AD #3317 – U.S. EV Market Share Up 104%; VW Developing Ranger-Based EV; U.S. Sales Suffer Double Digit Drop
May 4th, 2022 at 11:58am
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Runtime: 10:39
0:08 U.S. Sales Suffer Double Digit Drop
1:24 U.S. EV Market Share Up 104%
4:00 Aston Martin Gets New CEO – Again
4:44 Kia Soul Gets Update, Loses X-Line Trim
5:38 GMC Adds Upscale to the Upscale
6:36 Cadillac Leaks More Lyriq Specs
8:06 Battery Startups Love Washington State
8:56 Bridgestone Develops Tires for EV Buses
9:26 Ford & VW Developing Electric Ranger Pickup
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U.S. SALES SUFFER DOUBLE DIGIT DROP
April was a brutal month for automakers in the U.S. market. Sales were down 22% though some automakers fared far worse than that. Audi was down a staggering 47%. Though General Motors only reports sales on a quarterly basis, one source suggests that Cadillac nearly caught Audi in sales, something that probably hasn’t happened for over a decade. Honda had the second worst results. It was down 42%, and its best selling model, the CR-V was down an incomprehensible 57%. Volkswagen was down 42%. Its best selling models, the Atlas and Tiguan, were off by 50%. Overall, it was a terrible month for every single automaker except two two of them: Tesla and Volvo. Volvo managed to post a 4% gain, even though its sales in the rest of the world were down. Tesla posted another massive sales increase, up 56% thanks to big gains from the Model 3 and Y. Wards Intelligence estimates that Tesla sold 33,000 cars last month, putting it far, far ahead of Audi, BMW and Mercedes.
U.S. EV MARKET SHARE UP 104%
In fact, the EV segment continued to shrug off all the other problems going on in the industry. Automakers sold over 55,000 EVs, up an impressive 65% from a year ago. Obviously, Tesla accounts for a good chunk of that increase, but other EVs delivered strong sales as well. Ford sold over 3,800 Mustang Mach Es, a massive 95% improvement from last year, and even up 61% from the month before. Chevrolet sold over 1,300 Bolts, which have just gone back into production. EV sales were also up because of so many new entrants that were not available a year ago, including EV startups Lucid and Rivian and models like the GMC Hummer EV. Other new entrants include Hyundai’s Ioniq 5, Kia’s EV6, the BMW iX, Mercedes EQS and the Volvo C40. All together, EVs grabbed 4.5% market share compared to only 2.2% last year. In other words, the EV segment’s market share grew more than 100% over the last 12 months.
WILL ENOUGH PEOPLE BUY EVS?
Yet, even though EV sales are soaring, they need to grow a lot more for the auto industry to get the volume it needs. And they will grow a lot more. But will they grow enough? Based on the current rate, EV sales in the US will probably hit somewhere around 665,000 this year. But automakers need to sell millions of them. So will enough people buy EVs? That’s the topic on Autoline After Hours tomorrow. Stephanie Brinley the principal analyst for the Americas for S&P Global, as well as Mike Jackson, the head of research at the OESA, will be lending their expertise and insight, so join me and Gary as we look into what it’s going to take to get enough people to buy electric cars.
ASTON MARTIN GETS NEW CEO–AGAIN
Billionaire investor Lawrence Stroll swooped in to save Aston Martin in 2020. Now as Executive Chairman he’s taking an axe to the top ranks at the company. Aston just named a new CFO, CTO and CEO, a guy named Amedeo Felisa. Most notably, Felisa was a former CEO of Ferrari. Stroll said he wanted a CEO to “focus on the bigger picture” and “Nobody knows how to make ultra-luxury performance cars better than Amedeo.” Felisa takes over for Tobias Moers, who joined the company in 2020 from Mercedes-AMG and is now looking for another job.
KIA SOUL GETS UPDATES, LOSES X-LINE MODEL
The Kia Soul has a slightly new look for 2023. The big changes are to the front fascia where new LED lighting is offered and the fog lights are now incorporated into a thin, L-shaped accent that cuts into the grille. There are some mild changes to the rear end as well as new color and paint options. And a ten and a quarter inch display is now standard on all but the base model. The X-Line trim that gave the Soul a more rugged look is no longer offered. And the same goes for its 1.6L turbo 4-cylinder engine that produced 200-horsepower. The Soul will only come with a 2.0L 4-cylinder that makes 147 horsepower and is mated to a CVT. Looks like Kia is jumping on the bandwagon of automakers who are slashing model proliferation as they try to cut costs.
GMC ADDS UPSCALE TO THE UPSCALE
But GMC is going in the other direction. It’s offering an even more upscale version of its upscale Denali brand. They call it Denali Ultimate. It first debuted on the Sierra pickup and now it’s making its way to the Yukon. It features its own unique exterior and interior details, even nicer materials and more tech. Not only does that include a 10.2 inch infotainment screen, but also GM’s newest version of Super Cruise, its highway hands-free driving system. GMC didn’t reveal pricing, but the Sierra Denali Ultimate starts a little over $80,000, including destination charges, so we’d expect the Yukon version to cost just a little more than that. And that explains why GMC doesn’t mind adding to its model proliferation: as long as customers are willing to pay that kind of money, it easily pays for the cost of complexity.
CADILLAC LEAKS MORE LYRIQ SPECS
More information is coming in on the Cadillac Lyriq, thanks to an Instagram Q&A with Cadillac. We now know the AWD version will have an estimated 500 horsepower. That means it will have two 180 kW electric motors, one in the front and one in the rear–as opposed to the single 255 kW motor the rear-drive version uses. That’s also more power than the Tesla Model Y Performance and the Ford Mustang Mach-E GT. Towing capacity for the Lyriq AWD is rated at up to 3,500 pounds, which is the same as the Model Y and, as we learned just yesterday, more than the Mach-E at 2,200 lbs. The RWD Lyriq will go on sale first, sometime this summer, and it has an estimated 312 miles of range from a 100 kWh battery pack.
BATTERY STARTUPS LOVE STATE OF WASHINGTON
Say, what is it about the state of Washington that looks so appealing to battery startups? Porsche is investing in a company called Group14, and a former Tesla battery engineer is starting a company called Sila Nanotechnologies. Both companies are building plants in the state of Washington, and both of them are making silicon-based anodes. Sila says its anodes enable lithium batteries to store 20% more energy than graphite anodes. Group14 claims a 50% increase. If this proves out to be true, it’s going to slash battery costs simply because automakers could use fewer battery cells and still get the same range. Moreover, this has geo-political implications since 70% of all graphite now comes from China.
BRIDGESTONE DEVELOPS TIRE FOR EV BUSES
With more electric buses going into service, Bridgestone developed a tire specifically for them. Called the R192E, it has less rolling resistance so electric buses can travel further on every charge. The tires also provide better grip in rain and snow. Bridgestone owns a retreading company called Bandag, and it says that retreading can extend the life of a tire enough that it will save fleet operators millions of dollars annually.
FORD & VW DEVELOPING ELECTRIC RANGER PICKUP
Ford and Volkswagen are looking at collaborating on developing an electric version of the Ranger pickup. VW would sell it under the Amarok brand. Though this is still an early engineering effort, Wards Auto reports it will probably come out somewhere around 2025 and will be pitched as a more efficient alternative to Tesla’s Cyber Truck and Rivian’s R1T. The truck will likely be developed by Ford Australia, which has global design responsibility for the Ranger. This collaboration is all about slashing development costs and getting more manufacturing volume. With Ford and Volkswagen joining forces in the mid-size pickup segment, they’re going to be a formidable force.
And that wraps it up for today’s news, thanks for making Autoline Daily a part of your day.
Thanks to our partner for embedding Autoline Daily on its website: WardsAuto.com
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Comments (33)
May 4th, 2022 at 12:52 pm
Are car sales down because inventory is piling up at dealers like in the pre-covid days, or because production is down because of supply chain issues?
May 4th, 2022 at 1:09 pm
1. You’re looking at it all wrong. Car sales aren’t down, the EV market is doing fine. It’s yesterday’s technology that’s under the gun, like CRT televisions. Many will now reply that they have 4 CRT televisions, have had them since the early ’80s and they outperform anything you can get today.
Good to stir it up…
: )
May 4th, 2022 at 1:17 pm
#1. Kit, we’ll get the latest inventory numbers tomorrow, but all the signs say that inventory is still in short supply.
May 4th, 2022 at 1:20 pm
#2. Don’t forget that OEMs are giving EVs priority over ICE vehicles to get chips.
May 4th, 2022 at 1:20 pm
#3. Thanks. It will be interesting.
May 4th, 2022 at 1:24 pm
Battery start ups likely are looking into Washington State because of it proximity to California without paying the crazy taxes and property values. Not to mention Washington doesn’t have income tax. Businesses do have a B&O tax though. Just a guess.
May 4th, 2022 at 1:32 pm
@1 I may be mistaken, but it is my understanding that car sales are counted from OEM to dealers, so if inventory is piling up sales should be rather up than down. Experts (I believe GM Veteran has good knowledge of the sales model, and the Autoline Team of course), please help us understand this.
May 4th, 2022 at 1:36 pm
@Autoline Team: “I hate to be that guy”, but I am still curious to any reply you could give: yesterday I asked about the top 10 selling brands in China. Thee top ten you showed added up to 10 million vehicles on an annual basis while I believe the total Chinese market is three times that volume.
Any thoughts?
May 4th, 2022 at 1:41 pm
EV’s: Gasoline at record high prices and over $6 a gallon in California thanks to Biden admin anti-oil policies. Many EV nameplates are out there now for sale and yet 95% of Americans purchase an ICE vehicle! Why? Because EV’s cause HUGE value issues for consumers: High price (just getting worse as cost for earth minerals for big battery packs has skyrocketed), low range on a charge, long charge times (note they always share charge time to 80% charge – why? Because charge time from 80% to 100% range is so damn slow!), little charge availability, high cost for higher speed DC chargers, dealing with charge cord daily, large range reductions due to running HVAC system in colder or warming climates, huge range reduction when towing your boat or camper trailer, long trips are not practical, charge locations are out of your way, electricity bill increase, electricity is generated by those dirty fossil fuels, and minerals mining for batteries has huge human rights abuses let alone large ownership on mines by China’s CCP.
But hey, who cares about the consumer? If we don’t switch to EV’s all the artic ice will melt and all the coastal land will be under water! Right? In the meantime, why are so many top Executives and Politicians that are pushing global warming climate change fear flying in private jets that spew huge amounts of CO2 and own ocean front mansions? Answer: follow the $$$ – stay tuned….will the truth be revealed soon?
May 4th, 2022 at 1:52 pm
Hello, Just at my Mazda dealer this am for a service. spent time walking the lot. they sell VW and Mazda there. There were less than 25 new cars there!!! I did see a CX-50. not for sale just to look at.
May 4th, 2022 at 2:02 pm
@9 thank you for letting us know. This is very helpful information
May 4th, 2022 at 2:10 pm
Sales are going to be down for numerous reasons, Low inventory , ridiculous mark ups on available models , out of control inflation, Cost of goods vs.income completely upside down. Here in SE PA we $4.50 gas and $6.00 diesel, What did many manufacturers do? They got rid of smaller cars in favor of large barges that A. cost too much and eat too much in fuel, B. People either can’t afford or won’t go electric and all the issues that come with it for the average person.
May 4th, 2022 at 2:16 pm
8 Doesn’t China have dozens, or maybe hundreds of car companies like the US did in the 1920s?
May 4th, 2022 at 2:26 pm
@8 yes, maybe they do
May 4th, 2022 at 2:27 pm
@12 yes, maybe they do, Kit, but I don’t know.
May 4th, 2022 at 3:03 pm
13,14 I don’t know either, but I’d heard that they did.
When I was in Shanghai in 1992, most of the cars were VW Santana taxis, or at least in seemed that way. I think they were, basically, B2 Passats, called Quantum in the US market.
May 4th, 2022 at 3:15 pm
WRT inventory, it seems that varies by brand, at least around here. My friend’s son was looking to turn his Acura MDX at the end of the lease and get a new one. They had 1 in the showroom and told him he could have it at $11G over MSRP. He bought
the old one.
OTOH, my SIL is picking up a newly leased Ford Edge today.
May 4th, 2022 at 3:29 pm
16 Buying end-of-lease vehicles should be a bargain, because the resididual calculated at the start of the lease would have been pre-covid, pre chip shortage.
May 4th, 2022 at 3:55 pm
I can guarantee you that sales are not down because of swelling inventories at dealerships or because of the over-sticker markups some dealers are charging. It is all due to low inventory and severely reduced production that will keep inventories low for many months to come. I read yesterday that US Honda dealers have a days supply less than 10 days on a regular basis now. The domestic brands may be a little better than that but not much.
One of the largest Ford dealers in the country is about two miles from my house. He is using less than a third of his lot space to house all of his new and used inventory!
May 4th, 2022 at 4:33 pm
# 17 i brought out my leased 2018 silverado over a year ago and it is worth $10K more today than i paid.
May 4th, 2022 at 4:45 pm
18 The only dealers near me are Lincoln/JLR and Tesla. Tesla has little inventory, but Lincoln/JLR has some. I’ll stop by and see what the inventory is. All of those CUVs look alike when driving by.
All of the “mainstream” dealers moved away, to near I-95. I guess people must get off the interstate to buy cars, when driving between Miami and Jacksonville. That must be why they moved from where people live.
May 4th, 2022 at 4:50 pm
19 I’m not surprised.
May 5th, 2022 at 2:02 am
Next up: a resurgence of the station wagon complete with retro woodie looks. Kit will be ecstatic!
Hummer – cars in general have added lots of mass. I looked up the curb weights of the defunct H2 (big V8) and H3 (anemic five): 6,400-6,600 lb & 4,600-4,900 lb. Both used to also be assembled in Kaliningrad!
May 5th, 2022 at 2:05 am
It seems the H3 came with a V8 too, I guess towards the end of production. I wasn’t aware of the version.
May 5th, 2022 at 2:56 am
AL continues to hang on to its “we are not really convinced” live about EVs. Pretty much anyone who has owned one is convinced they will go to 100% of the fleet. The only question is supply not keeping up with demand.
Forget the environmental benefits for a moment, an EV is a better owner experience, probably something lost on auto journalists who get free loan cars and rarely have to buy, service or maintain their own vehicles.
It’s not just the smoothness, quietness, reliability and “always full” each morning, they have the potential to remove the middleman dealer (certainly outside of US), which is another big winner.
Americans are the most resistant to EVs largely because they have drunk the big oil line that combustion is better, it’s not better in any regard and certainly not cost, performance or availability. EVs are happening, the world loves them, the only question is will US trad auto have any relevance in the future? My prediction; no. Thanks to unions who are worried about less labour content (just make 2 with the same amount of labour) and positions who are driven by the back handlers they get to slow things down.
Ironically the doubters typically shout; they are big ugly, the batteries don’t last and they catch on fire. But those are features of EVs from trad auto, not the new upstarts!
May 5th, 2022 at 4:06 am
Regarding (US) sources of electricity, two interesting diagrams:
Renewable generation surpassed nuclear in the U.S. electric power sector in 2021
https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=52178
tl;dr – About two fifths of US electricity production now greenhouse gas free. Impressive.
About 20% of U.S. electric power generating capacity can operate on multiple fuels
https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=52298
May 5th, 2022 at 6:39 am
24 The problem is not everyone can either afford one or have a place to charge it at home. Which is where most people will wan to charge from. For example how will people with on street parking charge them . They should be looked at as a supplement to not a replacement for ICE. There are certain instances where they just will not work . To try and force everyone into that box is misguided.At some point and it already exists where the number of cars out number the available public chargers it is not feasible to wait for hours to be able to even hook up to start charging.
May 5th, 2022 at 7:48 am
22 I’d pass on the woodie treatment.
May 5th, 2022 at 7:59 am
#25 it is like the anti virus jab everyone must obey per the commander in charge even if it does not prevent you from getting the virus.
May 5th, 2022 at 8:05 am
24 You say “an EV is a better owner experience,” and “it’s (combustion) not better in any regard.”
An EV would not be a better owner experience for me, having to drive miles, and wait 30-45 minutes to get 250-300 miles of driving. Meanwhile, with an ICE car, I can get 400-550 miles of driving in 5 minutes, while on the way to someplace I’m going anyway. Then, there’s the 1100 mile highway trip I make twice a year. An EV would add hours to the trip.
IF I had home charging, an EV would work well for most of my driving, but I don’t have home charging, and at this time, there is no way I can get home charging.
May 5th, 2022 at 8:20 am
24 I think your way off in the reasons Americans are not accepting EVs with open arms. Has nothing to do with drinking big oil myth that combustion is better. Whatever that means. As I don’t really see any effort on big oils part to deter people from EVs. Other than Gas is cheaper than in most of the world. Unions are not against them even though they do have less labor content but right now its creating more jobs as manufacturers have to build both products.
The reasons Americans are reluctant is 1)We drive much larger vehicles in the US than most other countries and travel much further on an annual basis (about 15k). In the UK they drive about 8k a year. Some states like Wyoming they average 24K a year. https://www.kbb.com/car-advice/average-miles-driven-per-year/
2) Gas is relatively cheap. 3)I don’t know for sure but I would guess Americans tow a lot more than other countries which is not something EVs are ideal for with an already reduced range and time to recharge.
4)As for the fires and batteries not lasting, the only stories I’ve seen of fires have been the Chevy Bolt and Tesla’s. So absolutely an upstart. However I would expect to see more stories on Tesla simply because they have the most EVs out there.
The real problem Americans have is they cost significantly more and offer less. Less convenient, Less range, and battery longevity is still an unknown as to how that affects long term value. In the coming years the fate of the batteries will be made very apparent and either help or hinder peoples decision.
But I doubt much of what you listed has anything to do with why the US hasn’t accepted EVs as quickly as other countries.
May 5th, 2022 at 9:31 am
29 I suspect a lot more Europeans than Americans tow, because they tow trailers with their cars when they occasionally need to move something, rather than driving a monster truck all the time, so they can occasionally move something. Also, years ago, I saw a lot of people in the UK towing small caravans, British for travel trailer, with their small cars. There may be less of that now. In any case, EVs would not be well suited for towing long distance, because of the loss of range, unless there are extra batteries in the trailer, to enable a day’s driving on a charge.
May 5th, 2022 at 9:38 am
29 Wyoming’s 24K miles a year is an average of ~66 miles a day, so EVs would work fine for most people there, who could charge at home. Just plug it in overnight every few days.