Monthly Archives: August 2019

Volvo makes lots of new friends; Ford’s throwaway autonomous car assumptions; and bad news for unicorns. Please enjoy our auto industry and mobility briefing for 19^th August to 25^th August 2019. A PDF version can be found here.

Before you read the detail, what were my favourite stories of the past week…?

• I Get Around — Volvo Germany has been taking a Formula 1 inspired pop-up dealership to events around the country. So far it has had 80 outings and clocked up 1.4 million visitors. Sometimes we perhaps get a bit carried away with all this disruption. Volvo’s experience shows there are plenty of ways to connect with customers via traditional methods done well.
• Rather Die Young — Ford thinks that self-driving cars will only last four years before being replaced. Since taxis today run to around 500,000 miles (based on reams of data from cities like New York and London), Ford’s premise seems to either be that autonomous cars will eat up the mileage in a short time, or that operators will suddenly switch to punier products that break more often. How many hard-nosed taxi operators did they speak with before coming to this conclusion?
• The Heat Is On — Lidar developer Oryx Vision shut down, even though there was enough money to keep going. When the boss tried to sell the firm, there weren’t any takers. With so many lidar companies around, and so few actual sales going on, is this the beginning of a bust?

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)

• Rumoured to be planning local manufacture of Mercedes trucks in China. (Reuters)

FCA ^(history)

• Renault and Nissan are reportedly making progress in discussions that will see Renault reduce its Nissan stake in return for the latter’s approval to a tie up with FCA. (Il Sole 24 Ore)
• Says that it probably won’t make a successor to the 124 roadster. (Autocar)

Ford ^(history)

• Ford executives believe that self-driving cars will only last for four years. (Telegraph)
  • Significance: Since commercial taxis typically reach 500,000 miles in their lifetime (through a combination of heavier duty components, more regular servicing and, normally, careful driving) versus more like 150,000 for a private car, the comments either indicate that Ford believes self-driving cars will travel around 125,000 miles per year, or that the firm has forgotten the current vehicle lifecycle.
• Reportedly struggling to make progress in the electric car JV with China’s Zotye and is thinking of calling the whole thing off. (China Daily)
• Ford’s European chairman was announced as the president of its Chinese JV with Changan instead. (Ford)
  • Significance: Although not presented as such, the move is effectively a two-rung demotion.
• Ford is starting an esports car racing team called Fordzilla. (Ford)
• Donald Trump attacked Ford for signing up to California’s emissions regime — which features more stringent targets than he is intending to implement — saying Henry Ford would be ashamed of them and declaring the cars to be less safe (without any foundation in fact). (Reuters)

Geely (includes Volvo) ^(history)

• Geely reported first half 2019 revenue of 47.56 billion yuan (about $6.7 billion), down (11)% on a year-over-year basis and profit of 4.01 billion yuan (about $560 million), down (40)%. (Geely)
• Volvo says that a travelling pop-up showroom used in Germany has been to 80 events and attracted 1.4 million visitors. (Autohaus)
• Some Volvo dealers complained to California’s licencing body that Volvo’s Care subscription program violates laws protecting dealer’s rights to sell cars. (Autoblog)

General Motors ^(history)

• GM Korea workers started a series of short strikes, demanding better pay. (Yonhap)
• Tweaks to the battery chemistry improved the Chevrolet Bolt’s range by almost 10%. (GM)

Nissan (includes Mitsubishi) ^(history)

• Renault and Nissan are reportedly making progress in discussions that will see Renault reduce its Nissan stake in return for the latter’s approval to a tie up with FCA. (Il Sole 24 Ore)

PSA (includes Opel/Vauxhall) ^(history)

• Opel is starting a one-make rally series for electric cars, using the Corsa-e. (Opel)

Renault ^(history)

• Renault and Nissan are reportedly making progress in discussions that will see Renault reduce its Nissan stake in return for the latter’s approval to a tie up with FCA. (Il Sole 24 Ore)
• Renault Samsung has apparently told unions it wants to reduce production volume by 25% and plant staffing levels by 20%. (Korea Herald)

Tata (includes JLR) ^(history)

• Rumoured to have called off a plan to issue $1.5 billion in debt because of insufficient interest. (Live Mint)
• JLR has reportedly reduced the size of the new standard showrooms it is telling dealers to create after suffering pushback because of the investments involved. Rather than space for 16 cars to be on display, the requirement will only be eight cars. (Automotive Manager)
• Tata thinks that a range of 200km – 250km is ideal for electric cars in India and thinks that customers might be prepared to pay a price premium of up to 25% over a car with a combustion engine. (Live Mint)

Tesla ^(history)

• Reportedly has agreed a supply deal with LG for batteries to go into Chinese-made cars and is in serious talks with CATL for a similar contract. (Bloomberg)
• Walmart sued Tesla, saying SolarCity (the company Tesla acquired which then became the solar panel division) had supplied dodgy solar panels that caused fires. (Business Insider) Tesla apparently has an ongoing effort to rectify defective units call Project Titan (not to be confused with Apple’s self-driving car effort). (Business Insider)
• Tesla’s representatives have apparently been spotted checking out sites for a new factory in the German state of North Rhine Westphalia. (Reuters)

Toyota ^(history)

• Lexus is planning to show a concept for an all-electric small car at the Tokyo show. (Autocar)
• Partnering with Pony.ai to develop driverless cars in China. (Venture Beat)
• Didn’t deny reports that the Land Cruiser will be withdrawn in Western markets from 2022. (Gear Patrol)

VW Group ^(history)

• US VW dealers say that diesel cars repaired following the emissions scandal are flying off the lots — helped by prices that are about the same as petrol versions, and with a better warranty. (New York Times)
• Porsche released interior shots of the all-electric Taycan’s interior. (Porsche)
• Sacked 204 staff in Q1 2019 for not obeying compliance standards. (Detroit News)
• Bentley has spent about four million pounds on Brexit measures, including switching the port used to import components from Porsche’s factory and doubling inventory of high-risk parts. CEO Hallmark says that since he joined, productivity at Crewe has improved 25 percent through changes such as re-processing door production so shopfloor workers only walk six metres for each installation, instead of 54 metres previously. (Handesblatt)
• Will unveil a new take on the VW logo at the Frankfurt show. (Autocar)
• Porsche performed an endurance test with the Taycan (on a closed course), driving 2,128 miles in 24 hours, with stops for fast charging and driver changes. (Porsche)
• FAW-VW opened a new test track in Jilin Province, China. (China Daily)
• Recalling 679,000 vehicles in the US to fix a problem with the parking brake. (Economic Times of India)
• Reportedly interested in buying stakes in Chinese suppliers to secure key technologies, with battery developer Guoxuan High-Tech mentioned as a candidate. (Deal Street Asia)
• Audi is said to be joining BMW and Daimler’s collaboration on advanced driver assistance systems (but not the fully autonomous kind), with an announcement set for the Frankfurt show. (Reuters)
• After a German magazine article implied that VW was interested in acquiring a stake in Tesla, VW said the rumour was unfounded. (CNBC)
• Porsche invested in infra-red camera developer TriEye. (Porsche)
• Audi showed teaser images of the AI:Trail SUV concept it will show at Frankfurt. (Auto Express)
• Rumoured to be planning to reveal the next member of the ID family, via an almost production-ready concept, at the Los Angeles show in November. (Green Car Reports)
• VW plans to install 4,000 charging points in Germany by 2025 and says that by then, VW and its dealers will have installed 36,000 charging points across Europe. Note that these are not high powered chargers. (VW)

Other

• Nio plans to reduce staff numbers by around 1,200 to 7,500 by the end of September, according to leaked emails. The firm says that operations won’t be affected as the cuts will fall in administrative areas. (China Daily)
• Evergrande plans to unveil the vehicle developed by the NEVS / Koenigsegg JV at Geneva. (SCMP)
• BYD reported 62.2 billion CNY (about $8.7 billion) of revenue and 1.45 billion CNY (about $200 million) in net profit, selling about 145,000 electric vehicles and capturing nearly 25% of the Chinese market. (Xinhua)
• Aurus plans to make about 200 of the Senat luxury car in 2020 — some of which will be available for consumers, with a $272,000 starting price. (TASS)
• Lixiang Automotive (formerly CHJ Automotive) raised $530 million. (Deal Street Asia)

News about other companies and trends

Economic / Political News

• After China imposed a new round of tariffs on US imports, president Trump “ordered” US companies to seek alternatives to doing business in China. (Reuters)
• A report by UK politicians worried that private ownership could be “incompatible” with attempts to decarbonise the economy by 2050, because of all the emissions involved in making new cars for fickle customers. (Autocar)

Suppliers

• Continental is reportedly in talks with German union representatives about slashing capacity in the powertrain division with nine out of the units’s 32 factories (~4,000 jobs) at risk. Union leaders confirmed the discussions but downplayed the extent of the possible cuts. (Handelsblatt)

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

• Uber is opening a new US administrative hub in Dallas, USA, expected to employ 3,000 people. (Xinhua)
• Grab says it will cost several hundred million dollars to reach maturity in Vietnam. (Reuters)
• Uber issued a proposal laying out how it hoped to be taxed. The firm wants to continue with the sort of analytical, transfer pricing, method that annoys European politicians. (Uber)
• Mail.ru acquired a controlling stake in short term car rental firm YouDrive. (Reuters)

Driverless / Autonomy ^(history)

• AutoX’s CEO says testing self-driving cars in California is too easy and that the US and China should ensure that they build their own self-driving networks since the amount of data a vehicle needs to collect to properly operate would be a national security issue if handled unscrupulously. (Nikkei)
• Self-driving vehicle developer PlusAI is hoping to raise $200 million. (Bloomberg)
• Yandex says a self-driving car costs $98,000 to make and hopes to have a fleet of 1,000 by around 2021. The very first test cars cost the firm about $145,000 each. (Reuters)
• Lidar developer Oryx Vision has shut down — even though there was enough money to continue for a few more years. In explaining the move, the CEO said that autonomous vehicle technology was not converging at the rate the company had hoped and that no one had wanted to buy the firm. (CTech)
• Waymo released a dataset of 1,000 different driving situations for researchers to work on. Although that sounds like a lot, it equates to around 5.5 hours of driving time — albeit without any boring bits. (Waymo)
• Suning Logistics started offering local deliveries with small robotic vehicles in the Chinese city of Nanjing. The robots have a top speed of 15 kmh and are assisted by a remote driver if they get into trouble. (China Daily)
• Robot delivery firm Starship raised $40 million, saying it had completed 100,000 deliveries. (Starship)
• Apparently, if you are a data labelling company using humans to help machine learning, Venezuela is the place to be. (MIT Technology Review)
• Waymo executives poured scorn on rival self-driving vehicle developers who intend to make their own cars, saying it was a distraction, and “really hard”. (Telegraph)
• Sony and Yamaha showed off an autonomous vehicle built to showcase both firms’ technologies. (Sony)
• DoorDash bought Scotty Labs, a start-up working on remote control for cars. (TechCrunch)
• A Lyft blog described some of the challenges involved in calibrating the various sensors on an autonomous car so that they don’t give confusing readings. (Lyft)
  • Significance: As Lyft’s engineers admit, they haven’t yet fixed the problem of calibration without using a fancy rig — demonstrating that test vehicles lovingly maintained in laboratory-like conditions have yet to confront the real world challenges of heavy-duty use and maintenance by less skilled / caring folk.
• Ford executives believe that self-driving cars will only last for four years. (Telegraph)
• Porsche invested in infra-red camera developer TriEye. (Porsche)
• Toyota is partnering with Pony.ai to develop driverless cars in China. (Venture Beat)

Electrification ^(history)

• Statkraft agreed terms to acquire German charging network E-WALD. (Reuters)
• Charging networks EVgo and VW’s Electrify America announced that customers can use both firms facilities without having to create separate accounts. (EVgo)
• Insurance company Axa said that luxury electric vehicles were being involved in lots of accidents compared to their internal combustion engine powered counterparts, but that the data was preliminary and might not be statistically significant. Surprisingly fast acceleration was mooted as a likely factor. (Reuters)
• German utility EnBW reportedly plans to order 14,000 electric cars from 2020 onwards. (Handelsblatt)
• Tesla has reportedly agreed a supply deal with LG for batteries to go into Chinese-made cars and is in serious talks with CATL for a similar contract. (Bloomberg)
• Ford and Zotye’s Chinese electric car JV is reportedly in doubt. (China Daily)

Connectivity

• Media started focusing on the amount of conversations that services such as Microsoft, Amazon and Apple monitor to feed back into their various machine learning efforts. (Futurism) Apple recently stopped giving business to one monitoring firm after details about the work they did leaked. (Irish Examiner)
• Driver monitoring firm Zendrive raised $37 million from investors including BMW. (Economic Times of India)
• Ford’s Autonomic will provide connectivity services to electric vehicle developer Ayro. (Forbes)

Other

• Volocopter showed off designs for a two person air taxi. (TechCrunch)
• Motorbike taxi operator Rapido acquired fleet analytics firm Vahanalytics. (Live Mint)
• Parking app SpotHero raised $50 million. (TechCrunch)

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Green bonds for green cars; a rental company’s PR coup; and thinking harder about subscriptions. Please enjoy our auto industry and mobility briefing for 12^th August to 18^th August 2019. A PDF version can be found here.

Before you read the detail, what were my favourite stories of the past week…?

• Baby You’re A Rich Man — Porsche raised €1 billion, through a special green bond, to spend on the all-electric Taycan. With every manufacturer of note committing themselves to at least a few electric cars in the early 2020s, are they using these kind of funding sources to improve the marginal business case most of them complain about?
• A Little Too Much — A German rental firm cancelled an order for 85 Teslas, complaining of poor quality. Boom! Front page news. In a world where fleets frequently leave promised orders for hundreds of vehicles unfulfilled, I’m struggling with how this came to be newsworthy?
• Locked Out — GM’s OnStar service was criticised after operators refused to unlock a car with a lapsed subscription, even though the owner’s baby was locked inside. GM blamed technical problems. Although the idea of subscription services leaves executives salivating at the prospect of high margins, have companies put enough thinking into the scenarios that could cause brand reputation damage?

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)

• New CEO Oliver Zipse urged employees not to blame the economy for the company’s tough times and said BMW needs to be “far better than our competitors in everything we do”. (Reuters)

FCA ^(history)

• Will keep the third shift at Windsor Assembly going until at least the end of the year, rather than ending it in September as previously announced. (Detroit News)

Ford ^(history)

• Extending the warranty on older US Fiesta and Focus cars with dual clutch transmissions because of problems that Ford has struggled to fix. (Reuters)
• Recalling almost 110,000 cars to fix problems with seatbelts. (Ford)

General Motors ^(history)

• GM’s OnStar service was criticised after operators refused to unlock the vehicle of a customer with an expired account who had left their baby inside the vehicle. (Detroit News)
• Leaked shots suggest that GM is set to release a Bolt-based car in China called the Menlo. (CNET)

Honda ^(history)

• Will stop making cars at the Campana, Argentina, plant in 2020. (Honda)

Hyundai / Kia ^(history)

• Hyundai has taken several down days at the Irungattukottai plant due to weakness in the Indian market. (The Hindu)

PSA (includes Opel/Vauxhall) ^(history)

• Two thirds of the 300 jobs at the Rüsselsheim parts centre are being removed, but Opel says that no layoffs are required and new roles will be found internally. (Handelsblatt)
• The Astra facelift will be unveiled at the Frankfurt show. (Opel)
• Opel says that converting a cars lighting to LEDs can save 1.3 g / km of CO₂. (Opel)

Suzuki

• Maruti Suzuki says it has made around 3,000 workers redundant due to a sales slowdown. (Economic Times of India)

Tata (includes JLR) ^(history)

• Standard & Poors maintained Tata’s credit rating but continued to worry about the firm’s outlook, citing cash burn at JLR as its biggest concern. (Economic Times of India)
• JLR plans to create a new UK parts distribution hub to take the place of 10 different sites. (Business Live)

Tesla ^(history)

• A German rental fleet generated a disproportionate amount of press for its decision to cancel an order for 85 Model 3 cars, citing poor quality. (Detroit News)

Toyota ^(history)

• Recalling about 7,000 cars to fix problems with the brakes. (Green Car Reports)

VW Group ^(history)

• Porsche issued a €1 billion green bond. The proceeds will be used for the Taycan. (Porsche)
• Bugatti unveiled the Centrodieci, a 10 unit limited edition rebodied Chiron with a $10 million price tag. (Bugatti)

Other

• Aston Martin says 4,500 hours of labour are required for each “continuation edition” car. (Aston Martin)
• When using a Boston matrix, Aston Martin’s CEO segments the luxury sportscar space with two axes of versatile to focused and emotional to rational. He says GT cars sit in the highly emotional, versatile box. He says the forthcoming DBX SUV will be emotional and versatile unlike the Lamborghini Urus (emotional, not versatile in his opinion) and the Bentley Bentayga (boring but versatile, he says). (Motor Trend)
• McLaren is making a roadster with a 399-unit run and a price tag (probably) north of £1 million. (McLaren)
• Rezvani put the Tank, a high-powered SUV, on sale retailing at $180,000. (Revzani)
• Ecuri Ecosse are planning a 25 unit run of a supercar based on the Jaguar XJ13 racing car. (Ecuri Ecosse)
• Detroit Electric was revealed as the company behind Aston Martin’s IP-related bad debt. (Bloomberg)
• The Welsh government remains hopeful that Ineos will choose to build the Projekt Grenadier 4×4 at or near Ford’s Bridgend plant, saying talks are “very advanced”. (Daily Mail)
• One of Nio’s co-founders is retiring, and the company is cutting 1,000 jobs. (FT)
• The CEO of Canoo (aka Evelozcity) is leaving. (The Verge)

News about other companies and trends

Economic / Political News

• Ghana is offering 10 year tax holidays to companies that set up carmaking plants. (Detroit News)
• UK used car sales fell (2.8)% on a year-over-year basis in Q2. (SMMT)

Suppliers

• Bharat Forge won’t commit new capital spending for the rest of 2019, and a large part of 2020, as the firm responds to the threat of recession in India. (Economic Times of India)
• Carbon Fibre supplier SGL fired its CEO and pushed back financial targets after a series of contractual and forecasting errors. (Manager Magazin)
• Grammer reported first half revenue of €1.05 billion and EBIT of €50.2 million. Although the full year revenue forecast remains the same, EBIT expectations are slightly less rosy than at Q1. (Grammer)
• Amtek looks set to be wound up after Liberty House pulled out of a rescue bid. (Economic Times of India)

Dealers

• Malaysian used car website Carsome is hoping to raise $40 million. (Deal Street Asia)
• Scout24 will investigate options for its car sales arm. (Reuters)
• Indonesian used car website BeliMobilGue.co.id raised over $30 million. (Deal Street Asia)

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

• Ride hailing service Ola acquired artificial intelligence start-up Pikup.ai. (Autocar)

Driverless / Autonomy ^(history)

• After experiments in autonomous cars communicating intent to pedestrians using combinations of flashing lights and computer-generated expressions, one research team is trialling video feeds of remote drivers. (IEEE Spectrum)
• Velodyne is suing fellow lidar developers Robosense and Hesai for patent infringement. (Velodyne)
• Delivery firm UPS bought a minority stake in self-driving truck start-up TuSimple. (Reuters)
• Aurora’s CEO says autonomous driving will phase in over 30 to 50 years. (Velodyne)

Electrification ^(history)

• Shado Group hopes to sell 1,000 ultracapacitor powered 3 wheelers each month in India. (Autocar)
• A quarry operator in Switzerland says they have a dumper truck that never needs recharging. Because it carries a heavy load downhill and returns empty, the regenerative braking apparently harvests more electricity than the uphill drive consumes. (Green Car Reports)
• Urban Electric, developers of electric charging stations that can be hidden in the ground when not in use, launched a crowdfunding campaign to create a demonstration site. (Industry Europe)
• Mahle says that a new design of battery pack allows for a 40% reduction in battery size. With the industry currently fixated on kWh as a measurement of performance, it isn’t clear whether any manufacturers will push for the upper end of Mahle’s claims soon. (Mahle)

Connectivity

• Nvidia says it has discovered a brilliant new way of training artificial intelligence to have conversations with human beings. (Nvidia)

Other

• SG Bike is buying Mobike’s Singaporean operating licence (for 25,000 bikes) for $1.85 million. (Deal Street Asia)
• On-demand refuelling app FuelBuddy is hoping to raise $2 million. (Economic Times of India)
• Ninebot has developed electric scooters that can drive themselves to charging stations. (Reuters)

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Renault and Nissan love arguing; buyers are happy with hybrids if they are cheap; and is the start-up bubble deflating? Please enjoy our auto industry and mobility briefing for 24^th June to 30^th June 2019. A PDF version can be found here.

Before you read the detail, what were my favourite stories of the past week…?

• What Can I Do — Nissan’s CEO says integration with Renault needs to be postponed whilst France’s president seems to think a merger is inevitable. Does the French government have a secret plan for Renault to seize control of Nissan? If so, why not do it? If not, why stick your oar in? Do Nissan have a daring way to shed Renault’s control? If so, when would it be justified? If not, why talk the talk? Since Renault’s chairman is speaking frankly about how bad the relationship is at the moment, why do both sides continue to antagonise each other?
• Dreams — So far this year, 57.5% of the cars Toyota sold in the UK have been hybrids. Yes, you read it right; the UK not Norway. Yes, that was more than half of them as hybrids (not all plug-in). When Toyota is achieving these sorts of numbers, why are others talking about hybrid take-up as if customers are disinterested and careful preparation is required?
• Firestarter — Drive.ai folded (into the arms of Apple) and Uber picked up Mighty AI. If media reports are to be believed, investors lost money on both. Are these deals a flash in the pan, or is this the start of a fire sale of automotive start-ups that are good, but not great?

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)

• Confirmed new targets for electrification (leaked last week) calling for 25 models by 2023 at a special event. From 2020 onwards, BMW will program hybrid vehicles so that only the electric motor powers the car in city centres. Although BMW didn’t say this, it seems likely that BMW will submit the scheme to the EU as an eco-innovation to gain credit for CO₂ lowering technologies not fairly represented within the WLTP test cycle. (BMW)
• Showed a concept called Vision M Next, a likely i8 successor. If the concept carries through to production then the car will remain a PHEV, despite earlier rumours that it would be all-electric. (BMW)
• Plans to introduce adaptive cruise control that can stop at red lights. (BMW)
• Believes that diesel engines will continue to be sold for another 20 years and gasoline engines have 30 years left, but not necessarily in all markets. The firm plans to phase out the 1.5 litre diesel used in smaller cars. (Automotive News)
• Says that, if there were sufficient demand, it could launch 100 electrified cars by 2023 as an illustration of the flexibility of BMW’s engineering platform. BMW also believes that solid state batteries will not reach maturity until the 2030s. (Autocar)
• CEO Krüger reportedly faces a fight to get his contract extended beyond May 2020, with the board rumoured to be eyeing up two senior executives as potential successors. (Handelsblatt)
• After BMW pulled out of a sponsorship deal, Bayern Munich football club reportedly plans to sue for between €10 million – €20 million — probably enough for a new centre forward’s right shin. (FAZ)
• Plans an initial X5 fuel cell powered car in the early 2020s, and might add more offerings by 2025. BMW says that currently the fuel cell stack alone costs €80,000. (Forbes)

FCA ^(history)

• Announced a series of launch partners for the information and payments functions of FCA’s Uconnect infotainment system. Only recently-built models will be capable of using it. (FCA)
• Resurrected the Voyager minivan nameplate, but only to use it in place of Pacifica on the cheapest models. There won’t be any sheet metal changes. (Fox)

Ford ^(history)

• Issued a press release mainly rehashing existing announcements into one place. Ford’s manual transmission joint venture (with Getrag, owned by Magna) will sell the Kechnec Transmission plant in Slovakia to Magna — adding about 1,000 people to the list of those “impacted” by Ford’s prior announcements, for about 12,000 in total. (Ford)
• Plans to offer an electrification option (it isn’t clear if this means PHEV or just 48V) on all European products and will manufacture a range of all-electric vehicles in Europe too. Ford considers itself on track to meet the 2020 and 2021 EU CO₂ targets without facing fines. (Ford)
• Unveiled the Puma, a small crossover to be produced at the Craiova, Romania plant. Although the new entry will overlap with Ecosport in Ford’s line-up, the company believes that the differences in package and styling are big enough to merit a separate product. (Ford)
• Ford’s marketing team believes that driverless cars are “a little bit in the distance”. (Arabian Business Times)

General Motors ^(history)

• Released its latest sustainability report. (GM)
• Rumoured to have stopped work on a next generation Camaro. (Muscle Cars & Trucks)

Honda ^(history)

• Released its most recent sustainability report. (Honda)
• Issued what Honda says will be the last Takata-related airbag recall in the US — for 1.6 million vehicles. (Fox)

Hyundai / Kia ^(history)

• Teaming up with oil giant Saudi Aramco to explore hydrogen production and distribution. (Hyundai)
• Not going ahead with a £20 million mega vanity dealership on the outskirts of London, UK. Hyundai pointed to the existing dealer network and online sales as areas where the money would be better spent. (Motor Trader)

Mazda

• Wants to do away with touchscreens because Mazda reckons they are too distracting for drivers, preferring a combination of head up display and menu controllers (the latter is distracting in its own right). (Mazda)
• Took a 2% stake in the MONET self-driving technology program led by Toyota. (Honda)

Nissan (includes Mitsubishi) ^(history)

• Nissan’s CEO said he was postponing talks on further integration between alliance partners, preferring to focus on his firm’s financial recovery, warning the alliance could break apart “quickly” if Nissan wasn’t happy. (Reuters)
• The Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance VC unit invested in The Mobility House, a company that uses batteries from electric cars to provide storage for power grids. (Renault)
• Mitsubishi is moving US headquarters from California to Tennessee. (Mitsubishi)

PSA (includes Opel/Vauxhall) ^(history)

• Announced (as rumoured) that the next generation Astra will be produced at the Rüsselsheim, Germany factory. PSA said it will make the car at two locations — the other will be Ellesmere Port, UK, if there isn’t a no deal Brexit. (PSA)
• German unions worry that — even with the new Astra alongside Insignia production — Rüsselsheim will not be safe until there is enough volume to justify three shift production. (FAZ)
• Opel has written to around 500 German engineers telling them to transfer to Segula’s newly-formed engineering operations or risk dismissal. Employees appear concerned that Segula’s like-for-like job guarantees may not be all they seem, citing a works council made up of workers without an Opel legacy and implied wriggle room for Segula if the new business has fewer employees than expected. (Handelsblatt)
• New vehicles from the DS brand will have a powertrain option that offers 300 hp or more. (Autocar)

Renault ^(history)

• French president Macron said that nothing would justify changing Renault’s ownership stake in Nissan, or the French government’s shareholding in Renault and told managers to get on with running the alliance instead of trying to change it. (Bloomberg)
• Nissan’s CEO said he was postponing talks on further integration between alliance partners, preferring to focus on his firm’s financial recovery, warning the alliance could break apart “quickly” if Nissan wasn’t happy. (Reuters)
• The Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance VC unit invested in The Mobility House, a company that uses batteries from electric cars to provide storage for power grids. (Renault)

Suzuki

• Took a 2% stake in the MONET self-driving technology program led by Toyota. (Honda)

Tata (includes JLR) ^(history)

• Reportedly planning to confirm production of an all-electric XJ replacement in Castle Bromwich, UK. (Telegraph)
• Unsure whether there will be any potential to price for Bharat Stage VI emissions standards in India (due to be implemented from April 2020 onwards) to recover technology costs. (Autocar)
• JLR wants UK dealers to have an average of around 900 sales per site (including fleet) annually once it has completed a program to reduce dealer numbers to about 125. (Automotive Manager)

Tesla ^(history)

• News media picked up on a Tesla team dedicated to advanced battery research and questioned Tesla’s commitment to its long-term relationship with Panasonic. It wasn’t clear whether the work in question was any different to the normal type of advanced R&D that most OEMs do, which often overlaps with products that are externally supplied once mass production begins (or indeed, if it relates to cars at all). (CNBC)
• Tesla’s head of production left (to work down the road for Lucid). (Electrek)

Toyota ^(history)

• Plans to spend $2 billion on developing and building electric cars in Indonesia. (Reuters)
• Let some other automakers buy into the MONET self-driving partnership, including Toyota’s own subsidiary Daihatsu, leaving Toyota with a ~37% stake. (Honda)
• On a year-to-date basis, 57.5% of Toyotas sold in the UK are hybrids. (Toyota)

VW Group ^(history)

• Reportedly will present plans to expand the strategic alliance with Ford at the July board meeting. (Bloomberg)
• Truck unit Traton had its IPO without much fanfare. (Reuters)
• Workers at VW’s much-rumoured new plant in Turkey would likely be paid between €1.40 – €2.40 per hour, according to local unions. (FAZ)
• Launched an all-electric car sharing service in Berlin, Germany, with plans to expand into other European cities during 2020. (VW)
  • Significance: With a 2,000-strong fleet planned for the German capital, plus other cities, the new scheme looks to be a method for creating a used supply of electric cars — especially once the ID3 enters production.

Other

• Subaru and Isuzu joined the MONET self-driving partnership alongside Toyota, SoftBank, Honda, Suzuki, Mazda and Hino. (Honda)
• Lightyear unveiled the One, a €149,000 all-electric car augmented with solar panels across much of the body that will help it achieve a claimed range of between 500km and 800km most of the time. (Lightyear)
• Faraday Future has reportedly undergone another wave of staff cuts. The company now claims 350 US employees — down from around 1,000 — but some of them are on unpaid leave. (The Verge)

News about other companies and trends

Economic / Political News

• Provisional EU 2018 fleet CO₂ data showed an increase in fleet average emissions for both cars and vans. (EEA) The trade body complained that tough rules risked putting carmakers at a major disadvantage, but it wasn’t entirely clear what this meant since the advantage would surely lie with… other carmakers. (ACEA)
• The EU finalised a trade deal with the Mercosur block. (EU)
• The European car maker’s body now expects a (1)% year-over-year fall in sales for 2019. The previous forecast was for 1% growth. (ACEA)
• ACEA published an updated fact book covering the European automotive industry. (ACEA)
• Sino-US trade talksare back on, according to Donald Trump, and new tariffs are suspended (for now). (Reuters)

Suppliers

• Cummins is buying fuel cell company Hydrogenics in a $290 million deal. (Cummins)
• Wabco shareholders approved ZF’s takeover offer. (ZF)

Dealers

• UK used car site Motorway raised £11 million. (TechCrunch)
• Remarketing firm KAR is relaunching its recently acquired European arm (formerly CarsOnTheWeb) as ADESA (KAR) and completed the separation of salvage division IAA. (KAR)
• Chinese online used car site Renrenche is reportedly sacking 60% of staff. (Reuters)
• Spanish firm Bipi raised €6.5 million to offer all-in monthly vehicle rentals. (Europa Press)

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

• Uber has been talking with regulators in Senegal and Ivory Coast about market entry. (Reuters)
• Grab invested in UK multi-modal app SPLYT as part of an $8 million round. (Auto Rental News)
• VW launched an all-electric car sharing service in Berlin, Germany, with plans to expand into other European cities during 2020. (VW)

Driverless / Autonomy ^(history)

• Researchers showed that by hijacking the GPS signal sent to a car they could make it perform dangerous manoeuvres (e.g. by telling the car that it was a few metres to the left or right of the real position). The tests were performed using a Tesla but the company said any car using similar technology would be affected in the same way. The attack highlights the important of redundancy through multiple pieces of information, including ground truth (where the car works out its position from data such as the location of kerbs and roadsigns). (Computing)
• Uber now has 1,300 employees working on advanced technologies (e.g. driverless cars and air taxis). (TechCrunch) This week the firm acquired AI training firm Mighty AI. (GeekWire)
• Drive.ai collapsed, with Apple picking up the pieces by hiring some of the 90-strong team. (SF Chronicle)
• Autonomous bus developer Navya raised $20 million in bonds from Korean supplier ESMO, who will gain exclusive distribution rights for selected Asian companies. (Navya)
• Brightway Vision, developers of an image sensor with claimed benefits in poor weather and low light conditions, raised $25 million from investors including lighting company Koito. (Brightway)
• Suzuki, Subaru, Isuzu and Mazda joined the MONET self-driving partnership alongside Toyota, SoftBank, Honda and Hino. Each of the new companies will take a 2% stake. (Honda)
• Starsky Robotics started operating trucks without drivers inside in San Francisco. The vehicles still have people monitoring them to ensure safe driving, but they sit in drone-esque remote locations. (Business Insider)

Electrification ^(history)

• Indian delivery firm Flipkart wants electric vehicles to make up 40% of its fleet by March 2020. (Reuters)
  • Significance: This merits attention for two reasons: Firstly, Flipkart is adopting a more ambitious target than most Western companies, despite affordability arguments for electrification surely mattering more in a poorer country (although many of the vehicles in question will not be two wheelers and quadricycles); secondly, Flipkart is owned by Walmart — who might take a close interest in the outcome.
• Electric car firms in China might need to revisit their cashflow assumptions. Kandi (part owned by Geely) has only just received government subsidies relating to vehicle sales between 2015 and 2017 — a not insignificant figure of almost $130 million. (Kandi)
• South Korean battery firms welcomed moves by the Chinese government to stop “recommending” native battery suppliers for electric vehicles over foreign rivals. (ET News)
• Charger supplier Wallbox raised €15 million in a round led by Spanish power firm Iberdrola. (Iberdrola)
• The Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance VC unit invested in The Mobility House, a company that uses batteries from electric cars to provide storage for power grids. (Renault)
• BMW believes that solid state batteries will not reach maturity until the 2030s. (Autocar)

Connectivity

• Hyundai Autron and Wind River are jointly developing a connected vehicle software suite. (Wind River)

Other

• Google’s Sidewalk Labs released a master plan for a section of Toronto, Canada, giving an indication of the way the company believes technology could affect city planning and transport. (Sidewalk Labs)
• Mobile refuelling service Booster raised $56 million with investments from Total and Enterprise. (Auto Rental)

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Continental says good riddance to combustion engines; unusable industry standards; and ways to shake up the used car market. Please enjoy our auto industry and mobility briefing for 5^th August to 11^th August 2019. A PDF version can be found here.

Before you read the detail, what were my favourite stories of the past week…?

• Future Proof — Continental says it isn’t worth investing in the development of components for internal combustion engines anymore. The powertrain division will now go all out for electrification. It’s one thing to say it, but how will the firm manage the transition? And how will competitors and customers react?
• Misfit — Pininfarina isn’t interested in VW’s PPE platform for all-electric vehicles, saying that it can’t accommodate the dimensions of an SUV the brand would like to make. All-electric “skateboard” platforms are all the rage these days, with numerous companies claiming substantial future revenues from licence fees and talking of developing the new industry standard. Pininfarina’s attitude shows that, without more creative thinking, it is unlikely to be so easy as stylists and engineers revert to type and choose blank sheets of paper over constrained designs. Are we letting the opportunity to share electric vehicle components slip away by not thinking deeply enough about the problem?
• Old Brown Shoe — Chinese firm Uxin is starting to import secondhand cars from China into Europe. All the talk of disruption seems focused on the new car market, but what about used vehicles? Will customers choose cheap Chinese electric city cars that European OEMs have stopped selling or shell out for the bigger, more expensive, models they still offer? Will legions of “nearly new” Swiss and Serbian registered BMW M5s start arriving in the EU in 2021, neatly avoiding inclusion in fleet CO₂ assessment?

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)

• BMW’s planned joint venture for electric vehicles with Great Wall has been facing problems gaining regulatory approval. (Reuters)

Daimler ^(history)

• Reportedly took longer to solve GLE launch problems than anticipated because specialist trouble shooters sent over from Germany had problems gaining work permits, but has now largely got on top of things. (Handelsblatt)
• Working with BAIC on creating stationary storage with used batteries from electric cars. (Daimler)
• Rumoured to be planning a major reveal of the all-electric EVA 2 platform at Frankfurt. (Handelsblatt)

Ford ^(history)

• Recalled around 14,000 to correct improperly built vehicles. (Ford)
• Already sees 3D printing as a “legitimate alternative” to traditional methods on some parts. (Automotive News)

Geely (includes Volvo) ^(history)

• Lynk&Co still plans to launch products in Europe during 2020 and says that the decision to only produce cars in China (superseding an earlier scheme to make Europe-bound vehicles in Belgium) was taken because of the runaway success of the Volvo XC40 (made in the Belgian plant). The brand believes that the sweet spot for all-in subscription pricing is around €500 per month (but hasn’t decided on ideal contract length) and wants 500,000 global sales per year by 2021 (currently at around 110,000). (Automotive News)
• Kandi received approval from Chinese authorities to become an electric car maker. (Kandi)

General Motors ^(history)

• Reducing Equinox SUV production by removing a shift at the San Luis Potosi, Mexico, factory and having a week of shutdown at the CAMI, Canada, plant. GM said sales of the model were still “very strong”. (Detroit Free Press)
• Applied for membership of the South Korean importers association (GM is already a member of the manufacturer’s association), leading to speculation that local production could stop altogether. (Korea Times)

Hyundai / Kia ^(history)

• Hyundai’s Frankfurt show stand will include a concept for a vehicle with a customisable interior. (Hyundai)

Mazda

• Recalling about 22,500 Mazda 3 cars to fix rearview mirrors that might fall off. (Fox)

PSA (includes Opel/Vauxhall) ^(history)

• Reportedly slashing capacity at its Chinese joint venture with Dongfeng through a plan to close one plant, sell another and halve the workforce. PSA board sources said that the next step would be to withdraw from China entirely if things didn’t improve. (Reuters)
• Dongfeng is rumoured to be exploring options for its stake in PSA. (Bloomberg)

Suzuki

• Announced Q2 2019 (fiscal first quarter) revenue of 908 billion JPY (about $8.6 billion), down (8.1)% on prior year. Operating income of 72.4 billion JPY (about $700 million) fell (46)%. Suzuki blamed production stoppages to improve inspection methods and weakness in the Indian market. (Suzuki)

Tata (includes JLR) ^(history)

• Reporters speculated that rumoured new small SUVs for Jaguar might be built on the BMW platform that underpins Mini and 1-Series. (Autocar)

Toyota ^(history)

• Isn’t worried that the Prius is associated with private hire brands such as Uber in many European cities, seeing taxi drivers as “fantastic ambassadors” and confirmed intent to remain in the sub-B segment in Europe although many other brands are dropping their models. (Automotive News)
• Will collaborate on development of customer-facing robots with Preferred Networks. (Toyota)
• Recalling around 18,000 RAV4 SUVs to correct problems with the rearview camera. (Toyota)

VW Group ^(history)

• Pininfarina reckon that VW’s forthcoming PPE platform for all-electric premium vehicles (being developed by Audi and Porsche) is no good for SUVs. (Automotive News)
• Bentley’s boss says he is relatively unconcerned about Brexit because of the brand’s pricing power, although he called the prospect of no deal “annoying and painful”. (Telegraph)
• Lamborghini says that 70% of Urus SUV buyers are new to the brand and that no firm decisions have been taken on a fourth model, although some discussion has clearly taken place since a 2+2 GT is “one possibility”. The CEO remains open-minded on whether to install turbocharged engines. (Autocar)
• Audi has designed an electric scooter that users can ride with only one hand on the controls. It will be on sale at the end of 2020 and cost “about €2,000”. (Audi)
• Audi is reportedly sub-contracting much of the next generation (all-electric) R8 powertrain to Rimac. (Car)

Other

• EDAG says it has developed a scalable electric vehicle floor (i.e. what others call a skateboard, minus the parts that make it a rolling chassis) that it will offer to OEMs under licence. (Autocar)
• Subaru reported financial results for Q2 2019 (fiscal year Q1). Revenue of 833 billion yen (about $7.9 billion) rose 16% on a year-over-year basis and operating profit of 92 billion yen (about $880 million) rose 48%. (Subaru)
• A new Malaysian car brand headed by DreamEDGE and supported by Daihatsu is aiming to launch in 2021. The government is supporting the company through non-financial methods. (Bloomberg)
• Kalashnikov revealed the UV-4 electric taxi. (TASS)
• BAIC’s chairman says the business needs to build up non-vehicle revenue. (China Daily)
• Russian officials said that in 2020 they will announce a collaboration with a major international automaker to build an all-electric car in Russia. (TASS)
• Fisker showed a teaser image of the rear of a pickup truck. (Inside EVs)
• Mahindra & Mahindra released financial results for Q2 2019 (fiscal year Q1). Revenue of 12,997 Cr INR (about $1.8 billion) fell (4)% on a year-over-year basis. PBT of 918 Cr INR (about $128 million) fell (26)%. Mahindra blamed market weakness saying the Indian industry “de-grew” (12.3)%. (Mahindra)

News about other companies and trends

Economic / Political News

• The USA labelled China a currency manipulator, leading to threats of retaliation. (Reuters)

Suppliers

• Despite tough times, Continental’s union leaders don’t expect any job cuts at German plants. (Handelsblatt)
• Continental has been making components with too much lead content under EU rules. (Manager Magazin)
• Continental says it is cutting back on research for combustion engine components and won’t try that hard to win new business for parts like fuel injectors and pumps in future. (Continental)
• Magna reported Q2 2019 revenue of $10.1 billion and gross income of $595 million. (Magna)
• Varroc Engineering acquired a majority stake in OBD dongle maker CarIQ. (Autocar)
• China Automotive Systems reported Q2 2019 earnings and reduced full year outlook. (CAS)
• Adient reported Q2 2019 (fiscal Q3) revenues of $4.2 billion and a net loss of $(321) million. (Adient)
• Leoni is reportedly facing a liquidity crunch and has hired external advisors. (Reuters)
• Hella reported fiscal year end (June 2018 – May 2019) results. Revenue was €7 billion and adjusted EBIT was €585 million. (Hella)
• Bridgestone reported first half revenue of 1.7 trillion JPY (about $16.6 billion) and operating income of 158 billion JPY (about $1.5 billion). (Bridgestone)
• Schaeffler reported Q2 2019 revenue of €7.2 billion and EBIT of €483 million. (Schaeffler)
• Bosch and Hella invested in holographic display maker Light Field Lab’s $28 million round. (Venture Beat)

Dealers

• Singaporean used car website Carro raised another $30 million and acquired Indonesian rival Jualo. (TechCrunch)
• Chinese used car website Uxin has begun exporting second hand cars from China to Europe. (Uxin)
• Brazilian used car website Volanty raised almost $18 million from investors including SoftBank. (Reuters)
• 38% of UK dealers responding to a survey intend to stock fewer diesel powered used cars. (Motor Trader)

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

• Lyft reported Q2 revenue of $867 million, up 72% on a year-over-year basis. The net loss was $(644) million. Lyft said that “active riders” had increased from around 15.5 million in Q2 2018 to 21.8 million now. (Lyft)
• Uber reported Q2 revenue of $3.2 billion, up 14% on a year earlier and an operating loss of $(5.5) billion, $3.9 billion of which was compensation. Uber says it has 99 million active users across all services. (Uber)
• Uber is on the lookout for M&A opportunities but will turn them down if they aren’t the “right deal”, citing a recent decision not to buy deliver company Caviar. (Business Insider)

Electrification ^(history)

• Mushashi Seimitsu invested in KeraCel and the two companies will collaborate to develop 3D printed solid state batteries for motorbikes. (3D Printing Industry)
• Continental says that electric technology doesn’t make the firm any money at the moment and that solid state batteries won’t be commercially viable until after 2030. (Handelsblatt)
• Canada’s government says that a $5,000 per vehicle grant increased electric vehicle sales by 40% — but only from 2% of total sales to 3%. (Green Car Reports)
• NSK says that by 2030, it is aiming for annual revenues of 4 billion JPY (about $38 million) from bearings for electric vehicle powertrain. (NSK)
• Daimler is rumoured to be planning a major reveal of the all-electric EVA 2 platform at Frankfurt. (Handelsblatt)
• Daimler is working with BAIC on creating stationary storage with used batteries from electric cars. (Daimler)
• EDAG says it has developed a scalable electric vehicle floor (i.e. what others call a skateboard, minus the parts that make it a rolling chassis). That it will offer to OEMs under licence. (Autocar)

Connectivity

• Journey tracking firm Teralytics raised $17.5 million from investors including Bosch. (Teralytics)
• Varroc Engineering acquired a majority stake in OBD dongle maker CarIQ. (Autocar)

Other

• EHang hopes to begin trials of air taxis in Guangzhou, China. (EHang)
• Motor scooter rental firm Bounce is reportedly about to receive $200 million in funding. (Tech Circle)
• Gogoro’s announced that other manufacturers including Yamaha and PGO will start to use its scooter battery swapping network. (TechCrunch)
• Nikola says it has 14,000 orders for its trucks. (Nikola)

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Proving yourself as a carmaker; the rise of the Porsche Taycan; and contingency plans full of holes. Please enjoy our auto industry and mobility briefing for 29^th July to 4^th August 2019. A PDF version can be found here.

Before you read the detail, what were my favourite stories of the past week…?

• Share My World — Daimler’s former CEO (and aspiring future chairman) says that engines can be easily shared without customers noticing, but there are lots of other parts of the car that brands need to keep for themselves. He thinks customers will attach cachet to these engineering proof points. But what are they, and why can’t some of them be shared too?
• We Want) The Same Thing — Porsche has taken 30,000 deposits for the Taycan all-electric sports car. Could this be the car that takes damaging lumps out of Tesla Model S sales (already weakened in recent quarters)? Would Tesla be able to do anything substantial to react?
• What About Us? — Kia detailed the mix forcing measures being kept in reserve to sell enough electruc cars to meet European CO₂ targets in 2020 and 2021. The list will look familiar to most OEM planners — force electric cars into any sales channel the carmaker controls (company service vehicles, management cars and dealer demonstrators). The thing is, they all wind up as nearly new cars a few months later. Unless the used demand is there, manufacturers face hefty residual value losses (especially since everyone is planning the same thing and assuming they will be the only ones doing it)…

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)

• Reported financial results for Q2 2019. Automotive revenue of €22.6 billion rose 1.9% on a year-over-year basis whilst EBIT of €1.47 billion fell (23.4)%. (BMW)
• Lost the final appeal in a case that limited the amount of subsidy BMW was allowed to receive from the German government for a factory upgrade. (Reuters)
• Outgoing CEO Krüger offered to meet new British prime minister Boris Johnson to tell him to his face that a no deal Brexit would be a bad idea. (The Guardian)
• Invested in autonomous vehicle vision technology company Recogni. (FINSMES)
• Although executives refused to be drawn on the exact profitability at Rolls-Royce, they described it as “very, very pleasant”. (Seeking Alpha)

Daimler ^(history)

• Recently departed former CEO Zetsche said that engines are now less of a differentiator, but that there remain “lots of engineering proof points” where commoditisation would harm brands. (Top Gear)
• Invested in car price comparison site Carwow. (The Times)

FCA ^(history)

• Reported Q2 2019 revenue of €26.7 billion, down (3)% on a year-over-year basis and net profit of €793 million, up 14%. North America performed strongly, despite lower sales resulting from a reduction in dealer inventory. Maserati performed poorly, losing €(119) million due to residual value misses and lower dealer stocks. (FCA)
• Expects that 5% of European sales mix in 2020 will be BEV or PHEV and that customers will absorb about 60% of the cost. Overall, FCA says the cost of compliance will absorb about half a percentage point of operating margin. CEO Mike Manley also told analysts that 2019 year end emissions will fall significantly as the company introduces new engines. (Seeking Alpha)
• FCA remains hopeful that Renault will reignite merger talks, but doesn’t want to make the first move, and has struck up a broader range of partnership talks with European competitors. (Seeking Alpha)

Ferrari

• Sold 2,671 units in Q2 2019, an increase of 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. Revenue of €984 million rose 9% and EBIT of €239 million also increased 9%. (Ferrari)
• Will unveil three new models by the end of 2019 — two at an event in September and one at an undisclosed point after that. (Seeking Alpha)
• Said that initial customer feedback on the SF90 hybrid in electric drive mode was very positive because the lack of noise would be less antisocial in crowded neighbourhoods. The CEO says however than pure electric vehicles are “beyond 2022”. (Seeking Alpha)
• CEO Camilleri pushed back strongly against suggestions that Ferrari might be interested in any form of M&A, after being asked specifically about other car companies and non-automotive luxury brands. (Seeking Alpha)

Ford ^(history)

• Acquired two companies to boost Ford’s mobility division — transport app developer Journey Holding and robotics company Quantum Signal. (Detroit News)

General Motors ^(history)

• Reported Q2 2019 revenue of $36 billion, down (1.9)% on a year-over-year basis, and income of $2.4 billion, up 1.6%. GM said that a strong performance from North American trucks was to responsible for the higher profits, even as sales fell (particularly in China). (GM)
• CEO Mary Barra said customer feedback about the Super Cruise driver assistance system was amongst the best she had ever experienced (85% of owners said it would affected their next purchasing decision), but GM wants to put it into all Cadillac products before it will start introducing the feature into other brands (but also that this would be done “as quickly as we can”). (Seeking Alpha)
• GM wouldn’t be drawn on a new timeline for the launch of robotaxi services operating by Cruise, but did confirm that from GM’s perspective a market launch meant no safety drivers in the vehicles. (Seeking Alpha)
• Closed the Warren Transmission factory. (World Socialist Web Site)

Honda ^(history)

• Honda reported Q2 2019 (fiscal Q1) revenues of 3.996 trillion yen (about $37.6 billion) and operating profit of 252 billion yen (about $2.4 billion), both down on the prior year. Despite the year over year drops, Honda said it was still confident in full year targets because of improvements being made to the business. (Honda)
• Produced 2,692,175 units in the first six months of 2019, a 0.4% increase versus prior year. (Honda)
• A security researcher found an unprotected file listing all of Honda’s computers and what was installed on them, something he says could have been used with malicious intent. (TechCrunch)

Hyundai / Kia ^(history)

• Kia says it will definitely meet 2020 and 2021 CO₂ targets, but since the brand reckons that will mean it has to sell 40,000 battery electric vehicles each year (up from about 15,000 now), there are several contingency plans in place that could force a higher mix if the retail demand doesn’t emerge. These include: making its car-sharing business all-electric, forcing the company service fleet and dealer demonstration cars to be electric-only and fitting low resistance tyres to all vehicles. (Automotive News)
  • Significance: Kia’s approach is reflective of the challenge facing many carmakers in the European market in the early 2020s. CO₂ emissions compliance is not a matter of technology, it is one of cost and consumer demand, and many companies have openly said that they don’t want to sell any more electric cars than necessary. Expect all the other major manufacturers to have similar ideas for emergency mix forcing but, although this solves the new car sales challenge, how can they be confident that nearly new second hand values will hold up for a flood of electric vehicles?
• A sales campaign run by Hyundai in the US where customers receive $50 if they take a test drive apparently ends up with half of participants buying a car. (Automotive News)
• Hyundai now offers a solar roof on Sonata hybrid cars. According to Hyundai, between 30% – 60% of the hybrid’s 1.76 kWh battery capacity can be charged over a six hour period. (Hyundai)

Mazda

• Announced financial results for Q2 2019 (fiscal Q1). 353,000 units were sold, a drop of (12)%. Revenue of 849 billion yen (about $8 billion) fell (3)% and operating profit of 7 billion yen (about $66 million) was down (79)%. (Mazda)

Nissan (includes Mitsubishi) ^(history)

• According to leaked emails, Nissan and Renault are in the middle of intense negotiations to see whether Nissan would approve the proposed FCA / Renault merger if the French company reduced its current 43.4% stake in Nissan. (WSJ)

PSA (includes Opel/Vauxhall) ^(history)

• PSA’s CEO says the company’s worst case scenario for European fleet CO₂ is a sales mix of 10% diesel and 7% electric or hybrid vehicles. He also told reporters that he plans to leave sometime in the next few years, and certainly before 2030. (FT)
• Citroen executives hinted that the next generation C4 would have an all-electric version and promised that the design would “shake the market”. (Auto Express)

Renault ^(history)

• According to leaked emails, Nissan and Renault are in the middle of intense negotiations to see whether Nissan would approve the proposed FCA / Renault merger if the French company reduced its current 43.4% stake in Nissan. (WSJ)

Suzuki

• Produced 1,610,174 units in the first half of 2019, an (8.8)% drop on a year-over-year basis. (Suzuki)

Tata (includes JLR) ^(history)

• Tata Motors’s chairman said partnerships are “the only way” to cope with the additional capital spending demands of mobility services and electrification, and that Tata was looking at both tactical and strategic options. (Autocar)
• Tata is setting up a 300 station charging network in India with Tata Power. Planned charging speeds are modest, with power levels between 15 kW – 50 kW planned. (Economic Times of India)
• Feedback from US customers suggest that Jaguar dealers are offering firesale prices on electric I-Pace models, despite the car having only recently launched. (Inside EVs)

Tesla ^(history)

• Tesla’s Chinese factory lease depends on selling enough vehicles to raise 2.2 billion yuan (about $320 million) in annual tax revenues by 2023. (Bloomberg)
• Reinstated free supercharging for Model S and Model X buyers. (TechCrunch)
• Announced a new battery product for power grids called the Megapack, essentially a much larger version (up to 3 MWh) of the existing powerpack. (Tesla)

Toyota ^(history)

• Reported financial results for Q2 2019 (fiscal Q1). Revenue of 7.65 trillion yen (about $72 billion) rose 3.8% on a year-over-year basis whilst operating income of 741.9 billion yen (about $7 billion) was up 8%. Nevertheless, Toyota cut full year forecasts, citing adverse exchange movements. (Toyota)
• Says that shared platforms reduce development headcount and investment by 25%, whilst saving 10% of the vehicle material cost too. (Toyota)
• Invested in autonomous vehicle vision technology company Recogni. (FINSMES)

VW Group ^(history)

• Porsche says that 30,000 customers have paid a €2,500 deposit for a Taycan electric car. (Handelsblatt)
• Acquired “nearly a quarter” of charging station management company has.to.be and will help fund an expansion of the European network. (VW)
• Porsche’s digital team is around 120-strong and will grow further with the addition of a second US office. (Porsche)
• Audi’s former CEO has been charged with fraud relating to the dieselgate scandal. (BBC)
• Audi will sell a cheaper version of the e-tron with a 71 kWh battery, but not in the USA. (Electrek)

Other

• Aston Martin sold 2,442 cars in the first half of 2019, up 6% on a year-over-year basis. Despite this, revenue fell (4)% to £407 million and there was a £(38) million operating loss — about half of which related to an IP sale gone wrong. (Aston Martin)
• Human Horizons revealed the HiPhi1, an all-electric large SUV with claimed L3 self-driving capability and rear doors reminiscent of the Rolls-Royce 103EX concept. Although the car was said to be production ready, the launch date is unclear. (Human Horizons)
• Russian’s first locally developed electric car, from Zetta, is on target for a 2019 production launch. (TASS)
• VinFast will use battery packs developed by Austrian firm Kriesel (it seems likely that the batteries themselves will come from LG Chem). (Kriesel)
• Atlis Motors claims to have 11,000 reservations for its forthcoming electric pick-up truck. (Core77)
• Fresco Motors plans to start building its Reverie electric sedan in 2021 and says 70 people have already made reservations. (Inside EVs)

News about other companies and trends

Economic / Political News

• Donald Trump joked about 25% tariffs on German car imports. (Detroit News)
• Trump gave a deadline of 1^st September for increased tariffs on imports from China, urging Chinese government officials to pick up the pace on agreeing a trade deal. (Reuters)
• The UK automotive trade body said member companies spent £330 million on Brexit contingency plans, but since this figure includes increases in inventory (a method adopted almost universally), it is likely that the bill for remaining items (training, warehousing and the like) is far smaller. (SMMT)
• UK passenger car sales in July of 157,198 units fell (4.1)% compared with a year earlier. (SMMT)

Suppliers

• ZF reported first half financial revenues of €18.4 billion and adjusted EBIT of €650 million and lowered the full year outlook, citing the “difficult” environment. ZF said the CFO “appears” confident that there won’t be any problems getting financing to complete the acquisition of Wabco. (ZF)
• Eaton is buying Souriau-Sunbank for $920 million. (Autocar)
• Toyo Tire is building a new 5 million capacity tyre factory in Serbia. (Toyo)
• Delphi reported Q2 2019 revenue of $1.1 billion and operating income of $56 million. Citing the tough external environment, the company lowered full year guidance. (Delphi)
• AAM reported Q2 revenue of $1.7 billion and net income of $52.5 million and lowered full year outlook. (AAM)
• Manufacturing engineering supplier Eisenmann filed for insolvency. (Reuters)
• Stonebridge reported Q2 revenue of $222 million and maintained full year guidance, but only by focusing on earnings per share and including favourable tax rate and buyback effects (revenue and margin are both expected to be worse than prior forecasts). (Stonebridge)
• Meritor reported Q2 2019 (fiscal Q3) revenue of $1.166 billion and net income of $86 million. (Meritor)
• Dana reported Q2 revenue of $2.3 billion and a net loss of $68 million. (Dana)
• Denso reported Q2 2019 (fiscal Q1) revenue of $12.3 billion and profit of $641 million. (Denso)

Dealers

• Although many UK car sales professionals have long said that retail-like experiences are the future, one Hyundai dealer is handing back the keys at one site in a well-trodden shopping centre. (Motor Trader)
• UK car price comparison site Carwow raised £25 million from Daimler and other investors. (The Times)

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

• Uber fired 400 members of the marketing team, saying that the teams had become too big. (Business Insider)
• Lyft’s COO is leaving. (TechCrunch)

Driverless / Autonomy ^(history)

• Self-driving developer Wayve is reportedly set to raise $20 million. (Telegraph)
• GM CEO Mary Barra said customer feedback about the Super Cruise driver assistance system was amongst the best she had ever experienced (85% of owners said it would affected their next purchasing decision), but GM wants to put it into all Cadillac products before it will start introducing the feature into other brands (but also that this would be done “as quickly as we can”). (Seeking Alpha)
• GM wouldn’t be drawn on a new timeline for the launch of robotaxi services operating by Cruise, but did confirm that from GM’s perspective a market launch meant no safety drivers in the vehicles. (Seeking Alpha)
• Autonomous vehicle vision technology company Recogni raised $25 million from investors including BMW, Faurecia, Osram and Toyota. (FINSMES)

Electrification ^(history)

• VW’s Electrify America charging network is trialling automated chargers from Stable in preparation for self-driving cars. (VW)
• India slashed tax rates on electric cars to 5% (from 12%), conventionally powered vehicles remain at 28%. (Reuters)
• BP and Didi Chuxing have teamed up to create a Chinese network of charging stations. (BP)
• Transition-One says it can convert cars with internal combustion engines into fully electric operation for €8,500, and it will only take a day. The economics aren’t completely clear since that isn’t much more than carmakers are saying a battery pack and motor costs. (Bloomberg)
• Sumitomo believes that it can develop tyres that harvest electricity. (Inside EVs)
• Nidec and GAC are working on a Chinese joint venture that will produce electric motors. (Nidec)
• VW acquired “nearly a quarter” of charging station management company has.to.be and will help fund an expansion of the European network. (VW)
• Ferrari said that initial customer feedback on the SF90 hybrid in electric drive mode was very positive because the lack of noise would be less antisocial in crowded neighbourhoods. The CEO says however than pure electric vehicles are “beyond 2022”. (Seeking Alpha)

Connectivity

• Avis will sell data from over 100,000 connected vehicles on Otonomo’s platform. JD Power has signed on as an early customer to supplement its quality surveys. (Reuters)

Other

• ParkMobile now has 15 million registered users. (ParkMobile)
• Electric scooter rental firm Charge says the answer to the woes of dockless scooters (e.g. trouble charging them and unused scooters cluttering pavements) is to have docking stations — just like bicycle rental schemes of yore. (Charge)

• European passenger car registrations in June of 1,491,285 units fell (7.9)% versus prior year, mainly explained by a reduction in selling days. (ACEA)
• As negotiations over a new contract for US hourly paid employees between the major US automakers and the UAW union began, Ford said it was the biggest employer of UAW labour (i.e. don’t be mean to your best friend), GM said it wanted to lead the industry transformation (i.e. things aren’t going to stay as they are) and FCA asked everyone involved to think about disruption (i.e. put yourself in my shoes, I can’t pay you any more).

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