Monthly Archives: February 2018

Tesla Semi truck total cost of ownership, blockchain in cars, electric delivery vehicles and implications of electric cars for Big Oil … What else happened in the automotive and mobility sectors? Please enjoy our auto industry and mobility briefing for 19^th February to 25^th February 2018. A PDF version can be found here.

Favourite stories of the past week…?

• I Want More, More, More — DHL executives says that, now they’ve had a chance to give the costs a once-over, electric trucks like Tesla’s could pay for themselves in under two years, thanks to fuel and maintenance savings. If the practice matches the theory, then traditional manufacturers will be scrambling to catch up, will fleet customers be prepared to be patient? What will Optimus Prime do if he is recognisable as the only ICE truck in service?
• Search For The Hero Inside Yourself — Porsche says blockchain does much more than enable shady ICOs. Among the findings is that a distributed ledger can authorise mundane tasks, such as opening a car door with an app, far more quickly than relying on a centralised approval process.
• Brand New Friend — UPS had chosen Workhorse to help build its next-generation electrified delivery fleet. This seems like a massive collective failure of imagination by the OEMs to me. First DHL and now UPS; these customers are actively interested in electric vehicles but rather than create solutions that can be used as springboards into other business areas, it’s too niche for the OEMs to take notice (apparently the world needs a T-Roc convertible though). What will US Postal Service and FedEx do?
• The Shock Of The Lightning — BP think we might see peak oil before 2040 (in certain scenarios). It’s down to increased use of EVs. Although this isn’t the first such forecast (OPEC said something similar at the end of last year), it could be significant that oil companies are acknowledging a timeframe. Pressure will now increase from investors for them to explain how they remain relevant. Hopefully the answer lies partly in creating all the electric charging infrastructure everyone has been hoping for.

News is arranged by company and topic. Stories that apply to more than one company or topic are duplicated.

Find our archive here.

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News about the major automakers

BMW ^(history)

• As previously rumoured, BMW has been in talks with Great Wall about a joint venture to produce electric Minis in China and has now signed a letter of intent. (BMW)
• Ended production of the 3 Series in its Rosslyn, South Africa, factory. The plant is switching to X3 SUVs. (BMW)
• The redistribution of the Quandt family’s controlling shareholding has been finalised. It does not affect board positions or the free float of shares. (Manager Magazin)
• Moovit raised an additional $50 million from various sources including BMW iVentures and Intel. (FINSMES)

Daimler ^(history)

• Daimler’s Moovel subsidiary will pilot an on-demand shuttle service in Germany. (Daimler)
• Confirmed that Li Shufu of Geely had purchased a 9.7% stake in an announcement that was flattering yet also stressed the company had no plans to changes its partnerships in China. (Daimler)

FCA ^(history)

• FCA has reportedly decided to stop production of diesel vehicles from 2022 onwards. The move is set to be announced at the capital markets day in June. (Les Echos)

Ford ^(history)

• Ford’s North America head departed for unspecified improper behaviour and the company launched a wider reshuffle, including a number of moves amongst the finance leadership — possibly in a continued quest for a successor to the CFO. (Ford)

Geely (includes Volvo)

• Geely’s CEO took a 9.7% Daimler stake — larger than the 6% or so previously rumoured. (Manager Magazin)
  • Implication: Having now purchased large stakes in both Volvo group (the non-carmaking one) and Daimler, Geely’s strategy isn’t fully clear. Yes, it could help smooth the way for component sharing, but at the cost of tying up a substantial amount of capital. Unless the plan was to ultimately get Volvo to buy Daimler trucks and Daimler to buy Geely’s automotive operations with the money..? Surely not.

General Motors ^(history)

• Will build the Cadillac XT4 at its Fairfax plant in Kansas. (US News)
• Will reportedly keep its Oshawa, Canada plant on a single shift until late May, longer than previously expected. (Globe and Mail)
• Planning an extended summer shutdown at its Flint truck plant in order to increase capacity. (Detroit Bureau)
• Will invest 1.2 billion Brazilian reals in its Sao Caetano do Sul plant to increase capacity from 250,000 units annually to 330,000 units. (GM)
• Convened meetings with South Korean politicians and labour leaders in an attempt to finalise a plan to make operations in the country viable. Amongst the reported initiatives were a fresh injection of funds by GM, government support and wage freezes. In return, GM may allocate two new vehicles to factories in the country. (Reuters)

Honda ^(history)

• Announced a series of management changes. (Honda)

Nissan (includes Mitsubishi)

• Said that tests of its previously announced Easy Ride robo taxi pilot scheme would start on March 5^th. (Nissan)
• Will start Datsun sales in Zimbabwe. (Nissan)

PSA (includes Opel/Vauxhall) ^(history)

• Collaborating with Qualcomm on vehicle to infrastructure and vehicle to vehicle communications. (PSA)

Renault ^(history)

• Unveiled the all-electric Master Z.E. 1T commercial vehicle, which Renault claims has a 120 km real world range. The new van will be an early adopter of Renault’s Easy Connect fleet management software. (Renault)

Tata (includes JLR)

• Reportedly hired an investment bank to manage the sale of its Tata AutoComp Systems components subsidiary. (Deal Street Asia)

Tesla ^(history)

• Researchers found Tesla AWS cloud accounts were being used to mine cryptocurrency; the company said it corrected the problem soon after being alerted. (BBC)
• Executives at DHL said that the Tesla semi-truck (the company has ordered a test fleet of 10) could payback “within a year and a half”. (Reuters)
• Started a scheme that will offer free installation of Tesla-specific chargers to businesses. (The Verge)
• Elon Musk left the board of OpenAI to “eliminate a potential future conflict of interest” with Tesla’s work in the same field. (OpenAI)
• Model S reportedly outsold its German luxury contemporaries in Europe during 2017. (Manager Magazin)
• Has been replacing under-utilised supercharger stations with slower-charging units. (Inside EVs)

Toyota ^(history)

• Recalling around 74,000 vehicles in North America to correct seating and stability control issues. (Toyota)
• Announced an electric motor magnet design that Toyota says reduces rare earth material content by 50%. (Toyota)
• Uber’s CEO posted photos of a meeting with Toyota’s leadership, saying that the two companies were discussing a partnership for autonomous vehicles. (Deal Street Asia)

VW Group ^(history)

• Announced financial results for 2017. Revenue of €231 billion was up 6.2% versus 2016; operating profit increased to €17 billion, leading the company to propose doubling the dividend. (VW)
• Porsche said that it has already ceased production of diesel versions of the Macan and that sales of diesel Panamera would soon stop — customers are opting for hybrids in large numbers. Although it production of diesel engines for the current model Cayenne has stopped, it seems the successor vehicle will have diesel. (UN Climate Action Plan)
• Concluded pay negotiations with German unions, agreeing to a 4.3% rise and a new bonus scheme that can be taken as cash or additional leave. The agreement lasts until April 2020. (VW)
• Škoda unions are said to be demanding a 15% pay rise over 27 months, threatening “unlimited” strikes until agreement is reached. (Handelsblatt)
• Will invest €80 million in a cabriolet version of the T-Roc SUV. Sales will start in 2020 and the company aims to sell 20,000 units each year. Good luck. (VW)
• Porsche said that it is working on blockchain technology for application in vehicles. Alongside the expected talk of new business models, Porsche mentioned some additional benefits — a distributed ledger can speed up verification of commands, in Porsche’s case reducing the time it takes for a door opening command to activate. (Porsche)

Other

• A team of students in the Netherlands, working with 3D printing company Oceanz have produced a car, dubbed Noah, they claim is fully recyclable and suitable for production via 3D printing. (3d print)
• Mahindra & Mahindra said it would invest an additional 500 crores INR (about $77 million) in electric vehicles and components for EVs. (Mahindra)
• Mitsuoka launched the new Himiko, a Morgan-esque two seat sports car. (Mitsuoka)

News about other companies and trends

Economic / Political News

• UK government ministers said they are aiming for vehicle regulations to continue to be aligned between the UK and the EU post Brexit. (Economic Times of India)

Suppliers

• Bosch said it was creating a new mobility division and announced the acquisition of US start-up SPLT. (Bosch)
• Magna reported full year 2017 financial results. Revenue of $38.9 billion was up 7% on 2016, adjusted EBIT of $3.1 billion was also 7% higher than prior year. (Magna)
• Valeo reported financial results for 2017, sales of €18.6 billion rose 12% from 2016 and net income of €1 billion was up 8%. (Valeo)
• Delphi Technologies, the former powertrain division of Delphi before the separation into Delphi and Aptiv, released 2017 financial results; Revenues of $4.8 billion rose 9% on prior year, net income was $285 million. (Delphi)
• Visteon reported full year 2017 financial results. Revenue of $3.1 billion was about inline with 2016, Net income was $176 million. (Visteon)
• Continental will build a powertrain electronics factory in Hungary. The €100 million plant will employ 450 people and production is set to begin in Q3 2020. (Continental)
• Mahle said that it had developed a cheaper ethanol-based fuel called MBE2. The main innovation is a way of speeding up the fermentation process. (Mahle)

Dealers

• carlease.com, a provider of new cars delivered to customers’ doorsteps, said it raised $3.5 million. (Press Release)

Ride-Hailing, Car Sharing & Rental ^(history)

• Bosch said it was creating a new mobility division and acquired US start-up SPLT / Splitting Fares (Bosch)
  • Implication: If you want your mobility company to be acquired, maybe start a weekly newsletter? Both Stratim and SPLT did just this and now they belong to someone else.
• Sony is partnering with a group of Japanese taxi firms to create a ride hailing service. The company believes that it can offer artificial intelligence competencies that will set its efforts apart. (Reuters)
• Citymapper said that it had finished its pilot scheme running bus services in London and decided to start trials of a fleet of smaller minibuses. The company said it would like to operate larger vehicles but that regulations were currently too great an obstacle. (Citymapper)
  • Implication: Citymapper’s experience shows that for all the clever algorithms and awesome new never-seen-before ways of running a bus service, practical problems remain. Interestingly, one point the company didn’t mention was that bus services are often lossmaking anyway — it is common for larger public transport systems to have subsidies amount to between a third and a half of income. Ticket price rarely reflects operating cost.
• Car sharing firm MyKeego has started operations in Buenos Aires, Argentina. (Auto Rental)
• Moovit raised an additional $50 million from various sources including BMW iVentures and Intel. (FINSMES)
• Via won a contract to develop on-demand technology for public transport in Singapore. (Via)

Driverless / Autonomy ^(history)

• Avis said it will continue to expand its operations with Waymo. (Reuters)
• Uber’s CEO posted photos of a meeting with Toyota’s leadership, saying that the two companies were discussing a partnership for autonomous vehicles. (Deal Street Asia)
• Uber’s CEO said autonomous cars would be in operation on Uber’s network “in less than a year”. (Bloomberg)

Electrification ^(history)

• BP’s latest energy outlook forecast a peak demand for oil in the 2030s as growth in electric car sales reduces fossil fuel consumption. Under one scenario, 30% of vehicle miles in 2040 would be electric — implying a significantly higher than 30% share of new car sales at that point in time. (Reuters)
• Delivery firm UPS said it was working with electric vehicle start-up Workhorse on a bespoke electrified delivery vehicle. The collaboration initially hopes to create a test fleet of 50 vehicles. (The Verge)
  • UPS follows DHL (who bought Streetscooter) in deciding that mainstream OEMs aren’t up to the challenge of providing the vehicles that they need. US Postal Service could follow the same path. Given all the complaints from OEMs about customers not wanting electric vehicles, it’s a shame they aren’t taking greater advantage of the opportunities arising from those that do.
• Researchers published a paper indicating that lithium ion batteries could be charged much faster if fibre optic sensors were fitted to monitor heat within the battery, without causing large reductions in battery life. (Engadget)
• UK electricity network monopoly, National Grid, is proposing 100 high power charging stations along key motorway routes to provide stations within a 50 mile radius to 90% of motorists. (Engadget)
• Apple are reportedly changing their strategy on cobalt purchasing in the face of higher demand for the material created by electric vehicles. (The Verge)
• Toyota announced an electric motor magnet design it says reduces rare earth material content by 50%. (Toyota)

Connectivity

• Denso invested in cybersecurity start-up Dellfer which specialises in finding so called “zero day” weaknesses in security systems. (Denso)
• Panasonic agreed a partnership with Trend Micro to develop cyber security for connected cars. (Telematics News)
• Japanese telecoms company NTT Docomo invested in car data marketplace Otonomo. (Telematics News)

Other

• Airbus’s flying taxi, Vahana, took to the skies in test flights. The company revealed that a one minute flight used about 8% of the battery capacity. (Geekwire)
  • Implication: Either flying taxi companies are betting on massive improvements in weight and cost (probably) or are planning on woefully short ranges (probably not). The most likely way to keep these vehicles in the air continuously is (whisper it) battery swapping.
• Hong Kong-based dockless bike sharing scheme GoBee said it was shutting its operations in France, blaming vandalism and a weak business model. (TechCrunch)

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The Renault-Nissan alliance, public perception of internal combustion engines and electrifying sports cars … What else happened in the automotive and mobility sectors? Please enjoy our auto industry and mobility briefing for 12^th February to 18^th February 2018. A PDF version can be found here.

Favourite stories of the past week…?

• Irreplaceable — The Renault Board have told CEO Carlos Ghosn to make the alliance with Nissan irreversible. On the earnings call, Ghosn implied that he didn’t know what this meant (somewhat disingenuous as he is the Board’s Chairman). It looks as though he’ll have to play diplomat to competing French and Japanese concerns whilst creating some sort of Airbus-without-the-Hassle entity. I hope he has plenty of Ferrero Rocher…
• Never Gonna Give You Up — Mazda were oddly gleeful in releasing a report saying nearly 60% of European consumers expect further innovation from internal combustion engines. They seem unperturbed by the 40% that don’t, even though most of them have never experienced an electric car (just my assumption based on the mathematical fact of low sales mix for EVs). Mazda should be drawing the opposite conclusion to their headline: electric vehicles are coming because loads of customers want them.
• Good Thing — Porsche wrote a press release in praise of electric sports cars. The company reckons that good designs will wow with their acceleration and dynamics. Porsche’s conversion is significant because it suggests baby steps towards the justification for a pricing methodology for electric vehicles versus diesel and petrol. Thus far, the accepted wisdom has been that electric cars need to reach price parity (ignoring the fact that there is no price parity between petrol and diesel, or different power levels). Charging for extra acceleration probably won’t close the cost gap yet, but why not get something for your efforts?

News is arranged by company and topic. Stories that apply to more than one company or topic are duplicated.

Find our archive here.

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News about the major automakers

Daimler ^(history)

• Will not attend the 2019 Detroit show because it believes the CES has become more important. (Bloomberg)
• Will show the new C-Class and AMG GT at the Geneva show. (Daimler)
• Rumours US investigators had found emissions test defeating software were denied by Daimler. (Manager Magazin)

FCA ^(history)

• Recalling around 230,00 trucks in North America (180,000 in the US) due to problems with the parking brake. (FCA)
• Reportedly updated the uConnect system with a version containing a bug that causes the system to reset every minute or so — infotainment, heating and camera functions are affected. (Autonomes Fahren)

Ford ^(history)

• Investing a further $25 million in its Kentucky plant to increase Navigator and Expedition production, saying that the plant is already working a continuous three shift pattern and over the weekend. (Ford)
• Recalling a small number of Escape and MKC vehicles to correct brake problems. (Ford)
• Wants to reduce the number of expatriate employees in its Chinese business by 30%. (Ford)
• Extended a do not drive warning on vehicles with Takata airbags that have not yet been repaired. (Reuters)

Geely (includes Volvo)

• Proton published an open letter making a series of concessions to help Malaysian dealers improve their profits. (Malay Mail Online)

General Motors ^(history)

• Is closing the Gunsan, South Korea, plant. The company said that in the last three years plant utilisation has been around 20%. Shutting down operations will cost $375 million in employee payouts, with another $475 million of asset write-offs. The company said performance in South Korea needed to improve with a concrete plan by the end of February — suggesting it close other factories if necessary. (GM)
• South Korean officials were apparently taken by surprise by GM’s announcement with insiders saying that trust with the company had collapsed. (Reuters)

Hyundai / Kia

• Hyundai’s head of autonomous vehicles said that sales will be driven by ride sharing fleets rather than individual customers. (Bloomberg)

Mazda

• 58% of drivers Mazda surveyed said that they expect more innovation from internal combustion engines trumpeting the results as confirmation that “consumers don’t necessarily share the view of many organisations that the internal combustion engine has no role to play in the future of cars”. (Mazda)
  • Implication: Mazda is missing the point. By its results, 42% of customers think ICEs are finished — and this is at a time when the sales rate of electric vehicles is in the low single digit percentages. Whether or not the technology is finished — and there is good reason to believe ICEs can offer quite substantial further efficiencies — electric vehicles are going to take increasingly large shares of the market and it’s a big call to have a portfolio that lacks depth in the technology.

PSA (includes Opel/Vauxhall) ^(history)

• Confirmed an all-electric Corsa will be produced from 2020 onwards. There will be four electrified vehicles in the Opel range by 2020. (PSA)
• Opel’s captive finance unit aims to increase its share of Opel sales to 1/3 of vehicles by 2020. It will launch new services, including financing for fleet sales. (PSA)
• Faurecia reported 2017 financial results. Revenue of €17 billion was up 10.6% versus prior year, operating income of €1.17 billion rose 20.6%. (Faurecia)

Renault ^(history)

• Reported 2017 financial results. Revenue of €58.8 billion was 14.7% higher than 2016. Operating profit rose to €3.9 billion. (Renault)
• CEO Carlos Ghosn said he believes that Renault and Nissan are “well advanced” in understanding how to make money from electric cars and that rising raw material costs are not a threat since battery design is improving. (CNBC)
• As expected, the Renault board recommended that CEO Carlos Ghosn have his contract extended until 2022, calling on him to make the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance “irreversible”. (Renault)
• CEO Ghosn said that European customers are “running out of diesel” and that retail customer demand for gasoline was much higher than the current sales rate. He cited the Dacia Sandero as a vehicle where Renault was seeing a particularly large swing in demand. (Seeking Alpha)

Toyota ^(history)

• Recalling around 22,000 vehicles in North America to correct problems with the fuel system. (Toyota)
• Executives said Toyota is looking at scenarios where individuals have mainly given up their own cars in favour of autonomous services, but those that remain are more like “pure race cars”. (Economic Times of India)
  • Implication: These comments mirror Ad Punctum’s future state hypothesis: privately owned cars will not be eliminated (although numbers will reduce significantly), but they will have to become more compelling and emotional to justify their purchase — yet still affordable.

VW Group ^(history)

• Porsche issued a press release championing EVs; the brand drew attention to the acceleration and cornering dynamics that come with good execution. (Porsche)
  • Implication: Ad Punctum’s belief is that electric cars offer performance that is revenue-worthy in its own right and although this may not be sufficient to close the near-term cost gap to an ICE product, its better to make the most of it than leave it on the table. Porsche’s article indicates that acceleration and handling will make up a big part of the Mission E sales pitch to customers.
• SEAT acquired Madrid car sharing company Respiro and its fleet of 200 cars. (SEAT)
• There could be strikes at Škoda after unions rejected the company’s offer of a pay rise in line with inflation. (Reuters)
• VW said that it is producing powertrain units for electric cars (e-up!, e-Golf and Passat GTE) at a rate of around 200 per day. (VW)
  • Implication: Although almost negligible in the overall scheme of things, this suggests an annual run-rate of almost 50,000 units per year — enough to move VW into the middle of the EV pack.

Other

• Vietnamese company VinFast will develop two new cars (a sedan and an SUV) designed by Pininfarina selected after feedback from an internet contest. VinFast are aiming for annual sales of 100,000 to 200,000 units by 2025, with the first vehicle launching in 2019. (Mahindra)
• Ineos Automotive has contracted a team of 200 engineers from MBTech to develop the Grenadier SUV. The company says prototypes will be running in 2018, with production vehicles in 2020. (Autocar)
• Dyson are reportedly planning a 10,000 unit run for their first car, with two subsequent vehicles realising higher volumes. (Autocar).
• US start-up Hackrod is aiming to raise $1 million for development of a 3D printed sports car. (3D printing industry)
• Morgan posted 2017 profits of £2 million on revenues of £36 million (up 19% versus 2016). (Morgan)

News about other companies and trends

Economic / Political News

• European car sales grew by 7.1% on a year-over-year basis, to 1,253,877 vehicles. (ACEA)
• German politicians are reportedly at odds over whether any taxpayer money should be used to pay for retrofitting diesel vehicles to meet more stringent emissions criteria. (Manager Magazin)

Suppliers

• Faurecia reported 2017 financial results. Revenue of €17 billion was up 10.6% versus prior year, operating income of €1.17 billion rose 20.6%. (Faurecia)
• Cummins has acquired the automotive battery business of Johnson Matthey. (Autocar)
• Michelin’s 2017 net revenue was €22 billion and operating income was €2.74 billion. (Michelin) The company also said that it was buying a 20% stake in German automotive servicing company ATU. (Michelin).
• Plastic Omnium had 2017 revenue of €8 billion, up 15% on 2016, net profit was €425 million. (Plastic Omnium)
• American Axle reported 2017 sales of $6.3 billion and net income of $337 million. (American Axle)
• Bridgestone reported 2017 revenue of 3.6 trillion yen, up 9% on 2016; operating income of 419 billion yen was (7)% lower than prior year. (Bridgestone)
• Borg Warner reported its financial results for 2017. Sales of $9.8 billion rose 8% versus 2016, operating income was $1.1 billion. (Borg Warner)
• Dana reported 2017 financial results, sales of $7.2 billion increased 24% versus 2016, profit was $111 million. (Dana)
• Gestamp has purchased a stampings plant in Brazil to supply Toyota’s operations there. (Gestamp)
• Honeywell announced that its COO would become the next CEO and Chairman. (Honeywell)

Ride-Hailing, Car Sharing & Rental ^(history)

• Mahindra purchased a 16% stake in car sharing firm Zoomcar. The two are already partnering in a scheme to create more electric car sharing. (Mahindra)
• Uber is reportedly in talks to sell its ASEAN business to Grab in exchange for a part stake in the company. (CNBC)
• Uber’s CEO is “pretty darn confident” that the company could be profitable in the near future, if it chose to reduce spending on growth and innovation. He is hoping Uber will have a “path” to profitability in 2019 when it plants to start talking in detail about an IPO. (Business Insider)
• Uber lost $(1.1) billion in Q4 2017 on bookings of $11.06 billion and net revenue of $2.26 billion. (Business Insider)
• Uber published a white paper about its vision for work in Europe, arguing that it provided a useful opportunity for freelance work that could help people earn, and championing the gig economy in general. (Uber)
• South Korean ride hailing company Kakao Mobility has acquired car pooling start-up Luxi. (Deal Street Asia)
• Lyft is trialling a new partnership in Baltimore where users can book a bike rental and be dropped off at the bike sharing station. (Lyft)
• SEAT acquired Madrid car sharing company Respiro and its fleet of 200 cars. (SEAT)

Driverless / Autonomy ^(history)

• Hyundai’s head of autonomous vehicles said that sales will be driven by ride sharing fleets rather than individual customers. (Bloomberg)
• Waymo has received a permit to operate commercial ride-hailing services in the state of Arizona, where it already has a test fleet. (Quartz)
• A report by the London Assembly (regional government) said that the city would not be ready for driverless cars before 2030, and urged the adoption of car sharing instead. (Bloomberg)
• Mining company Rio Tinto said that it would increase its 80 vehicle autonomous mining truck fleet to 140 units by 2019, citing substantial increases in productivity and cost reductions. (Rio Tinto)
• Driverless buses are going into operation at Fukushima, reducing the number of people at the site. (Japan Times)
  • Implication: This is a high-profile example of a niche use-case area that autonomous vehicles will very soon be commercially capable — shuttle services on closed, or low volume roads. Although these applications will not create demand for millions of vehicles, they will provide valuable learning and demonstration of the value and safety record of AVs.

Electrification ^(history)

• Mahindra unveiled an electric platform called MESMA that can accommodate a range of battery sizes between 21 kWh and 54 kWh (in extended wheelbase form). Initial production vehicles will be released before 2021. (Autocar)
• Faraday Future has reportedly raised a further $1.5 billion, over $500 million of which is in the bank. The company held a special presentation to reassure suppliers and a smaller product, dubbed FF81 is now rumoured to be in development. (Business Insider)
• China has changed its subsidy scheme for electric cars. Vehicles with a range of beyond 400km now receive a larger incentive, while the qualifying level for any amount has been raised to a range of 150km. (Bloomberg)
• 70% of respondents to a Spanish survey believe all cars will soon become electrified. (Facon Auto)

Connectivity

• Denso took a stake in cloud-based software development firm Creationline. (Denso)
• PayByCar announced an agreement to use toll payment systems from E-ZPass to provide a aftermarket in-vehicle payments system. (Xconomy)

Other

• An Australian university is developing a bodywork repair robot that uses 3D printed parts. (3D Printing Industry)
• Ride hailing firm Careem acquired a restaurant listings firm to help it enter the food delivery market. (Reuters)

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Aston Martin’s way of working, electric vehicle supply shortages, the advent of seamless door-to-door mobility and self-driving partnerships … What else happened in the automotive and mobility sectors? Please enjoy our auto industry and mobility briefing for 5^th February to 11^th February 2018. A PDF version can be found here.

Favourite stories of the past week…?

• This Is How We Do It — Aston Martin CEO Andy Palmer gave an interesting interview the other day. Aside from some details about the company’s strategy, there is an idiot’s guide to product planning and segmentation that should be required reading at well-funded start-ups. He also gives a view on why there are a dearth of carmakers in the 15,000 – 150,000 annual volume category.
• Wasting My Time In The Waiting Line — Electric vehicles seem to be getting harder to buy in Europe, with reports of long waiting lists at many manufacturers. Will manufacturers see customers wait patiently or will they defect to those with supply available? Customers don’t shop around as much as many people think so if you lose them now, they might not be back once you start taking supply seriously.
• If You Wanna Ride With Me — Europcar is putting together a service where it will provide a taxi ride to and from the rental centre. It’s likely to be expensive but this is the right sort of thinking for companies that really want to change mobility and take people out of car ownership. It needs to be made easy (getting there), cheap (a bit of work to do) and abundant (the units are there, its just the arrangement that is woeful).
• Friends Will Be Friends — The web of autonomous vehicle development becomes ever more complex: Continental (already part of the BMW/Intel group) are partnering with Nvidia (who are working with Volkswagen); Hyundai (working with Aurora) seem to be close to joining BMW/Intel; and Aurora (VW/Hyundai) just agreed a deal to work with Byton. The upshot is that the sooner everyone tots up umpteen different working relationships, the sooner they realise that they can combine forces much more effectively.

News is arranged by company and topic. Stories that apply to more than one company or topic are duplicated.

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News about the major automakers

BMW ^(history)

• Invested in Fair.com — the recent acquirers of Uber’s leasing business. At the same time, Fair purchased Skurt, a fleet management company BMW had previously invested in. (FINSMES)
• Long-rumoured talks for Hyundai to join BMW’s self-driving alliance are reportedly in the final stages. (Handelsblatt)

Daimler ^(history)

• Launched the new Sprinter, saying that the all-electric eSprinter version would go on sale in 2019. (Daimler)
• Mercedes-Benz’s VP of strategy said putting self-driving systems in a vehicle with an internal combustion engine “doesn’t make sense” because of the negative impact on fuel economy. (Wired)
• Came in for criticism in Europe after Mercedes used a Dalai Lama quote on its Instagram feed and then deleted it, fearing uproar in China. (Manager Magazin)
• Executives said that a series production vehicle with a hybrid architecture based on the Formula One-derived Project One would be available in 2020/21. (Autocar)

FCA ^(history)

• Unions said that the company plans to cut production at the Mirafiori plant, where the Maserait Levante is produced, by an equivalent of 60% in the first six months. There were also several down days at the end of last year. (Reuters)
• Standard & Poors upgrades its rating for FCA to BB+ and maintained a positive outlook. (FCA)

Ford ^(history)

• Reportedly applied for a banking licence in Germany to allow its Ford Credit business to operate in Europe in the event that passporting is lost due to Brexit. (Reuters)

Geely (includes Volvo)

• Production of Polestar 1 hybrid cars might grow beyond 500 units per year if Volvo can find ways to increase capacity. (Automotive News)
• Volvo cars reported 2017 financial results. Revenue of 210.9 billion SEK (about $26.1 billion) was up 16.6% compared with 2016, while profit of 14.1 billion SEK (about $1.75 billion) was up 27.7%. (Volvo)

General Motors ^(history)

• Reported financial results for 2017; a net loss due to sale of Opel / Vauxhall and tax changes were not included in GM’s headline adjusted EBIT of $12.8 billion. (GM)
• GM Ventures invested in Yoshi, a callout car maintenance and refuelling service. (FINSMES)

Hyundai / Kia

• Long-rumoured talks for Hyundai to join BMW’s self-driving alliance are reportedly in the final stages. Memo: Hyundai recently announced a collaboration with Aurora on driverless cars. (Handelsblatt)
• Announced a goal of 10,000 hydrogen filled vehicles sold by 2022. (Yonhap)

Mazda

• Reported Q4 2017 financial results; revenue of 2.5 trillion yen was up 8.5% on a year earlier, operating income of 107 billion yen was 5.1% up. (Mazda)

Nissan (includes Mitsubishi)

• Nissan reported financial results for Q4 2018, revenue of 2,943 billion yen was down (2.2)% on a year-over-year basis, profit of 163.5 billion yen was down (15.1)%. Nissan held its forecast FY revenue but reduced the profit outlook by (12.4)%. (Nissan)
• Mitsubishi reported financial results for Q4 2017, revenue of 1.5 trillion yen was up 13.1% on a year-over-year basis. Operating profit of 64 billion yen was a marked improvement from a (23) billion yen loss in 2016 Q4. (Mitsubishi)
• Announced a new investment plan for its Chinese JV. The aim is to increase volumes from 1.52 million in 2017 to 2.6 million by 2022. The DFL Triple On plan will see new models launched, including 20 electrified models (not all BEVs) — by 2022 the JV expects these models to make up 30% of sales. (Nissan)
• Published a research report that said 37% of ASEAN customers planning to buy a car are open to an EV. (Nissan)

PSA (includes Opel/Vauxhall) ^(history)

• Said that there are now 600,000 Free2Move customers — the service covers 30 services in 10 countries. (PSA)
• Acquired a controlling interest in Chinese spare parts distributor Jian Xin. (PSA)
• Production in Poissy was disrupted by heavy snow. (France Info)

Renault ^(history)

• One of the two top executives believed to be in contention to succeed CEO Carlos Ghosn resigned; it is now likely that the chief competitive officer will be named COO and become CEO in time. (Reuters)
• Said it was holding back on bringing an EV portfolio to India until it knows the government’s infrastructure plan. (Economic Times of India)
• Production in Flins was disrupted by heavy snow. (France Info)

Suzuki

• Reported Q4 2017 financial results, revenue and profits continued to grow strongly but the company maintained its full year guidance (now looking conservative), citing concerns over exchange rate volatility. (Suzuki)

Tata (includes JLR)

• Tata Motors announced Q4 2018 financial results, revenue of 74,157 Rs Cr (about $11.1 billion) was up 16.1% year-over-year, mostly thanks to growth from Tata branded vehicles. PBT ws 2,029 Rs Cr (about $300 million). (Tata)
• JLR reported Q4 2018 financial results (included in the Tata figures above). Revenue of £6.3 billion rose 4.3% year-over-year and the business reported profits of £192 million. (JLR)
• Tata intends to double its dealer footprint in India to 1,500 sites by 2020 — covering around 90% of the market (from 70% today). (Economic Times of India)

Tesla ^(history)

• Reported financial results for full year 2017, losing almost $(2) billion on automotive revenues of $8.5 billion. Tesla said that Model S and X were now constrained by supply of the 18650 form factor cell that they use — a new excuse and slightly odd given Tesla’s past projections of 150,000+ deliveries for the two models combined. Production problems don’t seem to be putting customers off though — deposits shot up 24% to $854 million, but that could all be reservations for Founders Series Roadster (worth $250 million if they were all taken, which they aren’t yet). (Tesla)
• Said that it a high profile coast-to-coast autonomous vehicle demonstration is delayed because it is waiting to use coding that could be used in many locations rather; than “game it” with specialised software. (TechCrunch)
• Elon Musk wouldn’t give firm answers on current Model 3 status, preferring to lay a big portion of the blame on 3^rd parties suppliers of manufacturing facilities. Keen Tesla watchers will remember that Tesla cut out some parts of the normal prototype build phase to save time, that wasn’t mentioned as a potential cause. (Seeking Alpha)
• The head of sales and service is leaving the company (to go to Lyft) and will not be replaced; his responsibilities will be absorbed by the CEO. (Seeking Alpha)
• Elon Musk said annual production of 100,000 trucks is a “reasonable” target and reiterated that he believes camera, lidar and ultrasonic sensors will be a sufficient sensor set for autonomous driving. He was particularly critical of 400nm to 700nm lidar — slightly odd because it is not the area of focus for many suppliers who are instead working between 900nm – 1500nm. (Seeking Alpha)
  • Implication: Our analysis indicates that Mr Musk is missing the point — radar is the only sensor set Tesla will be fitting with a range beyond 100m, simply for purposes of redundancy we think additional sensor types will be required, regardless of how intelligent the neural net Tesla develops becomes (and it needs to be very clever indeed to do object recognition from contemporary radar sensors).

Toyota ^(history)

• Reported Q4 2018 financial results, revenue and profits continued to grow strongly, in part due to a weakened yen. The company revised its financial forecasts up, whilst keeping sales outlook flat, as a result. (Toyota)
• Toyota will make an investment in cab company JapanTaxi and the two will work together on development of mobility services. (Toyota)

VW Group ^(history)

• German prosecutors investigating manipulation of diesel emissions carried out new raids on Audi. (Handelsblatt)
• Porsche said it would invest €6 billion in electrified vehicles by 2022, an increase of €3 billion from the prior plan. €500 million of this will be for additional variants of the MissionE (2-3 new top hats by our maths); €700 million is to be spent on non-vehicle projects such as infrastructure. (Porsche)
  • Implication: if Porsche needs to spend €6 billion / $7.3 billion on electrification by 2022, maybe Ford ($11 billion by 2022) needs to take a second look at its plans.
• Porsche and Audi executives said that the two firms would save around 30% investment by sharing an EV platform, in development for launch around 2025. (Engadget)
• Scania and Chinese truckmaker Haylion agreed a collaboration to work on autonomous trucks. (Scania)

Other

• Subaru reported Q4 2017 financial results; revenue of 2.6 trillion yen was up 5.6% year-over-year but operating income slipped slightly to 306 billion yen. (Subaru)
• Aston Martin’s CEO said the company will “never make more than 7,000 sports cars a year”; SUVs are incremental to this — the company hopes for sales of between 5,000 – 7,000 per year from its forthcoming model. (Automobile)
• McLaren’s CEO said that all future models, starting with the Sports Series replacement in 2019, will only be offered with hybrid engines (except possibly for some trackday specials). (Autocar)
• UK hydrogen powered vehicle start-up RiverSimple launched a new crowdfunding round; aiming to create a test fleet driven by members of the public. (Riversimple)

News about other companies and trends

Economic / Political News

• There were 269,429 passenger car registrations in Germany during January, an 11.6% year-over-year increase. (KBA)
• UK passenger car registrations for January of 163,315 fell (6.3)% on a year earlier. The biggest declines were seen in business purchases, which fell (1.8)%. (SMMT)

Suppliers

• Continental and Nvidia agreed a partnership for self-driving car technology, intending to integrate Continental’s sensor technology with Nvidia’s chips. The partners hope to be able to offer a Level 3 product in 2021. (Continental)
  • Implication: a near-term timeline for offering a level 3 system somewhat undermines the insistence of multiple companies around developing their own bespoke solution. The partnership also highlights the increasing complexity of relationships: Continental is one of the integration partners for BMW / Intel and Nvidia is the chosen component supplier for VW.

Dealers

• US vehicle auctions technology provider KAR acquired fleet management start-up Stratim, saying that the two firms shared many of the same customers. (Auto Rental)

Ride-Hailing, Car Sharing & Rental ^(history)

• Didi announced a deal with 12 carmakers — including the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance; KIA and a series of Chinese manufacturers — to work on a future electric car sharing network. (Deal Street Asia)
• Europcar said it would start offering integrated taxi rides to and from the rental location into leasing offers; using the Brunel ride hailing service it acquired last year. (Auto Rental International)
• com — the recent acquirers of Uber’s leasing business — completed a new round of fund raising. At the same time, Fair purchased Skurt, a fleet management company BMW had previously invested in. (FINSMES)
• Business expense company Certify said that 68% of US travel spending on its systems in 2017 was on ride hailing services, against 7% for taxi rides. (Auto Rental)
• Communauto subsidiary Vrtucar acquired longstanding Canadian operator Community CarShare. (Auto Rental)
• Zoomcar said that its revenue had grown 40% on a year-over-year basis and that it was launching a bike sharing scheme called PEDL (Auto Rental)

Driverless / Autonomy ^(history)

• Byton announced a partnership with Aurora to develop level 4 and 5 self-driving vehicles. (Byton)
• Uber and Waymo settled their ongoing case over stolen IP after a few days in court. The $245 million settlement will be paid in Uber stock at a $72 billion valuation. Google emails released during the trial confirmed that the company had tried to agree a tie-up with Ford (long rumoured but previously denied by both companies). (Futurism)
• Continental and Nvidia agreed a partnership for self-driving car technology, intending to integrate Continental’s sensor technology with Nvidia’s chips. The partners hope to be able to offer a Level 3 product in 2021. (Continental)
• Autonomous truck company Embark said it had completed a 2,400 mile journey from California to Florida to test its systems (with safety drivers). There were numerous disengagements but the company was encouraged that often the intervals were several hours at a time (not unexpected from highway driving if the system is competent). (Engadget)
• Uber’s CEO said that because some routes are “tricky” for autonomous vehicles, Uber expects to see “a mix of human-driven vehicles along self-driving ones for years to come”. The company also thinks that self-driving cars “must” be shared, rather than individually owned. (Uber)
• Scania and Chinese truckmaker Haylion agreed a collaboration to work on autonomous trucks. (Scania)
• Long-rumoured talks for Hyundai to join BMW’s self-driving alliance are reportedly in the final stages. Memo: Hyundai recently announced a collaboration with Aurora on driverless cars. (Handelsblatt)
• Mercedes-Benz’s VP of strategy said putting self-driving systems in a vehicle with an internal combustion engine “doesn’t make sense” because of the negative impact on fuel economy. (Wired)

Electrification ^(history)

• Lithium-ion battery maker Farasis Energy raised almost $800 million. (Deal Street Asia)
• Chinese electric car designer SKIO Matrix has reportedly raised $159 million in funding (China Money Network)
• Solid state battery developer Ionic materials received $65 million in investment from Alliance Ventures (Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi) amongst others. (Deal Street Asia)
• The Ionity charging network, backed by a group of OEMs, released a (not very detailed) map of its intended charging network in Europe. (Electrek)
• Several European carmakers are reportedly seeing growing waiting lists for their all-electric products. (Golem)
• Porsche and Audi executives said that the two firms would save around 30% investment by sharing an EV platform, in development for launch around 2025. (Engadget)

Other

• ComfortDelGro expanded its footprint in the UK (buying a bus company) and China (buying a taxi company)
• Passenger carrying drone start-up Ehang released footage of what it says are some of the hundreds of test flights it has conducted with human beings in the cockpit. (The Verge)
• Bicycle sharing company Spin has added electric scooters to its line-up. Inner children can be released at speeds of up to 15mph. (TechCrunch)

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Autonomous vehicles in court, the next step for internal combustion engines and carmakers crying foul of CO₂ targets… What else happened in the automotive and mobility sectors? Please enjoy our auto industry and mobility briefing for 29^th January to 4^th February 2018. A PDF version can be found here.

Favourite stories of the past week…?

• Hit Me Baby One More Time — GM is being sued by a motorcyclist who collided with one of their autonomous test vehicles. If the case gets to court it’s going to be interesting for a myriad of reasons… what responsibility do the developers and test drivers have? How is evidence submitted? Is it the other person’s fault if the autonomous vehicle behaves oddly and they don’t give it a wide berth?
• It’s Getting Hot In Here — Mazda is targeting 56% thermal efficiency from its third generation Skyactiv engine. This might not mean much to non-eggheads but it’s some way above the performance of modern Formula One engines and will lead to big CO₂ reductions if they can achieve it.
• Not Fair — European manufacturer’s group ACEA has complained that the EU’s CO2 targets are not “technology neutral” and that the rules favour battery electric vehicles too much, “imposing a technology choice”. But… apart from the OEMs and Jeremy Clarkson, who thinks that’s a bad thing?

News is arranged by company and topic. Stories that apply to more than one company or topic are duplicated.

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News about the major automakers

BMW ^(history)

• Acquired full control of car sharing brand DriveNow, buying out Sixt. (BMW)
• Reportedly suspending production of M550i in Europe because BMW hasn’t managed to make technical changes to the vehicle necessary to comply with WLTP-based emissions measuring. (BMW Blog)

Daimler ^(history)

• Reported 2017 full year financial results. Revenue of €164.3 billion was up 7% versus 2016. EBIT of €14.7 billion was up 14%. Daimler expects sales and revenue to increase in 2018 but profits to remain flat. (Daimler)
• Launched the new A-Class. The new compact car uses petrol engines developed with Renault and owners can authorise family members to access and drive the car for limited periods using their smartphones — avoiding having to hand the key over every time. (Daimler)

FCA ^(history)

• FCA and Waymo agreed a deal for “thousands” of Chrysler Pacifica minvans for delivery from late 2018 onwards. The number of vehicles wasn’t specified but note that thus far Waymo has purchased 700 vehicles, supporting several test fleets and a single town of service provision. (FCA).
• The US department of justice has told FCA that it wants the company to pay “very substantial” fines to settle charges over diesel emissions cheating. (Reuters)

Ferrari

• Reported 2017 financial results. Revenue of €3.4 billion was up 10% on 2016, with deliveries up 4.8% to 8,398 units. Adjusted EBIT was €775 million. In 2019 the company aims to sell over 9,000 vehicles. (Ferrari)

Ford ^(history)

• Will launch the Chariot bus service in London, the first European city. A fleet of 14 vehicles will run on four routes, all with snazzy alliterative titles (“Shooters Hill Shot” feels a bit weak; we would have gone for Sprinter, potential trademark disputes with Mercedes-Benz notwithstanding). The service is free for the first two weeks. (Ford)
• Ford’s China CEO, an external hire, departed after five months in the role. (Detroit Free Press)
• Launched the Freestyle, a compact sized crossover in India. (Autocar)
  • Implication: Apart from highlighting the meaninglessness of the “crossover” moniker (Ford describes the Ecosport in identical terms), the vehicle shows that Ford is taking a different path from Renault. Whereas the French brand has created value “Kaptur” vehicles that share contemporary western styling, Ford’s Figo-based product is clearly not design-led.
• Moody’s downgraded the company’s rating outlook from stable to negative. (Detroit Free Press)

Geely (includes Volvo)

• Autocar magazine claimed that Volvo’s first all-electric car will be a hatchback, similar to the 40.2 concept. (Autocar)
• Lotus’s CEO plans to launch two new sports cars by 2020 and an SUV by 2022. (Car Magazine)
• Reportedly secured sufficient shares to take the 5% stake in Daimler mentioned before Christmas. (Handelsblatt)

General Motors ^(history)

• Being sued over a collision between a motorcycle and a Cruise-operated Chevrolet Bolt. GM (citing the police report) say the motorcyclist is responsible for cutting into the Bolt’s lane; he says it was driving erratically. (Engadget)
  • Implication: If the case goes to trial, it will be interesting to watch the arguments around the culpability of the vehicle programmers and safety driver, in addition to the extent of evidence submitted from the car’s own sensors and whether behaving unpredictably (if at all) is the AVs fault, or something the following motorist should monitor more carefully.

Honda ^(history)

• Reported full year 2017 production of 5,236,842 vehicles, up 4.8% on 2016. (Honda)
• Released financial results for Q4 2017 (fiscal third quarter). Revenue and operating profits both improved on a year earlier and Honda raised its full year outlook for both revenue and operating profit. (Honda)

Hyundai / Kia

• Kia says that it will stop selling Diesel variants of Rio and Venga in the UK because of falling volumes. (Autocar)

Mazda

• Reported full year 2017 production figures of 1,607,602 vehicles, 1.4% up on 2016. (Mazda)
• Believes that it can achieve 56% thermal efficiency for the Skyactiv-3 gasoline engine (due sometime in the 2020s), which would reduce CO₂ by a quarter from today’s engines. (Automotive News)
  • Implication: Although the numbers might not seem to mean much, this is an ambitious target. Mercedes say that their F1 engine recently achieved 50% in laboratory conditions. Getting an even higher level of performance from a considerably cheaper road car engine that has to be many times more durable will be a significant challenge — likely to take several years.

Nissan (includes Mitsubishi)

• Announced a collaboration with carpooling app Hytch whereby Nissan will sponsor a system of reward payments made to both drivers and passengers who choose carpooling instead of separate journeys. (Nissan)

PSA (includes Opel/Vauxhall) ^(history)

• Reached a five year labour agreement with unions at the Zaragoza, Spain plant. Wages will be frozen in 2018 and shift premiums and holiday bonuses will be slightly reduced. (PSA)
• Free2Move will run a bicycle sharing pilot in Singapore that uses electrically assisted bikes. (PSA)
• Opel announced new importers in Morocco, where it aims to get 5% market share by 2025, and Tunisia. (Opel)

Suzuki

• Released its annual CSR and environmental report. (Suzuki)
• Produced 3,302,336 vehicles globally in 2017, 12.1% up on 2016. (Suzuki)
• Will launch EVs for the Indian market in 2020 based on technology developed in-house by Suzuki before the start of its electric vehicle agreement with Toyota. (Times of India)

Tata (includes JLR)

• Confirmed that it had an extended Christmas shutdown at Castle Bromwich plant (which makes almost all Jaguar models) and that further downtime was scheduled in the near future. (Coventry Telegraph)

Tesla ^(history)

• Teardown company Munro Associates gave the Model 3 a poor review for a number of design elements. (Inquisitr)

Toyota ^(history)

• Announced full year global production of 10,466,451 vehicles, a 2.5% increase on 2016. (Toyota)
• Agreed a series of projects with Chubu Electric Power on use of second-life vehicle batteries in stationary storage facilities and battery recycling. The companies hope to have a 10,000 battery system by 2020. (Toyota)
  • Implication: Although this is firmly at the unexciting end of the battery electric ecosystem, batteries will be unable in vehicles long before they reach the end of their life (they will probably have to be removed when at circa 80% of new capacity). Re-using them in a cost efficient manner (e.g. without extensive re-processing) and creating improved recycling processes (thus far, lithium ion recycling is much more expensive than for lead acid batteries) will help improve the battery electric business case.
• Is recalling 49,000 hybrid vehicles to correct a problem that prevents the airbags working correctly. (Toyota)
• Made an investment in flying taxi company Joby Aviation. (Toyota)

VW Group ^(history)

• Launched Cupra as a standalone sporty sub-brand within SEAT. (SEAT)
• Porsche executives talked about plans for the all-electric Mission E sports car, saying that although annual production was planned at 20,000 units there is “a little leeway” to produce more; that they were investigating additional derivatives and that Porsche are seeing “a trend towards shorter lifecycles” than the traditional 5-7 years. (VW)

Other

• Subaru reported global production of 1,073, 057 vehicles in 2017. (Subaru)
• In addition to performing emissions testing on monkeys, it turned out that researchers funded by BMW, Daimler and VW also used humans. Daimler and VW suspended senior managers as a result. (The Guardian)
• As negotiations between German employers and unions continued, workers increased their walkouts to periods of 24 hours — Ford, Daimler and Porsche were affected. (Economic Times of India)
• Aston Martin said it was aiming for £600 million in sales to China over the next five years. It also announced a collaboration on electric vehicles with Sinomach Automobiles (a distributor). (Aston Martin)
• Zenvo said that it will reveal a new car at Geneva. (CAR)
• Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus says it will build an off-road car called the Boot. (Autoblog)

News about other companies and trends

Economic / Political News

• German coalition talks indicated that diesel vehicles with high emissions should be retrofitted rather than scrapped. Carmakers anxiously await further details since an SCR system could cost upwards of $1,500 per vehicle. (Reuters)
• California’s governor signed an executive order mandating 5 million BEVs and FCEVs by 2030. To do its part, the state will spend $2.5 billion on charging infrastructure by 2025. (Climate Action)
• US light vehicle sales in January of 1.15 million units, represented a SAAR of 17.07 million, down 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. (Wards)
• The French passenger car market grew 2.5% on a year over year basis in January, to 156,851 units. (CCFA)
• The Italian passenger car market grew in January by 3.4% on a year-over-year basis to 177,822 units. (UNRAE)
• The Spanish passenger car market grew by 20.3% in January on a year-over-year basis, to 101,661 units. (ANFAC)
• European trade body ACEA said that it believes the EU’s long-term CO₂ targets are not “technology netural” and “impose a technology choice… effectively pushing for pure battery electric vehicles”. (ACEA)

Suppliers

• Denso announced financial results for Q4 2017 (Q3 of its fiscal year). Full year revenue and profit forecasts were revised up, to $44.5 billion and $3.5 billion respectively. (Denso) The company said it will open a new office in Tokyo dedicated to research on self-driving cars. (Denso)
• Bosch reported 2017 financial results. Overall revenue of €78 billion was up 6.7% versus 2016. Sales of the mobility solutions business were up 7.8% to €47.4 billion. EBIT was €5.3 billion (Bosch)
• Adient fiscal first quarter revenue increased 4% to $4.2 billionbut EBIT fell. (Adient)
• Autoliv reported financial results for 2017. Revenues of $10.4 billion were up 3.1% versus 2016, adjusted operating income of $892 million was slightly up. (Autoliv) The company also said that it would name the spin off electronics unit “Veoneer” and trading in the new company will begin in Q3 2018. (Autoliv)
• Schaeffler reported 2017 financial results. Revenue increased 5.9% to €14 billion but profits fell. (Schaeffler)
• Honeywell reported financial results for 2017. Revenue of $40.5 billion was up 3% year-over-year. (Honeywell)
• Mahle appointed a new CEO. The previous incumbent was recruited by ZF. (Mahle)
• US payouts from the Takata compensation fund were approved by a court. GM, Ford and FCA will receive $189 million in total. The largest payout goes to Honda ($126 million). (Detroit News)

Dealers

• Honda expects its Spanish dealers to make 1.5% profit on turnover in 2018, slightly above 2017. (Europa Press)
• Mazda’s UK dealer average profits rose to 1.4% of sales in 2017, the top quartile hit 3.3%. (Automotive Manager)

Ride-Hailing, Car Sharing & Rental ^(history)

• Uber said it will team up with bicycle sharing company Jump to run a scheme in San Francisco where users can choose to rent a bike, rather than hail a car, from Uber’s app. (The Verge)
• Grab and Samsung will partner on initiatives around “digital inclusion”, such as improving ride hailing services and mobile payments. (Samsung)
• BMW acquired full control of car sharing brand DriveNow, buying out Sixt. (BMW)
• Ford will launch the Chariot bus service in London, the first European city. A fleet of 14 vehicles will run on four routes, all with snazzy alliterative titles. (Ford)

Driverless / Autonomy ^(history)

• California’s DMV released reports from companies authorised to test autonomous vehicles in the state (newcomers are exempt). The reports cover the period to November 2016. Notably, Faraday Future failed to submit a report on time. Analysts quickly crowned Waymo as the champion of the self-driving space, with Cruise getting an honourable mention for the level of improvement in the last 12 months. Drawing deep conclusions from the data is becoming increasingly dangerous. Many OEMs with testing licences run very small fleets in California, rarely putting their vehicles on the road (Tesla is one). Even Waymo’s fleet is shrinking (but miles per car are going up). (Ars Technica)
• Lyft is opening a European office, but it isn’t aimed at running ride sharing yet. Instead, it is creating an autonomous vehicle centre in Munich, Germany. (Bloomberg)
• Autonomous delivery van company Nuro raised $92 million. Its concept vehicle has slots for different customer grocery orders, enabling it to drive to your door (carrying them in is your job). (Reuters)
• Udelv announced the start of public trials with its autonomous delivery vehicle. (Golem)

Electrification ^(history)

• Electric vehicle start-up Xiaopeng (XPENG) has investors for a $350 million series B round; Foxconn is joining existing investor Alibaba (said to own 10% of the company). Xpeng has raised $800 million in total. (XPENG)
• BP invested $5 million in electric charging company FreeWire and plans to use the company’s charging equipment at petrol stations in Europe. (Reuters)
• European EV charging operators Allego and Fortnum will create interoperability between their sites. (Charged EVs)
• Faraday Future filed a lawsuit against Evelozcity, founded by Faraday’s ex-CFO, accusing it of stealing trade secrets by recruiting Faraday employees. Evelozcity called the allegations “recklessly inaccurate”. (China Money Network)
• Autocar magazine claimed that Volvo’s first all-electric car will be a hatchback, similar to the 40.2 concept. (Autocar)
• Toyota agreed a series of projects with Chubu Electric Power on use of second-life vehicle batteries in stationary storage facilities and battery recycling. The companies hope to have a 10,000 battery system by 2020. (Toyota)

Connectivity

• LG and Honeywell signed an MoU to develop automotive cybersecurity solutions. (LG)

Other

• Airbus said that the Varhana flying taxi had made its first flight. (The Verge)

Toyota made an investment in flying taxi company Joby Aviation. (Toyota)

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