Auto Industry Briefing — week ending 25th July 2021
Question marks over battery factor reusability; more dosh for Rivian; and battery electric platforms with an ageing problem. Please enjoy our auto industry and mobility briefing for 19th July to 25th July 2021. A PDF version can be found here.
- Brothers In Arms – Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares says his engineers aren’t sure how to reuse equipment designed to make lithium ion cells if solid state batteries dominate. This matters because OEMs and their suppliers are going to invest tens of billions in a technology that could be outdated in fewer than two product cycles. Manufacturers are essentially betting that even if solid state performs better, it won’t be economical for many. But they didn’t call the technology cycle correctly last time, did they?
- Sultans Of Swing – Rivian raised another $2.5 billion. The company has now taken in $10.5 billion without putting a car in the hands of customers (I’m discounting Amazon’s prototypes). So what are people really investing in?
- Walk Of Life – Daimler held an investor day to show off its electric car credentials. The company is going to launch three new platforms: for vans, cars and sportscars. But, hold on a second, I thought EVA (which underpins EQS) was supposed to be the next big thing, now it’s being binned? How long before investors tire of being told that manufacturers need yet another massively expensive new platform to be able to deliver competitive electric vehicles?
News is arranged by company and topic. Stories that apply to more than one company or topic are duplicated.
Find our archive here.
SIGN UP TO GET THE WEEKLY BRIEFING EMAILED TO YOU
News about the major automakers
- Reported Q2 2021 financial results. Revenue of €43.5 billion rose 44% versus the prior year whilst EBIT of €5.2 billion was strongly up from a year ago. Mercedes is happy with its double digit margins but sad that it has come through supply being restricted due to semiconductor shortages. Executives assured customers that “we are doing what we can”. (Daimler)
- Daimler held an investor day and updated its electric vehicle strategy. From 2025 onwards, only all-electric architectures will be launched, although this doesn’t prevent new non-electric cars being launched after that date. To fill in the gaps from the already-announced electric products there will be three new platforms, one for vans, one for cars and one for sportscars (AMG). The large car EVA platform is being dumped for a newer one called MB.EA. The goal is to position Mercedes to completely switch off conventional powertrain by 2030, if the market moves that way. Daimler says that the core business plan assumptions are now that new car sales have “in essence [switched] to fully electric by the end of the decade”. Due to a drop in battery costs, margins are expected to be comparable to products with internal combustion engines today, however this rests on an assumption that ICE costs will increase and part of the gap closure is through higher battery electric revenues as the cost-only chart (p. 29 in the strategy presentation) shows a cost gap remaining into the 2030s. The prior target of 50% of sales from BEV and PHEV by 2030 has been pulled forward to 2025. (Daimler)
- Daimler made a point of describing its strategy as moving capital from “EV-first to EV-only”, however spending on traditional technologies isn’t ceasing. The company says it will drop by 80% between 2019 and 2026 – seemingly measuring only the powertrains. Mercedes hasn’t explained how it will keep conventionally powered products up to date if customer interest is sustained for longer than expected. (Daimler)
- Expects to grow revenue per unit from Mercedes cars and vans through mix, net pricing, revenue from digit services and the direct (or agent) sales model currently being implemented. (Daimler)
- Acquired electric motor manufacturer YASA as part of an ongoing strategy to develop motors in-house. Mercedes says that it will have a global battery capacity of 200 GWh, not necessarily owned outright, and similar to VW the company plans to use the same batteries across a large swathe of the line-up, In Mercedes’s case, 90% (although since this terminology allows for changes in size and chemistry they won’t really be the same). (Daimler)
- Claims to have met with 5,000 startups in the past five years. (Daimler)
- Will reportedly bundle AMG, Maybach and G-Class into a combined group with a single leader. (Automotive News)
- Will reportedly offer improved rear wheel steering on the EQS (10 degrees rather than 4.5 degrees) to customers who pay a subscription of €489 per year. In some markets it will come as standard. (Auto Motor Und Sport)
- Ford’s autonomous vehicles will be available for paying customers in two US cities, with the company opting to use Lyft’s ride hailing service, rather than create its own. (Ford)
- Agreed a deal for customisation company MS-RT, affiliated with Ford rally partner, to build a facility at Ford’s Dagenham location, close to where vehicles are shipped into the UK. (The Manufacturer)
- Facing a lawsuit from GM saying that Ford’s driver assistance name BlueCruise infringes trademarks belonging to GM and self-driving subsidiary Cruise. (CNBC)
Geely (includes Volvo) (history)
- Volvo reported financial results for the first half of 2021. Revenue of 141 billion SEK (about $16.4 billion) rose 26% versus prior year, slightly lagging wholesales which grew 28% to 357,000 cars. Operating income of 13.2 billion SEK (about $1.5 billion) rose from a loss the year before. (Volvo)
- Volvo is taking full ownership of its Chinese manufacturing operations, with parent Geely handing over some of its shares. The move is seen as a precursor to a listing and will complete after local regulations change in 2022. (Volvo)
- Volvo’s CEO says that he wants the firm’s products to have names rather than code numbers. (Auto Express)
- GM’s Super Cruise advanced driver assistance will soon be able to tow a trailer. (GM)
- Hyundai reported financial results for Q2 2021. Sales of 30.3 trillion KRW (about $26.4 billion) rose 39% from prior year. Operating profit of 1.9 trillion KRW (about $1.6 billion) more than trebled from Q2 2020. Hyundai said high margin cars were selling well but it was worried about semiconductor shortages. (Hyundai)
- Kia reported Q2 2021 financial results. Revenue of 18.3 trillion KRW (about $16 billion) rose 61%, outstripping sales which rose 46% to 754,000 cars. Operating profit of 1.5 trillion (about $1.3 billion) rose more than tenfold from prior year as volume and mix more than offset exchange headwinds. (KIA)
- Invested in connected car software company Sonatus. (TechCrunch)
Stellantis (formed via the merger of PSA and FCA)
- Raised a new credit line of €12 billion, replacing earlier facilities of €9.5 billion. (Stellantis)
- Recruited a new CTO, the previous head of Amazon’s Alexa automotive division and a Toyota veteran. (Stellantis)
- CEO Tavares says Stellantis still isn’t sure how to reuse equipment designed for lithium ion battery cells to make solid state batteries, if the technology matures. (Detroit News)
Suzuki
- Suzuki is joining Toyota’s Japanese technology partnership for connected and electrified vehicles with advanced driver assistance, along with Toyota’s Daihatsu brand. Both entities will take a share in the cooperative. (Toyota)
- CEO Musk said that he wanted to build a factory in India, but Tesla needed to pay lower import taxes first, perhaps intentionally missing the point of protectionist tariffs. (Business Insider)
- Sold assets from the Maxwell Technologies ultracapacitor business to UCAP Power. (UCAP)
- Suzuki is joining Toyota’s Japanese technology partnership for connected and electrified vehicles with advanced driver assistance, along with Toyota’s Daihatsu brand. Both entities will take a share in the cooperative. (Toyota)
- Porsche sold 153,656 cars in the first half of 2021, up 31% on a year earlier. Taycan sold just under 20,000 units, indicating the Porsche was wise to invest in additional capacity. (Porsche)
- VW group sold almost 111,000 all-electric vehicles in Q2 2021. The growth rate potentially puts it on course to eclipse Tesla soon. (VW)
- Audi’s design boss says autonomy will change car styling more than electrification. He is slightly critical of newer arrivals, saying that companies such as Tesla “don’t have a face, because they don’t have a history”. (Autocar)
- Audi won’t have a successor to the A1, arguing that emissions legislation is making the cost prohibitive. Reading between the lines, a battery electric city car isn’t an impossibility, albeit with a different name. (Automotive News)
- Audi is looking to switch to an agency sales model for electric cars, which soon will be all the brand makes. The brand plans to implement a switch beginning in 2023 for key European markets. First, a new dealer contract needs to be negotiated. (Automotive News)
- Believes it is two to three years ahead of competitors in planning for a transition to electric cars. (Handelsblatt)
Other
- Rivian raised another $2.5 billion, taking the total investment to a whopping $10.5 billion without a single car produced. (Rivian)
- Kandi acquired a small battery producer, Jiangxi Huiyi. (Kandi)
- McLaren is raising $620 million, mainly to refinance existing loans, but with higher interest. (McLaren)
- Lightyear agreed a deal for Valmet to contract manufacture its solar-powered car. (Lightyear)
- Long-time suitor HAAH is apparently back in the running for Ssangyong. (Yonhap)
News about other companies and trends
Economic / Political News
- The UK Government is interested in synthetic fuels, but sees the benefit as coming from aviation and shipping as those “sectors are hard to decarbonise”. (Autocar)
Suppliers
- Veoneer reported Q2 2021 sales of $398 million and that it will be acquired by Magna. (Veoneer)
- Veoldyne’s CEO stepped down amid a war with the firm’s deposed founder. (The Verge)
- Valeo reported 2021 first half revenue of €9 billion and operating margin of €415 million. (Valeo)
- Nidec reported Q2 2021 sales of 447 billion JPY (about $4 billion) and operating profit of 44 billion JPY (about $405 million). (Nidec)
- Nidec and Foxconn are discussing deepening their relationship and may form a JV to produce electric vehicle motors and other components. (Nidec)
Dealers
- Indian on-demand servicing website Automovil raised $500,000. (Economic Times of India)
- Vehicle inspection firm UVeye raised $60 million. (UVeye)
- Electric vehicle leasing specialist WeVee raised $7 million. (FINSMES)
Ride-Hailing, Car Sharing & Rental (history)
- Ford’s autonomous vehicles will be available for paying customers in two US cities, with the company opting to use Lyft’s ride hailing service, rather than create its own. (Ford)
- Uber will acquire transport company Transplace for $2.25 billion. (Uber)
Driverless / Autonomy (history)
- Driverless vehicle developer Venti Technologies raised $8 million. (Tech In Asia)
- Driverless warehouse vehicle firm Ati Motors raised $3.5 million. (Deal Street Asia)
- Vision firm CalmCar raised $150 million. (Deal Street Asia)
- Charging operator ChargePoint acquired software maker has.to.be. (TechCrunch)
Connectivity
- Connected car software company Sonatus raised $35 million from Hyundai / Kia and others. (TechCrunch)
Other
- Parking management business ParkHub acquired CurbTrac, a payments firm. (ParkHub)
SIGN UP TO GET THE WEEKLY BRIEFING EMAILED TO YOU
Find our archive here.
Auto Industry Briefing — week ending 18th July 2021
Audi’s rules for making electric cars look exciting; Aurora’s unclear path to profits; and Tesla wants driver assistance addicts. Please enjoy our auto industry and mobility briefing for 12th July to 18th July 2021. A PDF version can be found here.
- Hip To Be Square — Audi’s designers have been discussing the challenges of styling electric cars. The thing is, so much of what we perceive about cars comes from the internal combustion engine which brings a form-follows-function element to even budget vehicles. With electric motors, so many of the design constraints disappear that stylists have to stop themselves from creating a “one-box” vehicle (industry parlance for a blob). Audi skirts the issue of replacing the internal combustion engine derived design cues with something new by making the leap to autonomous cars, arguing that in the future vehicles will be lounge-like. But what if autonomy doesn’t take off? Who will save us from the march of the blobs?
- Runaway — Self-driving firm Aurora is listing via a merger with a special purpose entity. The firm will be worth more than $10 billion, despite not having a commercial product. The main asset seems to be that Aurora is the destination of choice for carmakers shunned by Google and unable to afford their own schemes (a pool which is shrinking as Google become more welcoming, OEMs share more and failed start-ups can be snapped up more cheaply – or expensively if you are Toyota). But since Aurora isn’t an OEM, it isn’t in charge of product deployment. How will it stay in business long enough without revenue to not only develop driverless systems but hang around for OEMs to put them into production?
- Endless Love — Tesla is offering subscriptions to driver assistance features for $199 per month. You can pay a single upfront fee, but at $10,000 it seems unlikely that you’ll make your money back before you offload the car (especially since ,as a Tesla buyer, you are an early adopter with a keen sense of the global zeitgeist). Tesla therefore clearly prefers for people to pay monthly – and once hooked, customers are likely to pout up only mild resistance to price hikes. What percentage of monthly lease payments will then ultimately be prepared to shell out for self-driving?
News is arranged by company and topic. Stories that apply to more than one company or topic are duplicated.
Find our archive here.
SIGN UP TO GET THE WEEKLY BRIEFING EMAILED TO YOU
News about the major automakers
- Invested in synthetic leather company Natural Fiber Welding. (BMW)
- Said that Q2 2021 financial results have been better than expected with group EBIT of €5.2 billion and free cash flow of €2.6 billion. Daimler will report full results later on. (Daimler)
- Recalled almost 850,000 vehicles for problems with suspension that might break, drivelines that might break and electric wiring that could rub against other parts and catch fire. (Ford)
- Reckons that because small accidents or near misses are under-reported, city planners don’t know about accident hotspots and aren’t able to properly create heat maps (or Heinrich’s triangles). Ford says that feeding in near miss information from connected cars should make cities far safer. (Ford)
- Released a petrol-scented perfume, seemingly aimed at electric vehicle drivers who miss the smell of fuel station forecourts (Ford says they account for 20 percent of owners). (Ford)
- Exploring the option of shipping incomplete vehicles to US dealers to partially offset the impact of the semiconductor shortage, under the proposed terms Ford would continue to own the cars. (Detroit News)
Geely (includes Volvo) (history)
- Volvo upped its stake in Polestar to 49.5% (it had been diluted from 50% in a private share offering). Volvo acquired the shares from Geely’s boss. (Volvo)
- Volvo sold 15% of its autonomous driving division Zenseact to Chinese supplier ECARX. (Volvo)
- Confirmed that BrightDrop vans would be built by robot supplier Kulka whilst GM waits for its Canadian factory to be ready. (Reuters)
- Honda’s CEO said the firm is ready to convert to only electric vehicle sales in Europe as soon as politicians demand and thinks regulations are becoming “stricter by the day”. Although the fuel cell powered Clarity is being retired, Honda will launch more cars with the power source. (Nikkei)
- Released its latest sustainability report. (Honda)
- Launched an autonomous on-demand bus service in Sejong, South Korea. The minibus in use will have “minimal intervention” from an ever-present safety driver. (Hyundai)
- Delivered 757,525 vehicles in Q2 2021, up 40% on a year earlier. (Renault)
Stellantis (formed via the merger of PSA and FCA)
- Opel’s boss is leaving for unspecified pastures new, to be replaced by an executive from Renault. (Stellantis)
- Alfa Romeo has extended its sponsorship of the Sauber Formula 1 team. (Alfa Romeo)
- Recruited a new chief commercial officer from Dyson. (Economic Times of India)
- Started offering monthly subscriptions to the latest driver assistance features for $199 per month. Unfortunately for owners of pre-2020 cars, Tesla is asking them to stump up $1,500 to upgrade their hardware before they can access the subscription offer. Instead of the monthly fee, owners can pay a single $10,000 lifetime payment. (Electrek)
- Toyota’s Woven Capital subsidiary acquired Carmera, a mapping company. (Toyota)
- Held an investor strategy presentation day. VW says that increasing regulation will erode margins on internal combustion engined cars so much that margin parity with battery electric vehicles will be reached within two to three years. VW thinks that autonomous driving technologies will be maturing by 2030 sufficient for large-scale deployment. CEO Diess said the company is “well on track” to be the world’s biggest EV seller. (VW)
- Says that “software enabled sales” could be worth €1.2 billion by 2030, with the head of the company’s software division quoted as seeing automated driving software as a “major source of income”. (VW)
- Will use the scalable systems platform (SPP) as a single architecture for all battery electric products from 2026 (dumping the MEB and PPE platforms that VW promised would bring unparalleled scale for ever and ever). VW says that 40 million vehicles will be made on the platform. Since VW has also talked about different battery technologies, ranging from lithium ion to solid state, the question is whether VW has found a way to integrate the technologies or is stretching definitions to breaking point. By 2025, VW says it will have a single operating software to be used across brands. (VW)
- Lamborghini sold 4,852 cars in H1 2021, up 37% year-over-year with increases across the range. The brand says it has a ten month order book. (Lamborghini)
- Porsche sold 81,670 cars in Q2 2021, up 28% versus prior year. (Porsche)
- Installing a network of 3,000 chargers in Italy in collaboration with Enel X. (VW)
- Audi’s designers discussed how electric and driverless vehicles will change styling priorities. (Audi)
- Building a battery factory in partnership with Chinese firm Gotion High-Tech. (VW)
- German VW employees fired over the diesel scandal are fighting back through the courts — and winning. VW says it will continue to contest the wrongful dismissal suits. (Handelsblatt)
- Bentley’s technical boss says that the user interface will be one of the most important elements in the brand’s future cars. He sees a role for e-fuels but none for hydrogen. (Autocar)
Other
- McLaren raised £550 million from investors, with £150 million from existing shareholders. McLaren will use the money to repay debt and finance future growth plans. (McLaren – not accessible for US readers)
- VinFast has opened offices in North America and Europe ahead of a market push. (Reuters)
- AYLI expects brand recognition to “explode” once details of its strategy come to light. (AYLI)
- Aston Martin unveiled the Valhall supercar. Many elements of the design have changed since the concept was originally revealed as the RB-003 (including the engine). (Auto Express)
- SAIC revealed a new logo which the firm calls “youthful”. The hope is that it will persuade consumers that the company is now a high-tech firm. (SAIC)
- Pininfarina showed off the Teorema concept car. It isn’t clear if the vehicle is intended to herald one of the brand’s planned five cars, or is just to generate interest. (Autocar)
News about other companies and trends
Economic / Political News
- The EU is contemplating a ban on all sales of non-battery electric vehicles by 2035. (Nikkei)
Suppliers
- Autoliv reported Q2 2021 revenue of $2 billion and operating income of $166 million. (Autoliv)
- REE Automotive is partnering with bodybuilder EAVX to develop vehicles. The first product will be a light van due for released in 2024 (Electric Drive)
- Haldex reported Q2 2021 sales of 1.1 billion SEK (about $131 million) and operating income of 79 million SEK (about $9 million). (Haldex)
- Grammer reported Q2 2021 revenue of €469 million and EBIT of €5 million. (Grammer)
Dealers
- Carsome is acquiring iCar Asia. (Deal Street Asia)
Ride-Hailing, Car Sharing & Rental (history)
- Uber’s CEO expects prices to return to historic norms by around September. (Business Insider)
Driverless / Autonomy (history)
- Self-driving firm Aurora plans to list in an $11 billion merger with a special purpose entity. (FT)
- AEye says its lidar unit can see over 1,000m through the rain, a performance it claims is “twice the range as the nearest LiDAR competitor”. (AEye) At an investor day, AEye said that Continental would use its lidar units and it would partner with Sanmina to contain production costs. (AEye)
- Warehouse vehicle maker Ati Motors raised $3.5 million. (Deal Street Asia)
- Driver assistance developer Netradyne raised $150 million. (Netradyne)
- Battery developer SES Holdings (investors include GM, Hyundai and Geely) will list via a merger with a special purpose vehicle. (Deal Street Asia)
Connectivity
- Connected car services supplier Banma Technologies raised $434 million. (Deal Street Asia)
Other
- Cummins and Chevron will collaborate on developing hydrogen infrastructure. (Cummins)
Scooter rental company Veo raised $16 million. (TechCrunch)
SIGN UP TO GET THE WEEKLY BRIEFING EMAILED TO YOU
Find our archive here.
Auto Industry Briefing — week ending 11th July 2021
Rimac takes Bugatti under its wing; Stellantis aims to top the EV league; and battery swapping is spreading. Please enjoy our auto industry and mobility briefing for 5th July to 11th July 2021. A PDF version can be found here.
- Where’s Your Heat At — As rumoured, Bugatti will become a joint venture between Rimac and Porsche, or put more simply: taken over by Rimac. The Croatian company has big plans for the storied French brand, but then so did VW, and others before them. Are VW saving Bugatti from irrelevance, or consigning Rimac to a death spiral of distraction?
- Nobody Does It Better — Stellantis held an EV day and made myriad promises of a better world. You want every brand to have electric vehicles at its core? You got it. You want best in class electric vehicle engineering from a standing start? Done. Think that battery costs should drop massively and erode the competitiveness of others? By 2024, you’ll apparently get your wish. Stellantis is now blessed with considerable scale and a presence in the lucrative US pickup market to fund development but can it ramp up electric vehicle plans without the same mistakes that competitors have had to learn from, and then dominate?
- Counting Stars — Nio says that the battery swapping business is exceeding expectations and in the next four years it will increase the number of sites in China tenfold. Perhaps even more interestingly, the company plans to open 1,000 swapping stations internationally. Given the brand’s launch plans, that suggests Europe is the target. How will consumers (and competitors) react?
News is arranged by company and topic. Stories that apply to more than one company or topic are duplicated.
Find our archive here.
SIGN UP TO GET THE WEEKLY BRIEFING EMAILED TO YOU
News about the major automakers
- Settled charges brought by the EU of a cartel amongst German manufacturers (as BMW earlier suggested it when the EU agreed to trim the charges). BMW is paying a €373 million fine. BMW says that is understands the legal reasons behind the fine (“excessive transparency” = competitors sharing too much information with one another), but that there was never any potential for consumers to be harmed. Part of the justification for punishing excessive transparency is that suppliers can be disadvantaged. BMW didn’t mentioned them at all. (BMW)
- Sold 702,474 cars in Q2 2021, up 45% on a year-over-year basis, with strong performances across all brands and the regions. Sales in the US and Europe grew by 75% or more. (BMW)
- Sold 675,915 cars and vans in Q2 2021, up 29% versus prior year. Passenger car sales grew strongly in the US and Europe, but lagged BMW’s recovery. (Daimler)
- Daimler trucks will create a European high power charging network for heavy vehicles in partnership with Volvo trucks and Traton (VW / MAN / Scania), echoing the Ionity network for light vehicles. Charging power will be aligned to the mandatory 45 minute rest breaks for long-distance truckers in Europe. (Daimler)
- Completed the sale of some large sites in the US and Canada that were surplus to requirements. (Detroit Free Press)
Geely (includes Volvo) (history)
- The merged powertrain division of Geely and Volvo will be called Autobay. (Volvo)
- Lotus unveiled the Emra, its new sportscar, which features a Mercedes-sourced engine and transmission alongside the existing V6 unit (which comes from Toyota, but whom Lotus didn’t mention in their press release). (Lotus)
- Saw sales in China rise 5% year-over-year in Q2 2021 to 750,800 vehicles. Although there were increases overall, the Chevrolet and Baojun brands dropped. (GM)
- Unveiled the next generation Kia Sorento. (Autocar)
Nissan and Mitsubishi (history)
- Nissan will underwrite more of the development cost incurred by suppliers and will compensate them for sunk costs if programs get cancelled or deferred. (Nikkei)
- Rumoured to be studying a plan that will see the Alpine brand spearhead Renault’s return to China, with the hope that the Formula 1 team will build brand awareness. (Les Echos)
Stellantis (formed via the merger of PSA and FCA)
- Held an EV day fror investors and journalists. Stellantis says that by 2026 the cost of ownership for EVs will equal internal combustion engines by 2026. The company is picking and choosing its electric portfolio, acknowledging that capabilities will only upwards of 80%, but not all, of customer needs. Each of the Stellantis brands has a tagline trumpeting its electric credentials, such as “Tear up the streets… not the planet” for Dodge. Alfa Romeo will become Alfa E-Romeo in a reminder of “Voltswagen”. (Stellantis)
- Stellantis’s electric vehicle offensive will rest on four electrified platforms covering three sizes of passenger car and a body on frame version for pickup trucks. Stellantis reckons that by 2024 its products will meet or beat all competitors across a broad range of specifications. There is hope that the four platforms will bring massive scale, especially as they will use common components, such as drive motors. In addition, Stellantis believes that its battery technology will be leading the industry in both cost competitiveness (the firm expects a 40% drop by 2024) and energy density by the mid-2020s. (Stellantis)
- Said that first half 2021 financial results will be better than expected, with adjusted operating profit of more than 7.5% of net revenue, thanks to stronger pricing and mix. (Stellantis)
- Announced, as widely leaked the week before, that the Ellesmere Port, UK , factory will make battery electric light vans and passenger cars (which will actually just be car versions of the vans). (Stellantis)
- From 2028, Opel will be battery-electric only and the brand will relaunch in China. The brand CEO said that Opel is moving from “cold to cool”, whatever that means. There will be a new Manta model, but unlike its large coupe forebears it will be a crossover. (Stellantis)
Subaru
- 98% of the cars Subaru sells are four wheel drive. (Subaru)
- Group wholesales in Q2 2022 were 214,250 units, including 97,141 from JLR. (Tata)
- Published its annual CSR report. (Tata)
- JLR CEO Bollore says quality levels have been unacceptable but he is confident they will be fixed. (Autocar)
- CEO Musk said that he “didn’t expect it to be so hard” to develop self-driving cars. (Economic Times of India)
- Hackers reckon that Tesla’s self-driving system can make out objects up to 60ish metres away. The limiting range has implications for the maximum speed the car can travel at. (Electrek)
- Found itself in political hot water after it emerged that Toyota has been making donations to politicians that say the 2020 US presidential election was not valid. Toyota apologised and said it will weed those candidates out. (Toyota)
- VW said that it has been more profitable than expected in Q2 2021 (€11 billion operating profit in 1H 2021) and that the lack of semiconductors will impact the company in the second half of the year more than the first half. (VW)
- As rumoured, Bugatti has been offloaded to Rimac, in the form of a joint venture which will see Rimac hold 55% and Porsche owning 45%. The partners insist that manufacturing will remain in both Croatia and France with cars released under both Rimac and Bugatti brands. (VW)
- Mate Rimac says new Bugatti products will still have internal combustion engines, but that there is a fully electric car on the way. (Autocar)
- Will present the new group strategy on the 13th of July. (VW) The supervisory board were so pleased with it that they agreed to extend CEO Diess’s contract to 2025. (VW)
- Porsche is going into the hotel business. (Porsche)
- Porsche invested in motorsports data logging company Griip. (Porsche)
- Porsche is recalling 43,000 Taycans to fix software problems that can result in the motor shutting down. Although the issue is solved with a software upload, Porsche can’t do it over the air. (Porsche)
- Audi’s CEO expects electric vehicles will be as profitable as combustion engine models within the next two to three years. (Spiegel)
- Bentley’s boss says there are no plans to collaborate with Bugatti and Rimac on future products. (Detroit News)
- Bentley’s bespoke division has completed 1,000 projects in the last seven years. This ranges from applications of non-standard materials through to one-off vehicles (where Bentley is less engaged than competitors). (Bentley)
- Porsche’s CEO says that he has to position his brand to be ready for the transition to electric vehicles, but doesn’t want to push the consumer too hard and is happy if they drive internal combustion engines powered by synthetic fuels. (Handelsblatt)
Other
- Nio says that its battery swapping plans are gathering pace and that by 2025 there will be 3,000 stations in China (up from 300 today) and over 1,000 in the rest of the world. Nio’s figures suggest that each swapping station has been used an average of around 10,000 times. (Nio)
- Great Wall says it will invest 100 billion RMB (about $1.5 billion) in electric and smart vehicles over the next five years. (Great Wall)
- Ineos revealed the interior of the Grenadier SUV. (Ineos)
- Wells launched the Vertige, a small sportscar. Despite costing only £40,000, the company plans production of only around 25 examples per year. (Autocar)
- Xpeng’s CEO thinks that Chinese automakers already rival Tesla in terms of feature quality. (Yahoo)
News about other companies and trends
Suppliers
- Panasonic’s CEO said the company’s relationship with Tesla wouldn’t be affected by the sale of its stake in the automaker. (Reuters)
Dealers
- Used car website Carsome invested in Indonesian auction company PT Universal Collection. (Deal Street Asia)
- UK dealers say that they are making bumper profits as used car sales boom with constrained new car supply. Used cars are normally far more profitable than new cars. (Motor Trader)
Driverless / Autonomy (history)
- Self-driving developer Freetech raised $100 million. (Caixin)
- Solid state battery developer Ampcera received a US government grant. (Ampcera)
- Charging company Electra raised €15 million. (Charged EVs)
SIGN UP TO GET THE WEEKLY BRIEFING EMAILED TO YOU
Find our archive here.
Auto Industry Briefing — week ending 4th July 2021
Tesla’s sales success; GM’s drop in the ocean; and ambitious profit targets. Please enjoy our auto industry and mobility briefing for 28th June and 4th July 2021. A PDF version can be found here.
- Wherever You Will Go — Tesla announced yet another quarterly increase in sales, to over 200,000 units in Q2 2021. With Models S and X faltering, the growth is purely explained by the Model 3 and Model Y. By my maths, if you take the two cars together, this is now the leading premium franchise — besting the might of BMW’s 3-Series / X3, Mercedes C-Class / GLC and Audi A4 / Q5. But the really interesting bit is that those models aren’t suffering too much, so where are the sales coming from? And if they are from outside traditional premium buyers, can Tesla keep them once all-electric products launch in the segments they have come from?
- Tiny Dancer — GM announced a $25 million fund to make climate change more equitable. The idea is to give money to some worthy causes that can help the transition to electric cars for either users or workers. Sounds good but if the company is taking it seriously, how can $25 million make a dent on a change that is costing GM $35 billion in the coming years?
- Wannabe — Volvo gave an update on its near term plan. It was full of talk about software and electric cars, but also featured an increasingly familiar aspiration: a 8% – 10% medium term operating margin. This seems to have become the financial target du jour for car companies, replacing the 6% – 8% of the previous economic cycle. But since many of the companies failed to consistently reach that level, will they be able to meet more stringent targets this time, whilst spending more on electrification?
News is arranged by company and topic. Stories that apply to more than one company or topic are duplicated.
Find our archive here.
SIGN UP TO GET THE WEEKLY BRIEFING EMAILED TO YOU
News about the major automakers
- Gave the BMW iVentures in-house VC team an additional $300 million to spend. (BMW)
- Renault and Nissan are removing the executive post that used to deal with Daimler on behalf of both companies. Instead they will move to a series of bilateral relationships. Insiders were mixed on whether the change was more practical, given the tactical nature of the shared projects between the companies, or a worrying sign. (Reuters)
- US sales of 475,327 units in Q2 2021 rose 19% on a year-over-year basis. Increases in SUV sales more than offset the wind down of most car lines, with Bronco Sport, Mustang Mach E and Explorer going great guns. (Ford)
- Says that a shipment of semiconductors will allow it to sell thousands of semi-finished F-150 pickup trucks parked all around Detroit. However, the move doesn’t signal a resurgence of supply, instead Ford is choosing to complete existing orders ahead of building new vehicles. (Detroit Free Press)
Geely (includes Volvo) (history)
- Volvo’s sales of 195,059 cars in Q2 2021 rose 41% over prior year levels, with gains driven by SUVs. (Volvo)
- Volvo is aiming for a 8% – 10% operating margin by mid-decade. Volvo’s CEO believes that by moving software development in-house he will be able to speed up product development times and that by mid-decade there will be cost parity between battery electric and ICE products. (Volvo)
- Unveiled the Concept Recharge, seemingly heralding the next generation, all-electric XC90. (Volvo)
- Confirmed that even though in-house software is a major element of the company’s new product strategy, the infotainment system will still be developed with Google. (Volvo)
- Volvo thinks that by mid-decade battery energy density will reach 1,000 Wh / l and charging times will drop in half, bringing electric cars with a 1,000 km range closer to the masses. (Volvo)
- Volvo is building a “data factory” that will hold 200 PebiBytes of information from connected cars that Volvo can use to make changes to driver assistance packages, in the same way Tesla does. (Volvo)
- Sold 688,236 vehicles in the US during Q2 2021, up 40% on a year-over-year basis. Although GM continues to tout its green intentions, the sales increase was mostly explained by big gas guzzlers such as the Silverado. (GM)
- Made an investment in US lithium producer Controlled Thermal Resources to try and boost the supply of the material from local sources without ethical question marks. The supply won’t start until 2024. (GM)
- CEO Barra reiterated her intention to transition to electric vehicles without employees losing their jobs – however she cautions that staff will need to understand technology better and be more flexible. (Detroit Free Press)
- Great Wall has postponed the final decision on whether or not to take over GM’s India factory by six months, to wait and see if the government improves its incentives. (Economic Times of India)
- Recalling 380,000 SUVs in the US because suspension parts are coming lose. (Detroit News)
- Announced a $25 million fund to support “equitable climate action”, GM-speak for improving access to new technologies and skills. Given the scale of the problem, it isn’t clear why GM’s contribution is so measly if it is taking the idea seriously. (GM)
- Confirmed that Honda’s GM-sourced all-electric car will be an SUV called Prologue, and there will be an Acura version too. (Honda)
- Hyundai reported Q2 2021 sales of 1,031,092 vehicles, up 46% on a year-over-year basis. (Hyundai)
Nissan and Mitsubishi (history)
- Nissan will build a new battery factory in the UK in partnership with Envision (Who acquired Nissan’s in-house battery unit). (BBC)
- Renault’s CEO says he has made an offer to join the battery JV between Stellantis and Total and that the “ball is in their court” about whether to proceed. Rather than set an end date for internal combustion engine sales, he says that he hopes the brand will reach 90% all-electric mix by 2030. He wants the company to re-enter the Chinese market but isn’t yet happy to sign off on a plan to do so arguing that it must be different to previous failed attempts. (Les Echos)
- Renault gave a presentation touting its battery electric credentials. The forthcoming Renault 5 will cost 33% less than the Zoe currently on sale and thinks that it can reduce total cost of ownership by almost €1,000 through V2G charging and residual value improvements. Renault also thinks it will have better range than competitors. The company also increased its commitment to battery electric vehicles and now aims to launch 10 by 2025. (Renault)
- Reportedly interested in taking a stake in charging network Ionity. (Economic Times of India)
- Announced supply agreements for batteries with Envision and French start-up Verkor. The former will build a battery factory on the site of an existing Renault engine factory. (Renault)
Stellantis (formed via the merger of PSA and FCA)
- Will hold an electric vehicle presentation for investors on 8th July. (Stellantis)
- The Grandland SUV received a minor refresh. (Auto Express)
- Reportedly set to award a new model, an all-electric van, to the Ellesmere Port, UK, plant after the government offered more support. (The Guardian)
- Reported Q2 2021 sales of 485,312 units, up 32% on a year-over-year basis. The improvements were led by the Jeep brand and Ram pickup truck. (Stellantis)
- Tata’s domestic sales in Q2 2021 of 107,786 units rose more than three times versus prior year. (Tata)
- Jaguar’s all-electric car range will be priced at around £100,000 as part of a move to take the brand more upmarket. It isn’t clear how the existing electric I-Pace, which will likely continue and has a far lower price, will affect efforts to change the marque’s status in the eyes of customers. (Auto Express)
- Tesla’s deliveries of 201,250 cars in Q2 2021 rose 121% on a year-over-year basis, thanks to growth from Model Y which more than offset continuing problems with the ramp-up of the refreshed Model X and Model S. (Tesla)
- Started deploying vision-only driver assistance to vehicles, doing away with radar sensor input. Tesla says that vehicle performance will take a step back at first. (Electrek)
- Lost a court case in Ohio where the state was suing for its own settlement for the diesel scandal. VW argued that it had compensated the US federal government for all violations and the matter was settled. The case may go to the US Supreme Court. (Handelsblatt)
- VW’s head of sales says that 95% of car transactions now start with a visit to the brand’s website and in Germany, he doesn’t see a noticeable bias towards electric vehicles amongst different generations, saying it is more a function of attitude than age. He claims that the Project Trinity electric car promised for 2026 will usher in a host of other changes at the company, including a “neural network above and beyond the fully connected vehicle fleet”. (VW)
- Porsche says that suppliers wanting to bid for new contracts will need to show they are using renewable energy for all projects awarded after July 2021. (Porsche)
Other
- Lordstown is reportedly under investigation by the US justice department. (Detroit News)
- Atlis says that it has $300 million of funding lined up. (Atlis)
- Fisker trumpeted the CEO’s visit to manufacturing partner Magna’s factory. In photos released to the press of his inspection, he strode around without safety shoes. (Fisker)
- Nio sold 21,896 cars in Q2 2021, up 112% vs prior year. (Nio)
- VinFast aims to sell 160,000 – 180,000 cars in the US, once it gets up to speed. (Nikkei)
- Ssangyong was granted more time by a South Korean judge to find a buyer after HAAH, who had been kicking the tyres, appeared to drop out. (Korea Herald)
News about other companies and trends
Economic / Political News
- The EU reckons that average new car emissions in 2020 fell to 107.8g CO2 / km. The official target is 95 g CO2 / km but compliance can be reached through super credits for emission free cars and in 2020 OEMs were able to exclude their worst performing vehicles from calculations. The EU seemed happy. (EU)
- The UK car manufacturers trade body said the country needs 60 GWh of local battery manufacturing capacity in place by 2030 and 2 GWh of fuel cells. (SMMT)
- US SAAR during June of 15.4 million units rose 18% versus prior year. (Wards)
- There were 186,128 passenger car registrations in the UK during June, up 28% on prior year. (SMMT)
- Germany saw 274,152 new car registrations in June, up 25% on June 2020. (KBA)
- Spanish registrations of 96,785 cars in June rose 17% on a year-over-year basis. (ANFAC)
- Italian sales of 149,438 cars in April 2021 were 13% above prior year levels. (UNRAE)
- June sales of 199,509 cars in France dropped (15)% versus a year ago. (CCFA)
Suppliers
- CATL signed a contract extension with Tesla to supply batteries through to 2025. (Clean Technica)
- Eberspaecher announced the acquisition of Vairex Air Systems / Victori. (Autocar)
Dealers
- Chinese salvage site Bochewang raised $96 million. (Deal Street Asia)
Driverless / Autonomy (history)
- Sensata Technologies will invest in Quanergy and help it bring new lidar products to market. (Quanergy)
- Driverless car start-up Ghost raised $100 million. (Ghost)
- BP invested $7 million in charging firm IoTecha. (IoTecha)
- Renault and Shell are reportedly interested in taking stakes in charging network Ionity. (Economic Times of India)
- Renault reckons that a car plugged in eight hours per day could yield €400 per year from V2G. (Renault)
Connectivity
- Volvo is building a “data factory” that will hold 200 PebiBytes of information from connected cars that Volvo can use to make changes to driver assistance packages, in the same way Tesla does. (Volvo)
Other
- Yamaha invested in online used motorbike dealership CredR. (Autocar)
SIGN UP TO GET THE WEEKLY BRIEFING EMAILED TO YOU
Find our archive here.