This is Autoline Daily reporting on the global automotive industry.
AUTO INDUSTRY ENTERING TOUGH PHASE
Toyota posted a whopping $17 billion net profit for its fiscal year that ended in March. But that was down from a $22 billion profit the year before, a 22% drop. Honda’s net profit for the year fell 42%. BMW’s pre-tax profit fell 75% and it’s automotive division lost money for the first time in 20 years. We keep hearing more warnings from automakers and suppliers that their earnings are going to drop this year. Mitsubishi just announced it expects a 19% drop. All this shows that the industry is entering a tough phase, which will likely cause more restructuring and partnerships as everyone struggles to cut the cost of doing business.
NORTH AMERICAN MARKET SLOWS
Along those lines, Ward’s reports that sales of new vehicles in Canada fell over 9% last month and they dropped nearly 14% in Mexico. Couple that with a five-and-a-half percent drop in the US market and we can see that the North American market slowed considerably.
GM MIGHT SELL LORDSTOWN TO WORKHORSE
You probably heard that General Motors might sell its assembly plant in Lordstown, Ohio to a startup called Workhorse that makes electric trucks. President Trump tweeted out that this is great news for Ohio, but we’re not all that impressed. Lordstown is a massive facility that can make 250,000 vehicles a year. But Workhorse is a tiny, underfunded startup that will build a fraction of that. We’ve seen other startups buy GM facilities and choke on the cost of running them. Fisker bought GM’s plant in Wilmington, Delaware only to go belly up. And Elio promised it would build its 3-wheel commuter car in GM’s plant in Shreveport, Louisiana. But Elio made that promise 5 years ago and nothing’s happened. However, Tesla took over an old GM-Toyota plant, and Rivian bought a Mitsubishi plant for next to nothing, so for some well-funded startups buying an old plant can make sense. But we think Workhorse would be far better off with a much smaller facility.
VW READIES ITS FIRST ID ELECTRIC VEHICLE
Volkswagen is sharing more details about its first ID electric vehicle. It’s going to be called the ID.3 and that’s how its other ID EVs will be named, ID and then a number. If it looks familiar, you may remember the SEAT el.Born concept that debuted earlier this year. Three battery sizes will be available, which will provide ranges from 330- to 550-kilometers or 205- to 341-miles. This is based on the WLTP test. Taking a page from Tesla’s book, Volkswagen is taking 1,000 euro deposits and says it got 10,000 orders in the first 24-hours. A Launch Edition goes on sale by the end of the year, while other models won’t be available until the middle of 2020.
WILD RACER INSPIRES WILD GO KART
If someone ranked the wildest-looking race cars of all time, chances are the 6-wheeled Tyrell P34 from 1976 and 1977 would be on that list. Well, a 13-year-old kid from Ohio has used the Tyrell as inspiration for this awesome go kart. After showing a natural knack for car design, Gene Lin, nicknamed “The Hamster,” moved on to a mechanical project and the 6-wheeled go kart was born. We get the feeling this kid has a pretty bright future.
HONDA DOES FLYING HEADBUTT INTO EV MARKET
Honda has named its cute, little urban electric vehicle Honda E. But we think if it really wanted to attract millennials, it should have called it the E Honda.
KIA DELAYING U.S. INTRODUCTION OF SOUL EV
Kia is delaying the introduction of the electric version of the Soul to the U.S. It was supposed to go on sale this year but Wards reports that it likely won’t be available until next year. The company didn’t say why but as we’ve reported, demand for EVs is virtually non-existent outside of Tesla. The company has also had to steer electrified versions of the Niro to Europe to meet upcoming emission regulations. So it could be doing the same with the Soul EV. When it does arrive, the Soul EV will only be sold in the 14 ZEV states.
BUSCH BEER CREATES “MILLENNIAL” NASCAR
If you tune into the NASCAR race at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May, 18th you won’t have a hard time spotting Kevin Harvick on the track. That’s because he’ll be driving a pink car with emojis all over it. Last year, Harvick’s sponsor, Busch Beer, made a bet that if he didn’t win at Homestead, they would give his car a “millennial” look. He ended up finishing third in that race, so Busch is making good on their bet.
On Autoline After Hours this afternoon John and Gary will have Ryan Eustice, the senior VP of automated driving at the Toyota Research Institute. He’ll bring the TRI-P4 prototype to the studio, which is a modified Lexus LS equipped with self-driving technology. Pete Bigelow from Automotive News will also be on board, so tune in today at 3PM eastern time on our website, Autoline.tv..
But that brings us to the end of today’s report, thanks for watching and we’ll see you again tomorrow.
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Comments (25)
May 9th, 2019 at 12:08 pm
This is total speculation, and I’m not really believing myself when I say, maybe GM is going to work with Workhorse and produce GM electric vehicles out of the Lordstown plant. I can see a modified front end on that Workhorse that might just make a similar vehicle look Chevrolet’esk.
With a seeming propensity to still go electric in Europe, and pre-orders of the VW electric fairly robust, maybe Tesla doesn’t have a lock over there (as has been alluded here and in the industry). I’m standing by (on this one).
May 9th, 2019 at 12:24 pm
The Lordstown Plant is verrry large do maybe the business plan is to establish an”EV” Plant Location for other EV activities to be spawned.
May 9th, 2019 at 12:31 pm
FYI: Workhorse has another plant in Indiana where it is about ready to start production of four different sizes of their all-new electric delivery vehicle. They have an order from UPS for 1,000 vans and will likely get more orders once production commences. Pricing is directly comparable to ICE delivery vans, so the fuel and maintenance savings will be very attractive to fleet administrators. The Indiana plant has the capacity to build 60,000 units per year. There is more to this company than many press outlets are reporting.
May 9th, 2019 at 12:31 pm
Maybe Workhorse plans to assemble batteries in Lordstown in addition to vehicles.
Have to say that Peter Bigelow would have been a better character name for the movie than “Deuce Bigalow male gigolo”.
May 9th, 2019 at 12:39 pm
Sounds like this go-kart kid, Gene Lin, may be the next Christian von Koenigsegg.
May 9th, 2019 at 12:58 pm
VW EV: “205- to 341-miles. This is based on the WLTP test.”
How much is this in EPA miles? I bet 150 to 250 tops. And in MI miles in the winter, 100 to 180.
May 9th, 2019 at 1:04 pm
EV pickup trucks. They will have a worse chance to be sold than a speaker at Outback Steakhouse trying to sell vegetarianism to the patrons.
May 9th, 2019 at 1:34 pm
To bad it takes a story about companies that have taken over old GM plants to get Elio back in the news. I was hopeful for them but I seriously doubt they will ever get off the ground now.
May 9th, 2019 at 1:58 pm
I wondering to what extent Teslas have gutted, high margin luxury car sales might have hurt the other manufacturers?
May 9th, 2019 at 2:07 pm
9 to a HUGE Extent. VW alone is spending 34 BILLION $ or, worse, Euros, enough money to launch 10 new ICE models, on its EV, which it hopes to do well NOT in the two biggest EV markets in the world, US and esp. China, but only in Europe!
May 9th, 2019 at 2:09 pm
Well I bet Harvick is thrilled with the idea of driving that abortion on wheels ,because his sponsor lost a bet. Sounds like a real slap at the millennial crowd that NASCAR is bending over backwards to appease. I wonder if his helmet will have a “man-bun” attached to it as well?
May 9th, 2019 at 2:19 pm
8 the Elio concept makes zero sense. You would probably be safer in a motorcycle if you know how to ride one, than in this contraption which gives the illusion of more safety but in fact it does not have to meet the safety standards that even the cheapest Kia meets. The sooner these fools realize it, the fewer millions they will lose. Then again, ” a fool and his $ are soon parted”, and I have no sympathy for the silly venture “capitalists” who gave this guy $ to make this joke.
May 9th, 2019 at 3:29 pm
10 VW are building an electric Golf-like hatch to sell in Europe, where a lot of car sales are Golfs, and other Golf-like hatches. They will also build electric CUVs and sedans, for other markets, like China and the US. We’ll see how they do, but if people have a place to charge them, I’d expect the ID.3 to do well in Europe. Early interest seems to indicate that.
May 9th, 2019 at 3:31 pm
12 Anyone that buys a three wheeled vehicle already is aware it only meets the requirements for a motorcycle. There is no expectation of vehicle safety with them. So assuming that it would meet the standards that a Kia does would be foolish on the buyers part. Besides the Elio does have a cage and an airbag so I’m pretty sure it would be safer than a open bike.
May 9th, 2019 at 3:33 pm
11 If they are going to have a pink race car, it should be bright/hot pink, like the Force India F1 cars. That color really shows up, and in a better way than Harvick pink will.
May 9th, 2019 at 3:37 pm
7 EV pickup trucks make sense, for many of the buyers who have an actual use for a pickup truck. The plumber/carpenter/AC installer, etc. can do his 50 or so miles of driving for his days work, charge it overnight at home, and be ready to go the next day.
May 9th, 2019 at 3:43 pm
A year ago, Elio said they would build production cars “next year,” which mean pretty soon, if it happens.
https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1116698_elio-motors-says-it-will-build-production-cars-next-year
May 9th, 2019 at 3:46 pm
The link on my name is to an article from last week stating that in April for the first time ever, renewable energy sources have out produced coal energy production. For now, it is only expected to last for April and May, as heavy AC use kicks in around June and the coal plants all kick in full output, but it is supposed to be a sign of things to come. Hydro-electric plants surpassed coal consistently in 2015.
Naysayers frequently say that EVs just transplant the pollution from the roads to the electricity production site, but as wind, solar, and geothermals increase in number that is no longer a valid complaint. This trend will also help to take up the slack of needing more electricity than is currently available.
May 9th, 2019 at 4:09 pm
17 They have postponed the production start date more times than I can remember. They were pushing it out month by month then by quarters and finally pushed it out by like 18 months and then again by quarters. I think they have actually given up on publicly announcing a start date, as it became basically a joke. I would ride my motorcycle all year round like I did in L.A but here in the Midwest I need the enclosure so it would be a good commuter option.
May 9th, 2019 at 4:41 pm
19. I suspect GM will make S10s in that Shreveport plant again, before Elio makes any of their machines to sell to customers.
May 9th, 2019 at 8:08 pm
@20 Should I hold my breath for either one of those to happen??
May 9th, 2019 at 8:17 pm
21 Probably not
May 10th, 2019 at 10:49 am
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0VuwW_aOxQ
I stumbled on this older ATW where some guy with a fleet of Teslas uses them intensively, has more than 250k miles with each of them, and claims they require next to nothing in maintenance, compared to ICEs.
I think if one makes a zillion miles a year (such as a taxi or traveling salesman or one with a 100+ mile round trip commute), a BEV is the ideal vehicle, while somebody like me, who drives barely 2-3k a year with each of my cars, it makes much less sense.
May 10th, 2019 at 11:21 am
23 If nothing else, the ICE car would need 25 oil changes in that 250K miles.
May 10th, 2019 at 11:48 am
23, 24 I should clarify, it would not make sense for somebody like me from the $-saving point of view, I could still buy it for its green-ness and esp. for its performance.