This is Autoline Daily reporting on the global automotive industry.
FCA LAYS OFF 1,500 WORKERS IN CANADA
As we reported earlier this week Wards is forecasting that sales in the US will drop in March as inventory goes up. That means automakers will have to start offering more discounts or they’re going to have to reduce production. Now FCA will lay off 1,500 workers at its Windsor, Ontario plant that builds the Chrysler Pacifica and Dodge Grand Caravan. Sales are down 24% and 27%, respectively. The company is eliminating the third shift, but it won’t go into effect until the end of September. FCA will offer early retirement packages to eligible employees and will try to place laid-off workers into other full-time positions.
LAMBORGHINI SETS SALES RECORD
Meanwhile Lamborghini is having the time of its life. It’s setting all-time sales and earnings records. Last year Lambo sold 5,750 cars, up a whopping 51% and for the first time in its history it sold more than 5,000 vehicles. Revenues shot up 40% to 1.4 billion euros. And almost all of the credit goes to decision to make an SUV. The Lamborghini Urus is driving all that growth.
GORY DETAILS OF RENAULT-NISSAN SPAT
If you want to get all the gory details of how the Renault-Nissan alliance became a cauldron of stress and intimidation, check out the Wall Street Journal and New York Times today. They both have stories that take a deep dive into how Nissan executives revolted against their former CEO Carlos Ghosn. The stories don’t necessarily break new ground, but they sure have a detailed chronology of how it all went wrong.
CAN YOU IDENTIFY THIS CAR?
OK all you hard core gearheads, we’re going to tax your automotive knowledge. Here’s a Barn Find we found, and we challenge you to figure out what it is. I was on vacation in Uruguay earlier this week, a country where you can find all kinds of old cars tucked away in the countryside. I came across this car parked out on the street in a small town. Do you think you know what it is? Leave your guesstimates in the comments section and we’ll reveal the answer next week.
And we’ll be back with more right after this.
LYFT VALUED AT $24 BILLION IN IPO
Looks like the ride hailing industry is turning into an investment bonanza. Lyft, the ride-hailing company, was just valued at more than $24 billion in its first initial public offering, which was more than investors anticipated. Now analysts are turning their attention to Uber, which is expected launch its IPO next month. The company has been told by its investment bankers that it could be worth as much as $120 billion. That means Uber is considered to be more valuable than GM, Ford and Fiat-Chrysler put together.
ZF ACQUIRES WABCO FOR $7 BILLION
ZF is making a push to become one of largest auto suppliers in the world. Back in 2015, it acquired TRW for nearly $13 billion and now it’s paying $7 billion for Wabco, a company that makes braking systems and safety and connectivity technology for commercial vehicles. This puts ZF on an equal footing as its German rivals Bosch and Continental. If you’d like to learn more about how ZF is transitioning from making traditional car parts to new technologies, check out our Autoline This Week from earlier this year which dives into the topic.
BOLT SALES COULD CRATER
Sales of the Chevy Bolt could be poised to drop off a cliff. GM has sold over 200,000 EVs and plug-in, so the $7,500 tax credits it gets from Uncle Sam are about to drop in half. And then in 6 months, it’ll go away all together. Even so, GM has no plans to lower the price of the Bolt. For buyers, that means the price will effectively go up by $3,750. Sales of the Bolt are down 25% over the last three months and now they’ll drop off even more.
PROTECTING VEHICLES FROM HACKERS
All truck companies must use a standardized communication protocol for their commercial vehicles but automakers use proprietary communication networks. And that’s important for cyber security purposes. On Autoline This Week, we’re joined by Matthew Carpenter from GRIMM Cyber Research and he explained the difference between protecting passenger and commercial vehicles from hackers.
(The ATW preview is only available in the video version of today’s show.)
You can watch that entire discussion right now on our website, Autoline.tv or you can find it on our YouTube channel.
But that’s it for today, thanks for watching and have a great weekend.
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Comments (34)
March 29th, 2019 at 12:20 pm
Morris
March 29th, 2019 at 12:32 pm
Morris Oxford 1953 ?
March 29th, 2019 at 12:33 pm
John, one correction on the Bolt EV tax credit… Starting April 1, the credit drops from $7500 to $3750 as reported. Then on October 1, it drops from $3750 to $1875. The $1875 credit then phases out completely on March 31, 2020. So the credits go away completely in 12 months, not six months.
March 29th, 2019 at 1:01 pm
We have seen the same trend in motorcycle sales as auto sales. People choosing SUV’s and CUV’s, motorcycles – the Adventure touring segment has been hot for years. There aren’t many reasons to buy a full on sport bike when many of the Adv touring bikes offer 90% of the performance with better comfort and luggage.
March 29th, 2019 at 1:12 pm
The mystery car is a German Ford Taunus from 1939 to 1942
March 29th, 2019 at 1:20 pm
Lots to talk about today.
A. Inventories, I have alarmed the forum about them many days ago, they are 4 million vehicles wasting their owner’s $ and producing no revenues. They should have cut production months ago.
B. Lambo “SUV”. There is no accounting for bad taste. This obese hatch that looks as if it was hit from the front is no SUV. If I wanted a Lambo, this atrocity is the last one I would ever consider.
C. LYFT is valued at $24 Bill and Uber at 120 bills. There is one born every minute. But in case there are people who believe Uber is worth that much, here is a suggestion:
WHen Uber is taken to criminal court for killing that poor 49 year old woman in Arizona or some other state with perfect weather, the Jury should award her survivors with an award of $55 billion. First, if you believe that laughable nonsense, Uber can easily afford it. Second, you the Jury will enter the record books as the highest jury award past, present or even FUTURE.
D. Bolts. When GM loses $9,000 on each one it makes already, how easy is it for them to discount them? Even if they cost as much as a vastly superior and far better looking Model 3? NO. They cannot discount them. But maybe there is a Santa Claus, and its name is GM CRUISE. THEY are the ones that buy all the Bolts. They can buy the rest of them. Alternatively, GM can give them away on Wheel of Fortune!
March 29th, 2019 at 1:22 pm
PS ATW: BIG Yawn. I could not wait for this tiny clip to finish, imagine how bored I would be to watch the whole thing.
Finally, Your barn find. I am torn between a Noclue 1500 or a Beatsme 1200.
March 29th, 2019 at 1:47 pm
#3. Bob, thanks for the correction!
March 29th, 2019 at 2:09 pm
4 I remember some earlier “adventure touring” bikes, like Yamaha TDM and Honda Transalp being popular in Europe when I was in France in 1992. They caught on in north America a few years later. A friend has a TDM, but they didn’t sell well in the US when they were new.
March 29th, 2019 at 2:18 pm
I agree, looks a lot like a Morris with the front chrome and split windshield.
GM was so keen on the Bolt EV at first, then really cooled off. They wouldn’t stock them here in Ontario while there was a $14,000 rebate, but now that there is no provincial rebate, most dealers have at least one in stock. If a drop of $3,750 stops Bolt EV sales in the U.S., what do you think losing a $14,000 rebate does to sales? This is not the decision making of a company that is anxious to sell them, period.
March 29th, 2019 at 2:20 pm
It’s hard to imagine people paying $200K and more for that Urus thing. Even the similar, but much better looking Porsche Cayenne is a bargain in comparison, and it’s not cheap, ~$125K, if you want the V8.
March 29th, 2019 at 2:26 pm
I have no idea what the barn find is, but if it’s a Morris, it is a different model from the ones I saw when in Scotland. The Morris Minors I remember had front hinged doors, and I don’t remember a big hood ornament like that. I could be forgetting things, though.
March 29th, 2019 at 2:31 pm
German ford taunus
March 29th, 2019 at 2:52 pm
Buckeltaunus G73A
March 29th, 2019 at 3:11 pm
I was going to go with the Morris but after perusing the the internet I think the Buckeltaunus is the correct pick. I was going to post a link (but perhaps that would ruin other speculation).
March 29th, 2019 at 3:55 pm
14, 15 I agree, after finding some pictures. I didn’t see that hood ornament in any pictures, though. Could that be an aftermarket item, or maybe it came from a ’38 Pontiac in a junk yard, or something like that.
March 29th, 2019 at 4:04 pm
Hudson
March 29th, 2019 at 4:07 pm
Kit, that hood ornament looks like a ’49 Ford (perhaps a little modification).
March 29th, 2019 at 4:51 pm
After looking at Pontiac ornaments, I knew it wasn’t that, as most are Indian heads, some that light up. I wonder if some Euro Fords came with ornaments like that, or maybe an owner of the “barn find” added it from a North American car.
March 29th, 2019 at 5:33 pm
late 40s, very early 50s Ford Taunus (W. German)
March 29th, 2019 at 5:55 pm
I think the barn find is a rare sighting of the elusive Utopian Turtletop.
March 29th, 2019 at 9:33 pm
Barn Find Vauxhaul ?
March 30th, 2019 at 5:19 pm
It looks like Ferrari are back. LeClerc and Vettel need to be careful on the start.
March 30th, 2019 at 9:29 pm
ChuckGrenci, how long do you think Red Bull will give Gasly to get with it? He was outqualified by “second string” driver Albon.
March 31st, 2019 at 6:34 am
Was watching “Motorweek” on PBS (after first lowering the volume to 20%, its host is louder than a town crier) and among some rather uninteresting car test ( the small Lexus hybrid crossover and the new NSX) it also tested the new Indian motorcycle, which weighs more than.. 900 lbs, and has an understandably short range of 200 miles.
So we went from the 6,000 lb Escalades and Navigators to the 1,000 lb bikes with 50% less range than a fully EV Tesla… upwards and onwards!
March 31st, 2019 at 8:04 am
Why should it only be the Bolt whose sells will take a dive because of the government incentive being cut in half? How about the Leaf?
March 31st, 2019 at 8:22 am
24 The Leaf still has the full $7500 credit available.
March 31st, 2019 at 8:26 am
21,22, Kit, I’m hoping for a clean start so we can see if Ferrari is really on par with M/B. As far as Redbull, it is still early so we will have to wait to see what pans out. And see, if Haas is going to be ‘real’ this year.
March 31st, 2019 at 8:30 am
24, The Leaf’s incentives will decrease when they reach the 200k units sold (as all the rest of the players) or until the program is eliminated or modified.
March 31st, 2019 at 9:25 am
Here’s some info about the tax credit status for different cars.
https://www.edmunds.com/fuel-economy/the-ins-and-outs-of-electric-vehicle-tax-credits.html
March 31st, 2019 at 4:51 pm
The F1 race was, well, interesting, but it was disappointing that Ferrari couldn’t take advantage of their grid positions. At least Leclerc made the podium, with the help of the safety car at the end. This must be getting embarrassing for Renault, with, apparently, 3 of their 4 power units failing. At least Leclerc’s didn’t quit completely.
March 31st, 2019 at 5:22 pm
29 Reading more, maybe “only” Sainz’s gearbox failed, rather than his engine/hybrid system, but apparently both Renault team cars stopped near the end of the race due to engine/hybrid system failures.
April 1st, 2019 at 7:22 am
Seen the Autos (April 19) Issue of CR? Lots of interesting and some shocking ratings, both overall and the test drive scores.
The darling of Auto Journalists, those fake SUV Volvos like the XC90, got dismal ratings, a 52 overall and much below average (the worst!) reliability. And it gets an F- for price from me, some 4-cyl coffeemaker for close to $100k? Gimme a break!
April 1st, 2019 at 8:24 am
The XC90 got a higher “road test” score than some of its more-or-less competition, like MDX and RX, but yeah, dismal reliability, especially compared to the Lexus.
The price of the XC90 versions ranges from 47.7K to 104.9K. Yikes. The expensive one is a plug-in hybrid, though, but with only 17 miles of EPA electric range.