 2024 database of more than 1,000 elite hedge funds. The 12 small-cap EV stocks to buy now were then ranked in ascending order based on the number of hedge funds holding stakes in them as of Q4 2024. Why do we care about what hedge funds do? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter's strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 373.4% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 218 percentage points (see more details here). An assembly line of lithium-ion batteries for energy storage solutions with workers in the background. Market Capitalization: $6.60 Billion Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 36 Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB) is a specialty chemical company and one of the largest producers of lithium globally. The company supplies lithium and bromine to customers in approximately 20 countries around the world and provides essential resources for use in critical ingredients for mobility, energy, connectivity, and health. It is one of the world's largest providers of lithium for EV batteries. Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB) is one of the best EV stocks to buy. The company is focused on taking advantage of the rising global demand for lithium. Albemarle Corporation's (NYSE:ALB) management highlighted that it expects global lithium demand to grow between 15% to 40% in 2025, depending on tariff impacts, policy changes, and economic trends. In the longer term, the management believes lithium demand will more than double from 2024 to 2030, driven by the global demand for EVs and grid storage. Additionally, the management expects global EV market penetration or share of vehicle production will surpass internal combustion engines by the end of the decade. To capitalize on these trends, Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB) is improving production efficiency and optimizing its lithium conversion network. In Q4 2024, the company set new production records at its La Negra lithium carbonate plant in Chile and Meishan lithium hydroxide plant in China. Overall, ALB ranks 2nd on our list of small-cap EV stocks to buy now. While we acknowledge the potential of ALB as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and doing so within a shorter time frame. There is an AI stock that went up since the beginning of 2025, while popular AI stocks lost around 25%. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than ALB but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock. READ NEXT: 20 Best AI Stocks To Buy Now and 30 Best Stocks to Buy Now According to Billionaires. Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey. Sign in to access your portfolio
