:00:00. > :00:22.Tesla says it's on track to hit the mass market this year,
:00:23. > :00:24.but is its surging share price becoming unplugged from reality?
:00:25. > :00:31.Carlos Ghosn to step aside as boss of Nissan after 16 years
:00:32. > :00:47.Also coming up, enabling talent - the job-seeking challenge faced
:00:48. > :00:51.by South Africa's 2.8 million disabled people.
:00:52. > :00:53.We start with electric car maker Tesla.
:00:54. > :00:55.Its share price has been soaring in recent months,
:00:56. > :01:02.and it was up again late on Wednesday after it reported
:01:03. > :01:05.Tesla is still losing money, but less than expected.
:01:06. > :01:08.More importantly, though, it has reassured investors it's
:01:09. > :01:18.to expand beyond the niche luxury car market
:01:19. > :01:20.and enter the big league in car production.
:01:21. > :01:29.At $35,000, it's half the price of existing Tesla models
:01:30. > :01:35.In a letter to shareholders Tesla says it's on schedule to start
:01:36. > :01:47.Tesla has promised to be producing a total of 500,000 cars a year
:01:48. > :01:54.In 2016 it delivered this many of its existing two luxury
:01:55. > :01:56.models, just over 76,000, less than the 80-90,000
:01:57. > :02:02.So it's still a small-scale operator.
:02:03. > :02:04.But judging by the share price investors have high hopes
:02:05. > :02:07.it could become the next Ford or General Motors.
:02:08. > :02:09.Tesla shares have soared around 50% since
:02:10. > :02:12.hiving it a stock market value of $44 billion.
:02:13. > :02:15.To put that in context it's being valued almost as much
:02:16. > :02:19.as Ford, which has been around more than a century and sold over six
:02:20. > :02:30.The BBC's North America tech reporter Dave Lee reports
:02:31. > :02:40.You may wonder why a company like Kaesler, which barely makes any cars
:02:41. > :02:45.when you compare it to something like Ford, can be worth nearly as
:02:46. > :02:48.much money. -- a company like Tesla. The reason is that investors are
:02:49. > :02:51.very confident Tesla is going to meet its targets for the model
:02:52. > :02:58.three, it's more budget electric car that has big ten shall to be a huge
:02:59. > :03:02.hit if it can make as many cars as it needs. -- big potential. There
:03:03. > :03:06.were some concerns the company was going to push back production of the
:03:07. > :03:09.model three into next year, but Tesla insists initial production
:03:10. > :03:13.will begin in July, just a few months from now, and full production
:03:14. > :03:17.will get under way before the end of the year. At the beginning of this
:03:18. > :03:21.month Tesla removed the word motors from its name, and it is becoming
:03:22. > :03:25.obvious why. It seems that in the future Tesla's main business will be
:03:26. > :03:31.more about producing power than about reducing cars. In January it
:03:32. > :03:36.started making battery cells at its enormous new factory in Nevada. As
:03:37. > :03:39.part of its latest earnings report we were told that Tesla will soon
:03:40. > :03:44.announce their locations of three more factories just like it by the
:03:45. > :03:48.end of the year. There is also competency in Elon Musk and how he
:03:49. > :03:52.is acting politically. Last month he met with President Donald Trump.
:03:53. > :03:57.While that close tie was not perhaps appreciated by all of his customers,
:03:58. > :03:59.investors are seeing some value, at least, in having the year of the new
:04:00. > :04:04.president. -- the ear. Let's stay with the car
:04:05. > :04:07.industry but go to Asia now, confirmed Carlos Ghosn is stepping
:04:08. > :04:11.aside from the role of Chief He has run Japan's second-biggest
:04:12. > :04:16.car maker for 16 years as part of a group which
:04:17. > :04:19.also includes Renault. He'll be replaced by a veteran
:04:20. > :04:23.Japanese executive, Hiroto Saikawa. Rico Hizon has been following this
:04:24. > :04:35.for us in Singapore. Nice to see you. This is
:04:36. > :04:39.interesting. We knew that he was on the move, but it is becoming
:04:40. > :04:47.official now? Yes, it is becoming official, but he will remain the
:04:48. > :04:50.codriver of Nissan. He is basically refocusing his role, he is willing
:04:51. > :04:55.pushing his chief executive position, but he will remain
:04:56. > :04:59.chairman. Hiroto Saikawa is already the company's code chief executive
:05:00. > :05:04.with Carlos Ghosn, so he will officially just takeover. So this
:05:05. > :05:09.reshuffle will allow Carlos Ghosn to focus on their alliances with
:05:10. > :05:13.Mitsubishi and Renault. Nissan bought a 34% stake in Mitsubishi
:05:14. > :05:18.last year, in the wake of the carmaker's fuel efficiency scandal,
:05:19. > :05:23.and Carlos Ghosn is its chairman. So he indeed has a big task in 2017,
:05:24. > :05:27.bringing back the confidence of Mitsubishi and returning to
:05:28. > :05:30.profitability. Nissan and mitts of the sheep will also be operating in
:05:31. > :05:35.areas including purchasing, technology and sharing platforms. --
:05:36. > :05:41.Mitsubishi. Looking all the way back to 2001, that is when Carlos Ghosn
:05:42. > :05:44.became a star in the auto industry, when he was appointed Nissan's chief
:05:45. > :05:50.executive, providing a brand in decline. So under his leadership,
:05:51. > :05:53.Nissan achieved higher profit margins and expanded in many
:05:54. > :05:58.countries, including China, which is now one of Nissan's key markets.
:05:59. > :06:01.Let's keep our fingers crossed that he can turn around the fortunes of
:06:02. > :06:02.Mitsubishi now that he is the chairman.
:06:03. > :06:04.To South Africa now, where we continue our week-long
:06:05. > :06:09.2.8 million South Africans are disabled,
:06:10. > :06:15.Yet the unemployment rate among disabled people is very high,
:06:16. > :06:17.partly because of inaccessible and unsupportive working environments.
:06:18. > :06:23.The BBC visited a Johannesburg company that specializes in helping
:06:24. > :06:51.We were founded on a vision of ensuring that her work force is
:06:52. > :06:57.diverse. There is not a lack of talent among disabled people. But
:06:58. > :07:04.there is nobody facilitating the relationship between the employers
:07:05. > :07:08.and the talented disabled people. I think I have to be the person to
:07:09. > :07:16.drive this challenge. There were not enough suppliers in this arena. So
:07:17. > :07:19.from the minute a person with a disability comes across us, they
:07:20. > :07:27.come in for an interview in our offices. I was unable to read and
:07:28. > :07:31.write for 25 years. I learned last year. I have attempted suicide in
:07:32. > :07:35.urban times. I have been through two rapes, locked up in a mental
:07:36. > :07:38.institution. I have been discriminated against through and
:07:39. > :07:44.through. But through all that, I said, no. That is what life said,
:07:45. > :07:54.that is what life is. You find these situations on earth but I can be who
:07:55. > :07:59.I want to be. I am 32 years old. I have been working on the graduate
:08:00. > :08:10.training programme with Arsenal Mattel, going on two years.
:08:11. > :08:21.I am a paraplegic. So basically what that means is there is no ability
:08:22. > :08:25.from the waist down. I got injured at a young age, and growing up,
:08:26. > :08:32.there was not that much access to information to think or to actually
:08:33. > :08:37.know that you can be a doctor and still have a disability. So had I
:08:38. > :08:42.known what I know now back then, I would have tried to pursue my dream
:08:43. > :08:45.of being a paediatrician. I ended up studying office management. Not that
:08:46. > :08:50.there is anything wrong with being a receptionist, of course. But that is
:08:51. > :08:54.not what a person with a disability should be limited to. You can be an
:08:55. > :09:01.accountant or whatever else that you want to be. There is always that
:09:02. > :09:05.idea of, this is a person with a disability, you have to treat them
:09:06. > :09:10.special. You can't give them a lot of work, and they are going to be
:09:11. > :09:16.off sick all the time, and all that. That is not the case. I may be able
:09:17. > :09:20.to do more work than you. So you have to prove yourself all the time.
:09:21. > :09:24.You can find more on our special coverage of this issue and how
:09:25. > :09:26.businesses are dealing with it at bbc.com/disability.
:09:27. > :09:52.And on Twitter at the hashtag #disabilityworks.
:09:53. > :09:57.Australia's top airline Qantas as profits fell 75% in 2015, blaming
:09:58. > :10:00.tough competition. But the fall was less than expected. CEO Alan Joyce
:10:01. > :10:06.has called market conditions challenging. Markets around the
:10:07. > :10:09.world are picking a party Federal Reserve minutes released late
:10:10. > :10:12.yesterday. That is the central bank in the US, which implies that
:10:13. > :10:15.interest rates in the United States should be possibly going up fairly
:10:16. > :10:19.soon. They are the first minutes to be released since Donald Trump took
:10:20. > :10:20.office. That is how things are faring at the moment in Asia. See
:10:21. > :10:36.you soon. Ministers are putting forward
:10:37. > :10:40.legislation today for what they call the biggest reform of prisons in
:10:41. > :10:41.England and Wales in a generation, aimed at dealing with