Volvo elbows out dealers; VW wastes time on internal politics; and Nissan Note is the way forward. Please enjoy our auto industry and mobility briefing for 23^rd November to 29^th November 2020. A PDF version can be found here.

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

• Trashin’ The Camp — There is speculation that Volvo will completely take over distribution in Sweden. The brand has made two major moves: first, it acquired a dealer group, then it served notice on a large dealer in the country. Although several brands have experimented with an omnichannel agency model where OEMs can sell cars directly and pay dealers to handle final delivery and customer liaison, it has mostly been with a nod to traditional dealer-OEM relationships, rather than taking over retail as Tesla has. Taken together with its aspirations for the all-in leasing service “Care by Volvo”, is the Swedish brand the most innovative traditional OEM when it comes to retail?
• Another Day In Paradise — It seems that VW Group’s CEO and labour representatives are at each other’s throats again. Apparently angry that union officials are blocking promotions for his preferred candidates, CEO Diess has openly warned that efficiency gains could be lost and apparently asked for a contract extension to be confirmed far earlier than is normal to help him stamp his authority on the company. If the power play fails, he could be out. Will VW get its head in gear, or hit self-destruct?
• A Groovy kind Of Love — For a few years, Nissan has sold the Note in Japan with an optional motor as generator powertrain, in the updated model it will be all you can buy. What is motor as generator? It’s an electric car with a small battery that relies on a gasoline-powered motor to top it up. Some might call it a range extender but technically it is a bit different because the engine runs more often. Why choose that over an all-electric car? Cost. We’ve heralded motor as generator as part of the missing link in the transition to electric cars —  several European vehicles from the likes of Honda, Nissan and Renault will soon offer them. How long before the technology catches on?

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)

• The parent company of Brilliance, BMW’s joint venture partner in China, filed for bankruptcy. (China Economic)

Daimler ^(history)

• Daimler’s works council head complained that the deal with Geely to share engines, and specifically to make them in China, had been agreed without thinking about the impact on German workers. (Handelsblatt)
• In dispute with unions over the future of the Untertürkheim, Germany, plant. Daimler wants to start making parts for electric cars there as part of a plan to reduce the site’s overall size but give it a clearer future. Unions are insisting on no loss of overall activity, a move Daimler says may cause it to revisit the overall plan. (FAZ)

Ford ^(history)

• Appointed a new marketing chief, poached from eBay. (Ford)
• Contemplating charging suppliers upfront for warranty problems, with the promise of handing money back if they resolve problems quickly. Ford executives believe that they’ve been giving suppliers an easy ride, suppliers wonder where in Ford’s cost estimating framework there is provision for sufficient profit to bear such shocks. (Reuters)
• Journalists putting two and two together, following Marelli’s announcement of a power electronics factory in Cologne, Germany, have concluded that Ford’s plant in the same city will build electric vehicles on the VW MEB platform.  (Clean Technica)

Geely (includes Volvo) ^(history)

• Volvo gave notice to terminate its contract with one of the major Swedish dealer groups, prompting speculation that it could be preparing to serve its home market purely though wholly-owned dealers. (Reuters)

General Motors ^(history)

• Reportedly planning to apply for a US banking charter that will enable a more far-reaching automotive lending business and deposit-taking. (Reuters)
• GM is apparently offering contract buyouts of up to $500,000 to Cadillac dealers who are reluctant to embrace an all-electric future for the brand (and the six figure price tag for facility investment that comes with it. (Automotive News)
• Dropped its support for a lawsuit started by the outgoing Trump administration against California, which sought to dilute the state’s rights to set its own emissions scheme, in favour of adopting national standards. (Detroit Free Press)
• GM and Nikola finalised an agreement to share hydrogen fuel cell technology, but it is narrower in scope than the previous plan to give GM a 20% stake in return for a deeper IP sharing relationship and agreement from GM to contract manufacture the Badger pickup. (Nikola)

Hyundai / Kia ^(history)

• Hyundai and Kia will pay US fines of $71 million for taking too long to recall faulty vehicles, with a further $73 million deferred on the assumption of good behaviour from now on. In addition to the penalties, the brands agreed to invest $56 million in safety testing facilities. (Detroit News)

Nissan and Mitsubishi ^(history)

• Unveiled a new version of the Note small car. Nissan will now only sell a motor-as-generator hybrid set up in Japan after the powertrain has proved to be very successful in the outgoing model. (Nikkei)

PSA ^(history)

• PSA wholly-owned French dealer organisation is going to start working seven days per week, but Sundays will be exclusively for processing online orders and following-up leads from the internet. (PSA)
• German dealers are suing Opel, saying that the brand isn’t doing enough to look after their profitability. Opel said it hoped that the matter could be resolved out of court. (Autohaus)

Renault ^(history)

• Announced that the Flins, France, factory will stop making cars and become a vehicle retrofitting and recycling centre. (Renault)
• The parent company of Brilliance, Reanult’s joint venture partner in China, filed for bankruptcy. (China Economic)

Tata (includes JLR) ^(history)

• Unveiled a facelift for the Jaguar XF saloon. (JLR)

Tesla ^(history)

• Recalling around 9,100 Model X cars because parts of the roof trim might fall down because they were glued in without the metal surfaces being properly prepared and 400 Model Y as suspension parts may detach because bolts weren’t properly tightened. (Reuters)
• A researcher managed to fool Tesla’s Model X into letting him drive it away without a key. The attack required some special hardware and a particular set of skills but highlights vulnerabilities in the security design. Tesla said it will  rectify the problem ASAP. (Wired)
• Setting up an assembly line in Shanghai, China, to make charging points. (China Daily)
• CEO Musk wondered aloud about developing and building a compact car in Europe, a project he has previously wondered aloud about developing and building in China. (Reuters)

Toyota ^(history)

• Invested in Carbice, a company developing cooling systems using carbon nanotubes. (Toyota)
• Stopped production at the Karnataka, India, plant after a series of wildcat strikes. (Reuters)

VW Group ^(history)

• Truck maker Scania acquired a local Chinese brand, indicating that it will soon begin local assembly. (Reuters)
• Audi wants its factories to be CO₂-neutral by 2025 but accepts that this won’t include emissions from the supply chain — particularly those involved in producing batteries. (VW)
• Trouble seems to be brewing between CEO Diess and unions again, with Diess making several remarks about the need to continue applying pressure to transform the company and seeking an early extension of his mandate (currently he is contracted until 2023) as a way of obtaining a vote of confidence from the supervisory board. The board themselves are reportedly taking their time with the decision with some citing concerns over giving him an extension that would take him beyond the normal retirement age of 65. In the meantime, several of Diess’s preferred candidates for internal promotions (such as a new CFO) have reportedly been blocked. (Handelsblatt)
• Might only sell the Passat as a station wagon in Europe to save on investment cost. (Bloomberg)
• VW’s plan for its small electric car, dubbed ID 2, reportedly led by Chinese joint venture partner JAC, is to import the vehicle from China for several years before starting a European plant. (Handelsblatt)
• VW’s product development chief says the firm is developing an MEB-Lite derivative of its platform for small cars and will have batteries with capacity of up to 45 kWh. (Autocar)
• CEO Diess said that cars with batteries that are “too large and heavy are not good” for overall emissions. He indicated that a range of about 250 miles is reasonable. He also confirmed that the company had ceased its interest in a Turkish factory. (Automotive News)
  • Significance: Diess’s comment is less straightforward than it seems; owners with particularly hot or cold weather see far lower electric range than counterparts in more moderate climates.

Other

• McLaren announced the name, and some teaser shots, of its forthcoming hybrid sportscar: Artura. (McLaren)
• SAIC and Alibaba are creating a $1 billion fund to invest in smart car technologies. (The Star)
• GM and Nikola finalised an agreement to share hydrogen fuel cell technology, but it is narrower in scope than the previous plan to give GM a 20% stake in return for a deeper IP sharing relationship and agreement from GM to contract manufacture the Badger pickup. (Nikola)

News about other companies and trends

Suppliers

• Grupo Antolin reported Q3 2020 revenue of €1.1 billion and EBIT of €18 million. (Antolin)
• Widely-used data provider IHS is merging with S&P in a $44 billion deal. (Fox)

Dealers

• Indian used car website Cars24 raised $200 million. (Deal Street Asia)

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

• Car rental start-up Envoy, which specialises in creating schemes for apartments, offices and hotels, raised $11 million and received a secured loan to buy more vehicles. (Auto Rental News)

Driverless / Autonomy ^(history)

• Autonomous delivery company Gatik raised $25 million. (FINSMES)
• Radar developer Lunewave raised $7 million. (Lunewave)
• Zoox’s co-founder is back with a new self-driving start-up, HYPR, and has raised $10 million. (Forbes)

Electrification ^(history)

• Hydrogen powertrain supplier Plug Power raised $1 billion. (FINSMES)

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GM’s statement of electric car intent; a potential investment bubble for robots; and a very sensible powertrain joint venture. Please enjoy our auto industry and mobility briefing for 16^th November to 22^nd November 2020. A PDF version can be found here.

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

• Tha Crossroads — GM says that by 2025, 40% of the vehicles it has on sale in the USA will be all-electric. The implication is that these will take a lower share of sales and GM is being tight-lipped on overall targets. But, if GM can be so confident about the US reception for electric vehicles, how can Ford and Fiat Chrysler be so relaxed about the outlook for their minimalist approach to the technology?
• Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger — BMW has created a unit to sell automated logistics robots that have been developed in-house. It follows on from the news that Hyundai is interested in purchasing robot maker Boston Dynamics (plus Tesla’s myriad acquisitions). Will robots be the new frontier for automotive firms to splash the cash in a desperate bid for unclear competitive advantage? In two years time will you even be able to call yourself a car company if you don’t have a robot strategy?
• I Gotta Feeling — Daimler and Geely will work together to make internal combustion engines for hybrid vehicles. They will produce them in separate factories for now but German unions were outraged at the thought that engines might be imported from China. The move makes total sense to me — powertrain consolidation is a necessary step on the path to greater electrification. Auto makers would be best to make win-win(ish) deals early rather than wait for everyone else to partner up. Will others follow Daimler and Geely’s example?

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)

• Mini unveiled the Urbanaut concept. Equipped with a sliding side door and top-hinged windscreen, Mini hasn’t yet been brave enough to make an actual model of the design. (Mini)
• Announced that internal combustion engine production in Europe will be directed to only two plants in future: Hams Hall, UK, and Steyr, Austria. The Munich, Germany, plant will lose its engine manufacturing role, but get a new production line for all-electric vehicles instead. (BMW)
• Created a subsidiary called IDEALworks to sell automated logistics robots that BMW developed in-house. (BMW)
• Confirmed that the next generation Mini Countryman will be built at the Leipzig, Germany, plant. The move sends a warning to the UK government that British production of the car should not be a given in future. (BMW)
• BMW sales executives in South Africa wondered aloud whether the direct sales model the brand has piloted there should now be rolled out to other markets. BMW in the UK said it wasn’t planning any changes. (Autocar)

Daimler ^(history)

• Unveiled the Maybach version of the new S-Class with a rose gold and burgundy paint job that is either fetching or gauche, depending on your point of view. Hopefully customers will at least appreciate that it takes a week to convert a standard S-Class painted body to a two tone finish. (Daimler)
• Daimler and Geely will work together to design and build smaller internal combustion engines to use in hybrid electric vehicles. Engines will be produced at factories in Europe and China. Daimler appeared to warn its European workforce that should they become complacent, it might simply ship in more Chinese-produced engines. (Daimler)
• Sources said that Daimler and Renault’s cooperation would continue despite the Geely news. (Reuters)
• Daimler is reportedly hoping for hundreds of millions in annual cost savings from the engine deal. (Handelsblatt)

FCA ^(history)

• PSA and FCA released the prospectus for their merger. (PSA)

Ford ^(history)

• Ford wowed North American dealers with an unnamed whitespace product (rumoured to be a small pickup). (Ford)
• The much-heralded new CIO won’t be joining Ford after all, instead he will spend more time with his family. (Ford)
• Launching an online portal for selling used vehicles in the USA. (Detroit News)

Geely (includes Volvo) ^(history)

• Daimler and Geely will work together to design and build smaller internal combustion engines to use in hybrid electric vehicles. Engines will be produced at factories in Europe and China. (Daimler)

General Motors ^(history)

• Launched an insurance product that uses data from GM’s OnStar telematics suite. (GM)
• Presented an updated strategy for electric vehicles. GM now plans to have 30 all-electric models by 2025 with annual sales above the 1 million units level it previously set for 2026. By mid-decade, GM expects battery costs to have reduced by 60% from today’s levels and energy density to have doubled, so batteries from the next generation of technology will be smaller and cheaper. By 2025, 40% of GM’s North American portfolio will be electric-only; it isn’t yet clear how this translates into volumes. (GM)
• Says that the benchmark time to develop a new vehicle is now 26 months. (GM)
• Unveiled a minor refresh for the Buick GL6, which now will be equipped for V2X (vehicle to everything) communication so that the car can talk to traffic lights. (GM)
• Revealed the SUV variant of the all-electric Hummer, supposedly by mistake. (Detroit Free Press) Then (and you’re not going to believe this), they did it again. (CNBC)
• GM president Reuss said that the firm has carefully evaluated whether to spin off its electric vehicle unit, but decided against it due to “dyssynergy”, but GM will report the group’s performance separately. (CNBC)
• US regulators forced GM to recall 5.9 million vehicles to replace faulty Takata airbags, a move that the company had argued against. (Reuters)
• South Korean workers have been striking over pay. GM executives said it was “basically being held hostage” and the company’s long term future in the country was under threat. (Reuters)

Hyundai / Kia ^(history)

• Recent withdrawals from short term car rental haven’t put off Hyundai, which is launching a new scheme for all-electric cars in Spain called VIVe. (Hyundai)
• Kia’s South Korean workers started partial strikes over wages and product allocations. (Reuters)

Nissan and Mitsubishi ^(history)

• Nissan denied that it was interested in selling down its stake in Mitsubishi. (Nissan)
• Rumoured to be contemplating an all-electric powertrain from full size electric pickup startup Hercules Electric to create an all-electric version of the Titan pickup. (Detroit News)

PSA ^(history)

• PSA and FCA released the prospectus for their merger. (PSA)

Renault ^(history)

• French unions approved Renault’s job cuts plan. (Les Echos)
• Unveiled a “concept” version of the Kiger, a small SUV / crossover aimed at emerging markets. The vehicle clearly shares many components and some exterior bodywork with the Nissan Magnite. (Renault)

Subaru

• Unveiled a new BRZ sports car. (Subaru)

Tata (includes JLR) ^(history)

• Took legal action against VW Group’s SUVs in the USA, claiming that they infringed on JLR’s terrain response system (which makes it easier to drive off-road). (Detroit News)
• Will test driver assistance and connected vehicle technologies in a new facility being built in Ireland. (JLR)

Tesla ^(history)

• An announcement that Tesla will join the S&P 500 index sent its shares racing. (TechCrunch)

Toyota ^(history)

• Invested in virus testing start-up SummerBio. (Toyota)
• Patented the concept of a drone that will refuel cars. (Futurism)

VW Group ^(history)

• Lamborghini and Bugatti will be run by the same person after Lamborghini’s prior CEO left to run Formula 1 and VW decided to hand the reigns back to the prior boss, who currently heads Bugatti. The announcement implied that in other respects the two brands will be independent, but there is no guarantee. (VW)
• Opened a production line for electric motors in Tianjin, China. (VW)
• Audi’s Silvercar rental brand is shutting down operations at airports and will concentrate on cars located at dealerships instead. (Auto Rental News)
• CEO Diess said VW was working on a different legal structure for Ducati and Lamborghini  and would unfortunately slightly miss its 2020 European CO₂ target, implying large fines. (Reuters)
• Porsche SE is calling for improved financial performance from start-ups it has invested in. (Handelsblatt)
• Porsche invested in Drivably, a developer of data analysis tools for car dealers. (Drivably)

Other

• Morgan confirmed that it will wave goodbye to the 3 Wheeler in 2021. (Morgan)
• Lordstown expressed confidence in its ability to put the Endurance pickup truck into production in 2021, saying it has 50,000 orders. (Lordstown)
• Nio reported financial results for Q3 2020. Revenue of 4.3 billion RMB (about $630 million) jumped 146% versus prior year, whilst a loss from operations of (946) million RMB (about -$140 million) improved versus prior year’s loss of more than double that amount. (Nio)
• Electric commercial vehicle company Arrival will list via a merger with a special purpose vehicle in a deal valued at $5.4 billion that will see the company receive $660 million in cash. Arrival hopes to be profitable by 2023. (Arrival)
• Aston Martin is rumoured to be supplying safety cars for Formula 1 races next year. (Autocar)
• Rivian’s CEO says the company is planning a series of smaller vehicles. (Reuters)
• Ineos might make a version of its Grenadier SUV with Hyundai’s hydrogen fuel cell technology. (Autocar)
• Alpha Motor Corporation plans to start production of a new range of electric vehicles in 2023. (Alpha)
• BYD unveiled an electric car designed for ride hailing operations. The innovations seem to consist of a sliding door and screens for the passengers. (The Verge)

News about other companies and trends

Economic / Political News

• The UK government announced an already rumoured plan to ban the sale of new gasoline and diesel cars by 2030. The scheme leaves open the door for hybrid electric vehicles to stay on sale. (SMMT)
• Passenger car sales in Europe during October of 1.02 million units fell (6.4)% versus prior year. (ACEA)

Suppliers

• Schaeffler held a capital markets day. (Schaeffler)

Dealers

• Nigerian online service booking company Autochek raised $3.4 million. (TechCrunch)

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

• Ride Vision, a developer of driver assistance systems for motorbikes, raised $7 million. (TechCrunch)
• Senmiao Technology launched a ride service in China called Xixingtianxia. (Senmiao)
• Recent withdrawals from short term car rental haven’t put off Hyundai, which is launching a new scheme for all-electric cars in Spain called VIVe. (Hyundai)

Driverless / Autonomy ^(history)

• Local Motors selected Velodyne to supply lidar unit for its self-driving vehicles. (Velodyne)
• Mobility company Via will use autonomous vehicles from May Mobility. (Via)
• Mobileye will use Luminar lidar to augment its camera sensors for machine vision. (TechCrunch)
• Uber’s CEO said the company may partner with others on autonomous vehicle technology. (Reuters)
• Panasonic is collaborating with Phiar Technologies to develop better vehicle location technology. (Phiar)
• Autonomous simulation company Morai raised $1.8 million. (Morai)
• South Korean autonomous testing company Autonomous a2z raised $1.9 million. (Autonomous a2z)

Electrification ^(history)

• GM now plans to have 30 all-electric models by 2025 with annual sales above the 1 million units level it previously set for 2026. By mid-decade, GM expects battery costs to have reduced by 60% from today’s levels and energy density to have doubled, so batteries from the next generation of technology will be smaller and cheaper. (GM)

Connectivity

• GM unveiled a minor refresh for the Buick GL6, which now will be equipped for V2X (vehicle to everything) communication so that the car can talk to traffic lights. (GM)

Other

• Electric scooter rental company Lime says it could make a profit in 2021. (TechCrunch)

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Electric cars with odd names; further thinning of the self-driving herd; and auto executives need better data. Please enjoy our auto industry and mobility briefing for 9^th November to 15^th November 2020. A PDF version can be found here.

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

• Strangers — BMW’s new electric SUV is called the iX, not the iNext as we were led to believe and VW promises an electric saloon called the Aero, dispensing with the “ID” label. What is going on with electric car badging? In a world where BMW has various SUVs named X1 – X7, and an iX3 electric version of the X3, what does iX mean? i10? i-forget about our other cars, they are a footnote in history now? And why are VW dropping ID, and why choose Aero, which is seems unrelated to batteries? How do they expect customers to keep track?
• I’m Outta Love — Uber is rumoured to be looking to sell its self-driving division to Aurora. It’s another nail in the coffin of the once glorious self-driving start-up scene. Let’s face it; companies have realised that this technology is fantastically expensive to develop, difficult to get right and, most importantly, that anyone who develops it will be so desperate to get their money back that they will sell to all and sundry. Without a strategic imperative to own self-driving technology, you simply don’t need as many around. Who will be next to disappear?
• The Scientist — VW executives worry that Germany isn’t building charging infrastructure fast enough to keep pace with the growth in electric vehicles. The company sees the magical ratio of one charger per ten cars being breached without a recovery plan. But isn’t it time to become a bit smarter in this debate? Raw numbers of chargers matter less than charging speeds and reliability and, given massive fleets of connected cars, surely we can be a little more accurate now than tired rules of thumb. When will OEMs be more scientific in showing where infrastructure is most valuable to customers?

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)

• Unveiled the all-electric iX SUV, previously badged as the iNext. Since the car is similar in size to the X5 but is simply called iX, whilst the X3-sized model is the iX3, it isn’t clear what this means for BMW’s electric SUV naming convention. (BMW)
• CEO Zipse hopes that BMW’s collaboration will continue past 2025. (Reuters)

FCA ^(history)

• Unveiled the logo for Stellantis. It is the word Stellantis with a corona behind the “a”, presumably so we never forget that is was designed in 2020. (Stellantis)

Ferrari

• Unveiled a convertible version of the SF90. (Ferrari)
• Ferrari’s CTO sees a future for V6, V8 and V12 engines and says that developing the Purosangue SUV is “another dimension” of complication because it means adopting to non-traditional customers and test procedures. (Top Gear)

Ford ^(history)

• Revealed the all-electric version of the Transit van. (Ford)
• Will double capacity for the all-electric F-150 and plans to build a second product alongside the Mustang Mach E in Mexico, although Ford won’t say exactly what it will be or when it will come out. (Ford)
• CEO Farley said Ford could start making battery cells. (Reuters)

Geely (includes Volvo) ^(history)

• Lotus is rumoured to be working on a high-power, all-electric, SUV. (Autocar)

General Motors ^(history)

• Recalling 69,000 Bolt electric vehicles because their batteries are overheating, with some catching fire. (Reuters)
• Planning to hire 3,000 engineers and IT specialists between now and the early part of 2021. (GM)
• Corvette production has been hit by coronavirus-related problems with suppliers in Mexico. (Detroit News)
• Recalling 217,000 cars and SUVS because of leaking transmissions that might catch fire. (Detroit News)

Honda ^(history)

• Cleared the major regulatory hurdle to be allowed to sell SAE level 3 capable vehicles in Japan. (Honda)

Hyundai / Kia ^(history)

• Rumoured to be interested in buying the Boston Dynamics robot company. (Deal Street Asia)

Mazda

• Reported Q3 2020 financial results (Mazda’s fiscal Q2). Sales of 739 billion JPY (about $7 billion), down (16)% on a year-over-year basis. An operating loss of (7.6) billion JPY (about -$73 million) fell from a profit in the prior year. Mazda said a (12)% drop in volume was to blame. (Mazda)

Nissan and Mitsubishi ^(history)

• Reported financial results for Q3 2020 (Nissan’s fiscal Q2). Revenue of 1.9 trillion JPY (about $18.3 billion) fell (27)% on a year-over-year basis. An operating loss of (5) billion JPY (about -$50 million) was only a little bit worse than a modest profit in the prior year. Nissan said that massive volume drops had been almost offset by improvements in manufacturing costs and selling expense. (Nissan)
• Gave the Micra a facelift. (Nissan)

PSA ^(history)

• Although PSA is reducing production at the Zaragoza, Spain, plant, the problem apparently isn’t the recently launched Opel / Vauxhall Corsa which sources say is doing very well. (Europa Press)

Renault ^(history)

• Unveiled a facelift for the Kangoo small van. (Auto Express)

Tata (includes JLR) ^(history)

• Unveiled a facelift for the Discovery. (Land Rover)

VW Group ^(history)

• Porsche revealed a series of previously secret prototypes — seemingly to flog a book. The presence of full-size models for people-moving shuttles (building a 1:1 model is a fairly significant task) suggests the company is contemplating a future beyond sportscars. There are also several concepts aimed at creating a high performance one make racing series. (Porsche)
• Škodas will be produced outside the Czech Republic as the brand acquiesced to VW’s long-held plans to fill under-utilised factories with its products. (Škoda)
• VW Group announced its latest spending round, with a plan target of €150 billion over the next five years. VW said that half the money will be spent on electric vehicles (including hybrids) and digitalisation. Within the announcement, the company said that there will be a four door VW brand saloon called the Aero, an inexplicable departure from the ID naming convention. (VW)
• VW executives fretted that Germany’s rapidly-growing electric car fleet will soon overwhelm the available charging network. The company believes a ratio of one charger for each electric car is necessary to provide sufficient availability for customers. (Handelsblatt)

Other

• Workhorse reported Q3 2020 financial results. Sales of $564,707 led to a loss of $(10) million and a net loss of $(84) million, thanks to a whopping $(74) million interest bill. (Workhorse)
• Nikola reported Q3 2020 financial results – a $(117) million operating loss. (Nikola)
• Li Auto announced Q3 2020 sales of $363 million and an operating loss of $(27) million. (Li Auto)
• Rivian announced pricing for its all-electric truck. The near-$70,000 staring price may have many wondering how the company will be able to cheaply build electric vans for Amazon. (Rivian)
• Gordon Murray is opening a new £50 million headquarters. (Gordon Murray) The firm has apparently sold most of the 100 road-going T.50 hypercars, and about half of the track-only versions. (Autocar)

News about other companies and trends

Suppliers

• Bridgestone is selling off its US building products division. (Nikkei)
• Continental reported financial results for Q3 2020 (already pre-reported) and is now confident enough of economic recovery to issue a financial forecast. (Continental) The firm celebrated by appointing a new CEO. (Continental)
• Schaeffler reported financial results for Q3 2020. (Schaeffler)
• Meritor reported Q3 2020 (fiscal Q4) sales of $758 million and adjusted income of $11 million. (Meritor)
• Motherson reported Q3 2020 revenue of 15,012 Cr INR (about $2.0 billion) and income of 481 Cr INR (about $65 million). (Motherson)

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

• Lyft reported Q3 2020 revenue of $500 million and an operating loss of $(453) million. The company has around $2.5 billion in cash and short term liquidity. (Lyft)

Driverless / Autonomy ^(history)

• Uber is rumoured to be exploring a deal to sell its self-driving vehicle unit to Aurora. (TechCrunch)
• Velodyne is aiming for a sub-$500 per unit price point for the forthcoming Velarray H800 – unit suitable for monitoring the corners of self-driving vehicles. (Velodyne)
• Autonomous delivery firm Nuro raised $500 million. (TechCrunch)
• Chinese self-driving truck company Inceptio raised $120 million. (Deal Street Asia)

Other

• Cummins and Navistar will collaborate to build hydrogen powered trucks. (Cummins)

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Bentley’s path to electric cars; VW’s carefully chosen words; and Nio’s upgradeable battery packs. Please enjoy our auto industry and mobility briefing for 2^nd November to 8^th November 2020. A PDF version can be found here.

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

• No More Sad Songs — Bentley announced that by 2026 its entire line-up will be either all-electric or plugin hybrid and then by 2030, customers will only be able to buy battery electric models. Although for many, a decade might seem like a long time, Bentley is amongst the first to commit itself to an all-electric future. All-electric vehicle attributes: solid road-holding, excellent acceleration and quietness; seem to lend themselves well to luxury cars, and customers have the deep pockets to pay for the technology, so why are rivals so reluctant to make similar commitments?
• Confessions — VW will soon be making eight ID badged models in China, but two of them will be versions of the ID.4 crossover. Beware of auto executives bearing statistics of how many electric vehicles they plan to launch. For many of them. the naughty little secret is that they are treating saloons, estate cars and coupes as worthy of separate billing. Will the electric car revolution have as much variety as we hoped?
• Keep On Movin’ — Nio released a new, 100 kWh, battery pack. The interesting bit is that owners of older cars (who are getting by with a trifling 70m kWh) will be able to rent the larger units for a month at a time. The price isn’t cheap ($133) but it might be an attractive alternative to a full upgrade for people who only rarely need to take a longer journey. Will temporary upgrades catch on and will the infrastructure to provide the extra batteries be well enough used to justify the investment?

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)

• Released Q3 2020 financial results. Revenue of €21.9 billion fell (4.6)% on a year-over-year basis. EBIT of €1.5 billion fell (2.5)%. (BMW)
• BMW’s CEO recalled the concept of E-FIRST on the earnings call saying that the next generation of platofrms will “Not be electric only, they must start electric-only”. He also said it is very important that plugin hybrid owners charge their cars and that “We want to give only hybrid cars to people who can prove that they can charge the car”. He claims that all the battery electric vehicles BMW offers are practically sold out. (Seeking Alpha)
• Following earlier news reports about potential financial problems for BMW’s Chinese partner Brilliance, CEO Zipse said that there would be no impact on the firms’ joint venture. (Seeking Alpha)

Daimler ^(history)

• Daimler’s CEO said the €1 billion profit target for digital services by mid-decade included selling driver assistance upgrades and that between 2025 and 2030 battery electric vehicles will start to outsell plugin hybrids. (Handelsblatt)

FCA ^(history)

• Might pay €500 million more than expected to settle charges of emissions cheating with US regulators. (Reuters)

Ferrari

• Published Q3 2020 earnings. Revenue of €888 million fell (3)% versus prior year whilst EBIT of €222 million fell by about the same amount. Ferrari said the market was at the top end of its expectations. (Ferrari)
• Ferrari’s CEO doesn’t see the company reaching a 50% mix of all-electric vehicles in his lifetime. (Seeking Alpha)

Ford ^(history)

• Recalling 375,000 Explorer SUVs because, following an earlier repair, parts of the steering might fall apart. (Ford)
• Has no plans to build an electric version of its largest, Super Duty, pickup trucks. (Detroit Free Press)

General Motors ^(history)

• Reported Q3 2020 earnings. Revenue of $35.5 billion was in line with prior year. Income of $4 billion was 74% up on a year-over-year basis and coronavirus was more than offset by reversing the effects of last year’s UAW strike. (GM)
• CEO Barra appeared to pour cold water on talks of any separation of the electric vehicle business saying “EV is a propulsion system”. She also implied that GM might have to rethink its strategy for mid-cycle actions for electric vehicles as electric powertrain and over the air connectivity gives less to change. (Seeking Alpha)

Honda ^(history)

• Published financial results for Q3 2020 (fiscal Q2). Revenue of 3.6 trillion JPY (about $34.7 billion) fell (2.1)% on a year-over-year basis. Profit before tax of 345.7 billion JPY (around $3.3 billion) rose 19%. Honda said that cost reductions more than offset volume losses. (Honda)
• Restructuring its North American operations to merge manufacturing and engineering divisions. (Honda)
• Published a new environmental report for its European business. (Honda)

Nissan and Mitsubishi ^(history)

• Mitsubishi published Q3 2020 financial results (fiscal Q2). Net sales were 354 billion JPY (about $3.4 billion), with a net loss of (34) billion JPY (about -$320 million). The company said that its restructuring plan is over delivering, thanks to better than targeted general and administrative cost reductions. (Mitsubishi)
• Sources say that in 2020 Nissan’s sales started via the internet reached 11% of total car sales volume, up from 4% to 5% in 2019. The company is reportedly concentrating on a role out of end-to-end digital sales in North America and China and plans to involve dealers in the ordering and delivery process.  (Reuters)

Renault ^(history)

• Unveiled a minor refresh of the Scenic MPV. (Renault)

Subaru

• Reported Q3 (fiscal Q2) revenues of 761 billion JPY (about $7.2 billion), down (1.1)% versus prior year. Profit before tax of 47 billion JPY (about $440 million) was up strongly from only just above breakeven a year earlier. As a consequence, the forecasts were increased for full year revenue and profit (just over $1 billion). (Subaru)

Tata (includes JLR) ^(history)

• The original Land Rover Defender will seemingly live on in a range of special edition models built by the (now in-house) Bowler brand. Expect a six figure price tag. (Land Rover)

Tesla ^(history)

• Launched a $250 bottle of Tequila in a bottle the shape of a lightning bolt. It quickly sold out. (Tesla) Without wanting to suggest that Tesla customers are ever ripped off, the original manufacturer sells the same quantity, in its own packaging, for $45.

Toyota ^(history)

• Reported financial results for Q3 2020 (fiscal Q2). Revenue of 6.8 trillion JPY (about $64 billion) fell (11.3)% on a year-over-year basis. Operating income of 506 billion JPY (about $4.8 billion) was down (23)%. Toyota blamed continued drops in volume for the lost profits. The company is now more bullish about a full year outlook and lifted revenue and profit forecasts, hoping to make around $12.4 billion. (Toyota)
• Published a new environmental report. (Toyota)
• Journalists picked up on bland comments made by Toyota’s CEO about Tesla still being a relatively immature business and reported them as a major slap in the face for the Californian company. (CNBC)

VW Group ^(history)

• CEO Diess says that VW will hopefully make its 2020 European CO₂ target, but that he can’t be certain as internal modelling shows there is a “gram or so” margin of error. (FT)
• Truck making unit Traton signed a definitive agreement to acquire Navistar. (Traton)
• Bentley announced that by 2026, the brand will only sell either fully electric or plug-in hybrid electric cars, and that by 2030 the entire range will be battery electric. The company also appears to have slightly pulled forward the launch of some of the products versus earlier announcements. (Bentley)
• VW’s China head said the company will soon be making eight “ID.” badged models in the country, but since two of them will be different variants of the ID.4, this won’t necessarily translate into completely new models. (Reuters)

Other

• Nio launched a 100 kWh battery. Owners of older vehicles, which have a 70 kWh battery, will be able to rent an upgraded unit for $133 per month. (Nio) Nio has apparently selected a site in Copenhagen, Denmark, for its first European store and hopes to sell 7,000 cars per year in Europe within two years. (China Money Network)
• Fisker’s Ocean SUV has received just under 9,000 reservations in almost 12 months. (TechCrunch)
• Creditors started bankruptcy proceedings against Spyker, saying that despite recent announcements of funding no money is forthcoming and that trademarks will be sold if the situation isn’t rectified very soon. (RTL)
• Bollinger’s CEO said that he is confident his truck will face little competition because it is a Class 3 vehicle designed to sit above products like F-150 and Cybertruck. (Yahoo)
• Li Auto is recalling almost 10,500 cars because of problems with the suspension. (Li Auto)

News about other companies and trends

Economic / Political News

• US light vehicle industry during October of 16.21 million units fell (2)% versus 2019. (Wards)
• UK October passenger car sales of 140,945 units fell (1.6)% on a year-over-year basis. (SMMT)
• 274,303 passenger cars were registered in Germany during October, (3.6)% down on prior year. (KBA)
• October French passenger car sales of 171,049 units fell (9.5)% versus prior year. (CCFA)
• Italian October passenger car registrations of 156,978 units fell (0.2)% versus 2019. (UNRAE)
• Spanish passenger vehicle registrations in October of 74,228 units fell (21)% versus prior year. (ANFAC)

Suppliers

• Veoneer appointed a new CFO. (Veoneer)
• Tenneco reported Q3 2020 revenue of $4.3 billion and EBIT of $236 million. (Tenneco)
• Modine Manufacturing reported Q3 2020 sales of $461 million and operating income of $29 million. (Modine)
• Magna reported Q3 2020 revenue of $9.1 billion and net income of $405 million. (Magna)
• Valeo reported Q3 revenue of €4.4 billion, down (6)% versus prior year. (Valeo)
• Dana acquired some of Modine Manufacturing’s cooling parts plants. (Dana)

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

• Uber reported financial results for Q3 2020. Gross bookings and Uber’s own revenue fell (the latter by more than the former, indicating higher discounts). The net loss of $(1.1) billion was slightly improved from prior year. (Uber)

Driverless / Autonomy ^(history)

• Pony.ai, already backed by Toyota, raised an additional $267 million. (Reuters)
• Driver assistance developer Provizio raised $6.2 million. (FINSMES)

Electrification ^(history)

• Ultracapacitor developer Skeleton Technology raised €41 million. (Reuters)

Other

• Truck maker Volvo Group held a capital markets day. (Volvo)

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GM’s DIY electric cars; Daimler’s contingency planning; and the product mix conundrum. Please enjoy our auto industry and mobility briefing for 26^th October to 1^st November 2020. A PDF version can be found here.

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

• Chasing Cars — GM will start selling electric car conversion kits alongside its existing crate engine business. Using parts from the Chevrolet Bolt, owners will be able to re-build their pride and joy with electric motors and batteries, rather than roaring V8s. Pricing isn’t yet announced, but if it is reasonable, will electric car startups use anything else to build their prototypes?
• United States of Whatever — Daimler Trucks announced a deal with Waymo for self-driving trucks, then a couple of days later there was a tie-up with lidar developer Luminar. We’ve seen companies with multiple, seemingly competing, initiatives before but not within the week. So what does it mean? Simply that Daimler Trucks is being smart: Since no one has self-driving sorted out, why back only one team? More to the point, who says you can have safe self-driving with only one artificial intelligence on-board. Is the plan to build redundancy by running both side-by-side?
• L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N. — FCA announced consensus-busting results, Ford’s profits were great, VW Group had a barnstorming quarter. The common thread? Executives reckon that their product mix has gone great guns, more than offsetting the volume losses from coronavirus. Now that manufacturers have discovered that building fewer of their least profitable products, whilst concentrating on maximising production of the highest-earners, will they change their attitude to production planning, or revert to type once this is all over?

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 joint venture partner, Brilliance, failed to repay a $150 million bond. BMW may find the company to be a willing seller of more of the joint venture (or it could cling on even more tightly!). (Reuters)
• Mini announced a forthcoming portfolio expansion that will see further products get all-electric versions, along with a new model that will only be available as a battery electric car. (Mini)

Daimler ^(history)

• Daimler has signed an updated supply agreement that will give Aston Martin access to a wider range of parts from the Mercedes-Benz parts bin. In return, Daimler will get enough shares in Aston Martin to increase its stake to 20%, or £286 million — whichever is lower — by 2023, subject to certain performance criteria being met. The implication is also that Aston Martin will pay less for the parts from now on. Daimler stressed that it has no interest in increasing its shareholding beyond 20% (Daimler)
• Daimler Trucks’ Torc self-driving division will develop products that use Luminar’s lidar. Daimler has taken a stake in the lidar firm as part of the deal. (Daimler)
• Despite its in-house Torc Robotics self-driving division, Daimler Trucks is collaborating with Waymo to develop autonomous trucks. (Daimler)
• Acquired Korean rental company Star-Rent-A-Car. (Daimler)
• Daimler and Volvo Group officially signed off on their fuel cell joint venture. (Daimler)

FCA ^(history)

• Reported Q3 2020 financial results. Revenue of €25.8 billion fell (6)% from prior year whilst net profit of €1.2 billion was strongly improved from Q3 2020. Adjusted EBIT of €2.3 billion was more than explained by North America, which delivered adjusted EBIT of €2.5 billion. (FCA)
• CEO Manley all but confirmed that there will soon be an all-electric version of the Ram pick-up, asking analysts to “stay tuned” for details. (Seeking Alpha)
• FCA and PSA’s boards signed some of the merger paperwork and confirmed that they expect  the merger to be complete by the end of Q1 2021. (FCA)
• Honda is joining FCA’s European CO₂ pool. (EU)

Ford ^(history)

• Reported financial results for Q3 2020. Revenue of $37.5 billion rose 1% versus prior year. Net income of $2.4 billion strongly improved versus a $0.4 billion profit in Q3 2020. Automotive EBIT of $2.6 billion was entirely explained by North America earnings of $3.2 billion, Europe lost $(400) million. (Ford)
• Buying 2020 European CO₂ target relief from Volvo. (Volvo)
• Sold the Sao Bernardo do Campo, Brazil, site. (Reuters)
• Intends to sell 100,000 vehicles equipped with the new driver assistance suite that enables hands-off, but not eyes-off, motoring in 2021. Initially, customers will only get the hardware and will have to wait for a software upload later in the year before everything actually works. The cars will only work on 100,000 miles of specially analysed sections of road.  (Ford)
• Hired a new IT and software chief from the banking industry. Ford played up his ex-Fordie credentials. (Ford)
• New CEO Farley admitted that “flexibility between battery electric [and] plugin [hybrids] is not very high”. (Ford)
• Ford plans to hold a capital markets day in the spring. On the earnings call, Ford executives studiously batted away all detailed questions, leaving analysts to wonder aloud what had happened to a promise of greater transparency. (Ford)

Geely (includes Volvo) ^(history)

• Polestar issued another recall for the Polestar 2 to replace faulty power electronics and cooling systems. (Polestar)
• Kandi Technologies created a ride hailing company, Zhejiang Ruiheng Technology Company, as a joint venture with two other partners. Kandi will own 10% of the business. (Kandi)
• Volvo will beat its 2020 European CO₂ target, meaning that it can sell the benefit of the surplus to Ford. (Volvo)
• ECARX, a technology developer founded by Geely, raised $194 million. (Deal Street Asia)
• Kandi Technologies is listing its battery swapping subsidiary. (Kandi)

General Motors ^(history)

• Announced a new CFO, Paul Jacobson, recruited from Delta Air Lines. (GM)
• Will start selling electric car conversion kits in 2021, aimed at classic GM models and based on the Chevrolet Bolt parts bin. (GM)

Honda ^(history)

• Produced 1.286 million vehicles in Q3 2020, up 1% on a year-over-year basis. (Honda)
• Honda is joining FCA’s European CO₂ pool. (EU)

Hyundai / Kia ^(history)

• Announced Q3 2020 financial results. Revenue of 27.6 trillion KRW (about $24.3 billion) rose 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. A loss before tax of (362) billion KRW (about -$320 million) fell from a loss in the prior year. (Hyundai)

Mazda

• Produced 327,485 cars in Q3 2020, down (11)% on a year-over-year basis. (Mazda)

PSA ^(history)

• Reported Q3 2020 automotive revenue of €12 billion, up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. Unit sales were down, but product mix more than compensated. (PSA)
• PSA sold down 7% of its Faurecia stake sell down, taking the company to 39%. Once PSA merges with FCA, the plan is to distribute the remaining shares to the new entity’s stockholders. (PSA)
• FCA and PSA’s boards signed some of the merger paperwork and confirmed that they expect  the merger to be complete by the end of Q1 2021. (FCA)
• The Citroën brand is resetting its UK prices, revising them sharply downwards, in a bid to reflect transactional amounts and get away from heavy discounting. Sales to rental companies will also be cut. (Autocar)

Subaru

• Sold 261,651 vehicles in Q3 2020, up 11% on a year-over-year basis. (Subaru)

Tata (includes JLR) ^(history)

• Reported financial results for Q3 2020 (Tata’s fiscal Q2). Revenue of 52,530 Cr. INR (about $7.2 billion) fell (18.2)% versus prior year, of which JLR’s revenue was £4.35 billion, down (28.5)%. There was a loss before tax of (815) Cr. INR (about -$110 million), with JLR’s £65 million failing to offset the wider group. (Tata)
• Unveiled a facelift for the Jaguar E-Pace. The car’s seats incorporate a Jaguar tag, a design detail seemingly taken from JLR’s former stablemate Volvo (it’s even in nearly the same place). (JLR)

Toyota ^(history)

• Sold 2.52 million vehicles in Q3 2020, down (8)% versus prior year, although September was up on a year-over-year basis. (Toyota)
• Expanded a recall for faulty fuel pumps — 5.84 million cars will now have replacement parts fitted. (Reuters)
• Slightly increased its shareholding in KDDI Corporation, a mobile phone network and the carrier for Toyota’s telematics network in Japan via an investment of around $500 million. (Toyota)
• Invested in Spanish car subscription startup Bipi. (Toyota)
• The Hino truckmaking division agreed a joint venture for electric vehicles with VW’s Traton, building on an existing collaboration. (Traton)
• Starting an investment fund focused on manufacturing technology. Toyota won’t say how large the investment will be until early December. (Toyota)

VW Group ^(history)

• Sold 2.6 million vehicles in Q3 2020, down (1)% on a year-over-year basis. (VW)
• Reported financial results for Q3 2020. Revenue of €59.4 billion fell (3)% versus prior year. Profits of €3.2 billion fell (30)% versus Q3 2019. (VW)
• Ducati published financial results on a major newswire — possibly part of a plan to raise the brand’s profile within the investment community as part of a rumoured sale. (Ducati)
• The Traton truckmaking division agreed a joint venture for electric vehicles with Toyota’s Hino, building on an existing collaboration. (Traton)
• Bugatti unveiled the Bolide, a track-only hypercar. The company says it hasn’t yet decided whether or not to put the car into series production. (Bugatti)

Other

• Aston Martin signed an updated supply agreement that will provide access to a wider range of parts from the Mercedes-Benz parts bin. In return, Daimler will get enough shares in Aston Martin to increase its stake to 20%, or £286 million — whichever is lower — by 2023, subject to certain performance criteria being met. The implication is also that Aston Martin will pay less for the parts from now on. Daimler stressed that it has no interest in increasing its shareholding beyond 20% (Daimler) Aston Martin is raising $1 billion in debt, and looks set to incur an interest rate of over 10%. (Reuters)
• Berkley Coachworks announced a limited edition two seat roadster, which the firm hopes to start producing in 2021. (BBC)

News about other companies and trends

Economic / Political News

• By 2035, 50% of new cars sold in China will have to be fuel cell, plugin hybrid or battery electric. The remainder must be full hybrids, capable of at least some electric-only range. (Nikkei)

Suppliers

• Stoneridge reported Q3 2020 sales of $176 million and operating income of $8 million. (Stoneridge)
• Lear reported Q3 2020 revenue of $4.9 billion and net income of $174 million. (Lear)
• Nidec’s Q3 2020 sales were 414 trillion JPY (about $4 billion), with operating profit of 41 billion JPY (about $400 million). (Nidec)
• Visteon reported Q3 2020 sales of $747 million and net income of $6 million. (Visteon)
• Kongsberg reported Q3 2020 revenue of €255 million and EBIT of €14 million. (Kongsberg)
• Grammer reported Q3 2020 revenue of €462 million and operating EBIT of €22 million. (Grammer)
• AAM reported Q3 2020 revenue of $1.4 billion and net income of $117 million. (AAM)
• BorgWarner reported Q3 2020 sales of $2.5 billion and operating income of $284 million. (BorgWarner)
• Gestamp reported Q3 2020 revenue of €2.1 billion and EBIT of €94 million. (Gestamp)
• Goodyear’s Q3 2020 sales were $3.5 billion, with a net loss of $(2) million. (Goodyear)
• Aptiv’s Q3 2020 sales were $3.7 billion, operating income was $364 million. (Aptiv)
• Valmet says car demand is so high that it urgently needs 400 new staff for its Finnish plant, indicating that it wants to add a shift. (Valmet)
• Continental’s CEO is stepping down. (Continental)
• Continental took a minority stake in lidar developer AEye. (AEye)
• Dana announced an investment in electronic controls company Pi Innovo. (Dana)
• Shiloh reached a deal to sell itself and emerge from bankruptcy protection. (Shiloh)
• PSA sold down 7% of its Faurecia stake sell down, taking the company to 39%. Once PSA merges with FCA, the plan is to distribute the remaining shares to the new entity’s stockholders. (PSA)

Dealers

• Malaysian car sales website iCar Asia has received a $150 million takeover offer. (Deal Street Asia)
• Toyota invested in Spanish car subscription startup Bipi. (Toyota)

Driverless / Autonomy ^(history)

• Waymo released a new safety report, made up of the usual PR-speak about how the company was developing autonomous cars. In addition, the company published safety statistics showing a series of actual crashes and near misses avoided by the intervention of the safety driver. There was a single accident in a completely driverless vehicle and one 50:50 where there was an airbag deployment. In all other situations either the Waymo vehicle was not at fault, or the avoiding actions of the safety driver prevented a collision. (Waymo)
• Autonomous vehicle simulation company Applied Intuition raised $125 million. (Applied Intuition)
• Lidar supplier Aeva is going public via a merger with a special purpose vehicle. (Aeva)
• Daimler Trucks’ Torc self-driving division will develop products that use Luminar’s lidar. Daimler has taken a stake in the lidar firm as part of the deal. (Daimler) At almost exactly the same time, Daimler Trucks announced a collaboration with Waymo to develop autonomous trucks, seemingly separate from the first initiative. (Daimler)
• Continental took a minority stake in lidar developer AEye. (AEye)

Connectivity

• ECARX, a technology developer founded by Geely, raised $194 million in a round valuing it at $1.5 billion. Investors included Baidu. (Deal Street Asia)

Other

• Triton EV showed off a hydrogen powered heavy truck. The firm said it had brushed aside the counsel of experts who told them it was a five year, $100 million+ effort and built the vehicle in 35 days. If the company had listened more carefully it might have discovered that this was timeline and cost to industrialise a design. (Triton)
• Volvo Group and Isuzu finalised the terms of their strategic alliance. (Volvo Group)

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