AD #3253 – Why GM Sees a Profitable 2022; UAW Cleared for Direct Elections; Jeep Gladiator Shocking Sales Results
February 3rd, 2022 at 11:45am
Listen to “AD #3253 – Why GM Sees a Profitable 2022; UAW Cleared for Direct Elections; Gladiator Hits #3 in Mid-Size Sales” on Spreaker.
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Runtime: 9:52
0:07 Highlights of GM’s Letter to Shareholders
1:38 UAW Cleared for Direct Elections
2:17 Jeep Gladiator Reaches #3 in Mid-Size Pickup Sales
3:29 Ford F-150 Lightning Can Power an Owner’s Home
3:59 Opel Reveals New Astra Station Wagon
4:49 JLR Expands Alexa Across Its Lineup
6:25 Renault Helps Financially Strapped Customers Get Cars
7:13 Polestar Creates One-Off Winter Performer
8:13 Toyota Pushes Its AVs to the Limit
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This is Autoline Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry.
GM EXPECTS PROFITABLE 2022
As we reported yesterday, despite selling half a million fewer cars and trucks last year, GM significantly boosted profits and revenue. In a letter to shareholders, GM CEO Mary Barra laid out what she sees happening in 2022. Here are the highlights:
- Strong demand is pushing GM to accelerate EV manufacturing. Current reservations for the Silverado EV top 110,000, including reservations from more than 240 fleet operators, and there’s over 25,000 production reservations for the BrightDrop electric vans.
- And as scale builds up that will drive down the cost of GM’s other Ultium-based EVs, like the Equinox EV, which will have a price tag around $30,000.
- GM’s autonomous unit, Cruise, just started offering rides to the public in San Francisco. Right now those rides are for free because GM still needs one more permit to start charging customers.
- Even so, those public rides triggered another investment of $1.35 billion from the SoftBank Vision Fund, which is a partner in Cruise.
- And the money could soon be rolling in. GM expects Cruise to generate $50 billion in annual revenue by 2030.
- Despite the chip shortage and how it’s crimping sales, GM expects its EBIT earnings to hit $13 to $15 billion for 2022.
UAW CLEARED FOR DIRECT ELECTIONS
Back in December, UAW members overwhelmingly voted to change the way they elect officials. Instead of electing delegates who would then select the leaders, UAW workers voted to directly elect the people who will run the union. But because the union is under federal oversight due to its corruption scandal, those results needed to be approved by a federal judge to make sure the election was held fairly. And the UAW just got that approval. So now it can move forward to amend its constitution to directly elect leaders, which is a historic change for the union.
JEEP GLADIATOR REACHES #3 IN MID-SIZE PICKUP SALES
Jeep made a smart move by coming out with a pickup version of the Wrangler. Last year the Jeep Gladiator outsold the Chevrolet Colorado, Nissan Frontier, Honda Ridgeline and GMC Canyon. In fact, the Gladiator wasn’t that far behind the Ford Ranger, which was in second place in the mid-size pickup segment. General Motors may argue it’s in second place, since if you add the Colorado and Canyon sales together, they’re ahead of Ford. Even so, the mid-size pickup segment continues to be dominated by the Toyota Tacoma — and by a ton.
| U.S. Mid-Size Pickup Sales, 2021 | |
|---|---|
| Toyota Tacoma | 252,520 |
| Ford Ranger | 94,755 |
| Jeep Gladiator | 89,712 |
| Chevrolet Colorado | 73,008 |
| Nissan Frontier | 60,693 |
| Honda Ridgeline | 41,355 |
| GMC Canyon | 24,125 |
F-150 LIGHTNING OWNERS CAN POWER HOME WITH THE TRUCK
Ford is making it real easy for F-150 Lightning owners to power their homes with their truck. Ford is partnering with Sunrun, a solar energy company, as its preferred partner to install EV home chargers and storage batteries. Sunrun will also offer owners home solar options where available. Based on the average home in the U.S. the Lightning can provide full power to a house for up to three days, or as much as 10 days if the truck is used in conjunction with solar power.
OPEL REVEALS NEW ASTRA STATION WAGON
Station wagons are still a thing in Europe. So Opel is coming out with a wagon version of the Astra, which is called the Sports Tourer. Styling is pretty much the same as the hatch, but with the body stretched over the additional 70mm or 2.7-inches of wheelbase. One of the most notable differences is the placement of the license plate holder. On other models it’s integrated into the rear bumper, but the Sports Tourer features it in the tailgate. Opel says this helped keep sill height low, so loading stuff into the back is easier. And like other Astra models the Sports Tourer’s interior is highlighted by a large curved screen, which is actually two 10-inch displays put together in one unit. Interested customers will soon be able to place their order for a new Astra wagon.
JLR PUTS ALEXA INTO ENTIRE LINEUP
Automakers keep adding consumer electronics into their cars. Jaguar and Land Rover are now offering Amazon Alexa across their entire vehicle lineup. It’s only available to customers who have the Pivi Pro infotainment system but so far that includes about 200,000 owners. Alexa will be made available through an over-the-air update, which will allow drivers to control navigation and music, manage calendars, hear the news, check the weather and control home devices all through voice activation, no buttons are needed.
Cars and trucks are probably the most recycled consumer products out there. Over 90% of every vehicle gets recycled. Or most of it does. Especially all the metals. But almost none of the plastic gets recycled. It gets dumped in landfills. There’s no market demand for it because recycled plastic costs more than virgin plastic. But Justin Fishkin from a startup called By Fusion is taking waste plastic and turning it into construction materials. Justin will be on Autoline After Hours this afternoon, and we expect to learn a lot from him. Chris Paukert from Roadshow by CNET will also be on, so join John and Gary for some of the best insights into the automotive industry.
RENAULT HELPS FINANCIALLY STRAPPED CUSTOMERS GET CARS
New car prices are going through the roof. So Renault is launching a program in France to help financially strapped customers, especially for those who need a car to get a job or keep it. The French government is involved too. The program offers low-cost, long-term rentals with the option to purchase. For example, a Dacia Spring is available for only 48 euros a month, a Dacia Sandero is available for 32 euros a month. For commercial customers, a Renault Express van is available for 230 euros a month. Customers can also get their cars maintained at cost from 320 Renault and Dacia garages. Renault thinks it can increase the number of the participants tenfold by 2025.
POLESTAR ENGINEER CREATES ONE-OFF WINTER PERFORMANCE CAR
The Polestar 2 all-electric vehicle is already a good performing car with available AWD and up to 300 kW or over 400 horsepower. But one Polestar engineer said, “I wanted to have more fun than usual with this car.” So, he created a one-off version of the Polestar 2 that’s great for hooning around the Arctic Circle. It’s got the right look with a raised suspension height, white wheels with custom studded snow tires, accessory lighting and a big ‘ol racing #2 on the side. But it’s more than just a looker. Power has been increased by 50 kW or nearly 70 horsepower, it has 30% softer springs, specially tuned dampers with auxiliary adjustment chambers, front and rear strut braces and a new launch control system. But as sweet as this car sounds, unfortunately, Polestar won’t put it into production.
TOYOTA PUSHES ITS AVs TO THE LIMIT
The only way to develop a car is to push it to its limits. The same goes for autonomous cars. Toyota converted one of its Supra race cars into an autonomous car and taught it how to drift. Jonathan Goh, a scientist at the Toyota Research Institute, explains why.
“We develop algorithms that can autonomously control the vehicle in critical limit -handling situations. We want cars to have the skills of an expert driver and be able to correctly react to critical situations like spinning when you hit a patch of ice. When you’re drifting there’s a lot of forces at play and you’ve got to understand how every degree of steering angle slows the car down, or every application of throttle rotates the car. Being able to handle a drift requires being able to balance all of these objectives up to the very limits of its capabilities.”
The car does a great job of whipping the steering wheel around, of stomping on the gas to get the rear wheels spinning, and jabbing the brakes to kick the rear end out. That takes really good programming to do and Toyota sees this as a great way to hone the skills of its coders as it gets ready for an autonomous world.
And that brings us to the end of today’s report. Thanks for watching.
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Comments (27)
February 3rd, 2022 at 12:14 pm
Sean,
I looked at the link you gave on the Jan 22 US car sales, and elsewhere on the web, but I could never find a decent summary of the sales numbers (all of them, so I could then find out the market share), every site including Wards was asking for a subscription. You gave a few of the lesser makers on your show a day ago, but left out all the biggies (Toyota, GM, Ford, Stella! Honda and Nissan, in that order). It’s only 6-8 numbers, could you give them tomorrow, plus the total? Then we can easily get the all-important market share.
Today I saw an Edmunds comparison of the new Tundra with the F150, and despite being new, the Tundra lost in all but a couple categories. It seems Toyota has the same problem breaking into the Pickup Truck market (the full size one) that Hyundai-Kia has had for decades, even when, recently, it disguised its models as “Genesises” (LOL).
Now if one says that the new Tundra would have easily beaten the (almost new) Silverado, I’d not be surprised, the F150 is by far the best pickup and sales leader and cash cow for Ford. The Ram also easily beats the Silverado, and probably the Tundra too.
IF the Tundra was a 10-year old model, like the Tesla Model S is, it would have an excuse. But to put out a brand new model and get its rear kicked by an oldie, is at least embarrassing.
February 3rd, 2022 at 12:23 pm
It’s interesting to me that the Tacoma still dominates its class. By most criteria, like ride, noise, handling, braking, load capacity, and tow rating, it is mid-pack, at best. Even its reliability is only “average” in CR’s survey results. It apparently still has the right image to people who buy “mid-size” trucks, and may have more aftermarket equipment available than the others, for those who care about such things.
February 3rd, 2022 at 12:24 pm
From Yesterday’s show:
Aston SUV. I have seen maybe a couple Astons up close (other than in museums) over 40 years. It is a far rarer supercar (or better, grand touring car) than Ferrari, but its sales are a dismally low fraction of Ferrari, despite far lower average prices of Astons.
I have seen probably 10 times more Ferraris on the road here than Astons over 40 years, and recently too, and I am not surprised, knowing the sales numbers. Maybe that stupid breadvan will change things, but I hear Ferrari is coming out with one too.
What’s next? A Rolls ROyce pickup? I christen thee the “silver Vegetable”!
I got to laugh when I hear GM’s whistling in the dark about its future ALLEGED profitability. Only the resident GM propagandist, the same guy who touted Criminal Trevor Milton of Nikola infamy, would believe such nonsense.
GM is throwing tens of billions out the window for EVs, none of which looks like a winner. Its poor judgement is most obvious in the expensive to make Silverado, which will get its butt kicked by the F Lightning, which costs far less to make and makes a big profit even at a lower sale price than the S.
I would be less surprised if we see bankruptcy 2.0 for these serial incompetents in the next decade, unless they see the danger and scale down big time their EV investment. But their bailout master would not like that, so they really have their hands tied.
February 3rd, 2022 at 12:29 pm
#1. I have driven all the Genesis models, and they are excellent vehicles. Not all at all “Hyundai-Kia has had for decades, even when, recently, it disguised its models as “Genesises” (LOL).” Drive them before commenting next time.
February 3rd, 2022 at 12:29 pm
Ground hog day yesterday has made me think this message board has become ground hog day, the same guy has to endlessly go on about GM or Ford .. and then be the Tesla cheerleader in between blathering on about his political nonsense. Like a bad rash he just won’t go away.
February 3rd, 2022 at 12:34 pm
1 By most criteria, the Ram is the best big pickup. The V8 mild hybrid Ram basically ties
the turbo V6 Ford and Toyota in mpg, and should match them in performance. The Ram has the best interior, best ride, and comparable capability to the others.
https://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/Find.do?action=sbs&id=44895&id=44869&id=44395
February 3rd, 2022 at 12:36 pm
chevy Colorado vs GMC Canyon aren’t they the same truck and shouldn’t they be counted as one same goes for the full sized pick up by both made by GM Silverado vs Sierra? then you’d have a different leader? How to lie with statistics?
February 3rd, 2022 at 12:43 pm
4 Exactly, and none of the Geneses share platforms with Hyundais and Kias, except the G70 sedan, which shares a platform with the Kia Stinger, a sporty hatchback. Both are on a longitudinal engine, RWD/AWD platform.
February 3rd, 2022 at 12:47 pm
7 That’s been going on for 40-some years with F series being the top selling vehicle in the US. A number of those years, the Chevy/GMC big pickups together outsold F series. GM people figure that their total sales would be lower if they dropped GMC, and they are probably right.
February 3rd, 2022 at 12:52 pm
Sean, when you started the article about Renault helping the poor, I was pleasantly surprised and until the point about the French government helping. What that means is that Renault can now make good money on their very cheap cars. The French government is world leading at giving away taxpayer’s funds. Do they not have used cars there? What about public transit?
February 3rd, 2022 at 12:57 pm
9. It is interesting that GM likes to keep the numbers separate for Chevy and GMC and Ford will add anything with an ‘F’ in its name to get a higher total.
No idea why Toyota is so far ahead in mid-sized truck sales. Although they are all decent, it shows that the best does not always win.
February 3rd, 2022 at 1:03 pm
Hello John, just listened to AAH this morning. Your comment about chips got my attention. First of all, yes chips in cars live in a very harsh enviroment, but the chips in our phones and computers etc usually do not go bad either, It is the upgrading of the software and the speed that they operate at, that usually makes your 3 year old item turn into a brick. I have had many phones and computers that work many years, but become out dated rather quickly. Its like if they improved gasoline every year and your car’s performance would suffer each year the gasoline got better.
February 3rd, 2022 at 1:08 pm
Re: Tacoma
I think that what people here are forgetting is that, for a lot of people, the Tacoma is the truck the Top Gear couldn’t kill. Yes, that was a long time ago, but people seem to have a long memory when it comes to marketing like that.
February 3rd, 2022 at 1:14 pm
Renault – sounds like a subsidized lease to me, with the government doing the subsidizing. Not really all that unique, just very French.
News flash for S65AMG – the Lightning will only be produced in its current form for two years. Then Ford will move it to a platform created just for EV trucks. Essentially the same thing GM has done. GM just skipped the interim step of producing a modified ICE platform truck. Ford did this to get an EV truck to market soon while they develop their own EV platform. Why? Because GM was two years ahead of them and they knew it. Its a smart move on Ford’s part to not give GM that market for two years, but its not because they want to market a modified ICE truck.
February 3rd, 2022 at 1:19 pm
11- The main reason is that if you go back about six years (approx.), the only midsize trucks you could buy were the Tacoma, the somewhat odd Ridgeline and the rapidly aging Frontier. Everyone else left the midsize market. So, Toyota was by far the best choice if you wanted a midsize truck. And they offered lots of choices in body styles, bed lengths, etc.
When GM re-entered the market, Toyota was hugely dominant. They still were when Ford got back in. And the same for Jeep. All of the new choices grew the overall midsize truck market, and so Toyota was able to hold onto most of its market share. They also have a great brand and many loyal buyers.
As the old saying goes, its much easier to keep a customer you already have than it is to take one away from another brand.
February 3rd, 2022 at 1:23 pm
Polestar – this company started as a modifier of Volvo products and created a number of high performance variants of Volvo models. They were Volvo’s AMG. So, its not surprising that some folks there would like to see a higher level of performance in the models they now produce on their own.
The only question is, since they aren’t going to produce a higher performance Polestar 2 model, how long will it be before you can buy Polestar Performance Parts, allowing enthusiasts to build this vehicle in their own garage?
February 3rd, 2022 at 1:33 pm
12 I had 4 or 5 smart phones between ~2010-2017, and got new ones as the old ones became obsolete. By 2017, when I got a Samsung GS8, they had matured to the point that I didn’t want a new one, until my ~4 year old battery was losing noticeable capacity, and it didn’t cost a lot more to get a new phone with more memory, and a somewhat bigger screen, than to have the battery replaced in my old phone. My current phone is a GS20 FE. I doubt if I’ll get another phone until/unless this one quits working properly.
February 3rd, 2022 at 2:13 pm
Try this site for sales stats:
http://www.goodcarbadcar.net
February 3rd, 2022 at 2:26 pm
7, 9, 11
The “Ranger” name still conjures up a vision of little Mazda pickup. What if Ford had named its new version the F100? The name would be a throwback to the 50s a history and would benefit from all Ford’s truck marketing.
February 3rd, 2022 at 2:37 pm
18 Unfortunately, many manufacturers are missing, like GM, VW Group, Mercedes, Stellantis, Tesla, BMW, and probably others, at least for recent data. I guess that’s because they report quarterly, at least with some of them.
February 3rd, 2022 at 3:11 pm
19) Technically the F100 had a RANGER trim. It was known as the F100 Ranger and the Ranger badging was used for that trim level. Ranger was first used as a low spec trim on the Edsel line. It was used again starting in 1965 on the F-Series trucks through 1981. It was used on the Bronco from 1972 to 1981. It signified a mid-level trim for the F-Series line until the compact Ranger was introduced in 1982 for the 1983 model year.
The ford Courier however was a rebadged Mazda as you point out. Ford replaced the Courier with the Ranger in 1983 at which point Mazda and Ford compact trucks had no connection. Mazda kept using the old courier platform for their truck until 1994 when they switched to the Ranger platform.
Some may think the name Ranger conjures up images of a Mazda(although they would be inaccurate), others may think Edsel, others may think F100, and even others may think Bronco. It all depends on when you grew up I guess.
February 3rd, 2022 at 3:37 pm
And I remember when a Maverick was a Ford compact car that cost something like $1995.
February 3rd, 2022 at 4:08 pm
21 A lot of Edsel trim levels, well, all of them have been reused on other vehicles, Ranger, Citation, Corsair, and Pacer.
February 3rd, 2022 at 4:10 pm
21,22 Ranger, Pacer, Corsair, and Citation, low to high
February 4th, 2022 at 7:53 am
I wonder if GM is still going to be around come year 2028-30, maybe they will under the brand Govt Motors.
February 4th, 2022 at 7:55 am
The new UAW will be lead by USA President Joe Biden.
February 5th, 2022 at 1:54 pm
1,3
what makes you such an expert about GM? It’s quite obvious you hate GM and would say unfounded negatives even if GM built a
superior vehicles. Get honest!!