Follow us on social media:
Runtime: 7:13
0:06 Peugeot Interested in JLR
0:49 Autopilot Involved in Another Fatal Crash
1:21 Hyundai Named Best Non-Luxury CPO Program
2:18 Top 5 Auto Suppliers
3:10 Ford Making Progress on Hybrids
3:55 Best Selling Hybrid Car in The U.S.
4:32 1st Leg of Buick Regal GS Road Trip
Visit our sponsor to thank them for their support of Autoline Daily: Bridgestone.
This is Autoline Daily reporting on the global automotive industry.
PEUGEOT INTERESTED IN JLR
Reports out of the UK say that Jaguar Land Rover is up for sale and that Peugeot is going to buy it. Only five years ago JLR was earning some of the highest profit margins in the auto industry, nearly 13%. But now those margins have fallen by more than half, despite sales rising 41% and revenue rising 33%. JLR needs to invest heavily in the electrification of its entire model line, as well as invest in autonomy and mobility services, but it doesn’t have the money to do it. If Peugeot or any other automaker does end up buying JLR, look for lots of layoffs and some very painful restructuring.
AUTOPILOT INVOLVED IN ANOTHER FATAL CRASH
Another Tesla operating on Autopilot was involved in a fatal crash with a semitrailer. The accident occurred in March in Florida and the circumstances are similar to another fatal accident involving a Tesla on Autopilot. In both cases, neither the system nor the driver stopped for the trailers and the roofs were sheared off. The latest crash is still under investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
HYUNDAI NAMED BEST NON-LUXURY CPO PROGRAM
Hyundai was named the best non-luxury certified pre-owned program by Autotrader for the second consecutive year and the third time in the last four years. The award is based on a number of factors including powertrain warranty length, available inventory, bumper-to-bumper coverage warranty, deductible amount and transferability to future vehicle owners. Autotrader says Hyundai’s CPO program “is a significant value and perfect for budget minded shoppers” and also adds that if you want a better overall program, “you’ll need to move up to a luxury brand.”
TOP 5 AUTO SUPPLIERS
As we keep pointing out, suppliers are the real engine of innovation in the automotive industry. Eighty percent of the value of a car is made by suppliers. And just so you know who the top suppliers in the world are, we dug through their annual reports to put together a Top 5 list. Bosch is number one in the world with $53 billion in sales every year. Bosch is actually bigger than that, but we’re only counting their automotive business, not washing machines, or coffee makers or other areas of business. Continental is second largest, but it also has the highest profit margin. Denso is hot on its heels followed by ZF and then Magna. But note that Magna has the second highest profit margins. So there you have it. Three German companies, one Japanese and one Canadian.
| TOP 5 AUTOMOTIVE SUPPLIERS | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| SALES | EBIT | PROFIT MARGIN | |
| 1. Bosch | $53.2 B | $3.9 B | 7.3% |
| 2. Continental | $49.6 B | $4.5 B | 9.2% |
| 3. Denso | $48.3 B | $2.8 B | 5.8% |
| 4. ZF | $41.2 B | $2.3 B | 5.7% |
| 5. Magna | $40.8 B | $3.1 B | 7.6% |
| Source: 2018 Annual Reports | |||
FORD MAKING PROGRESS ON HYBRIDS
Ford showed us the progress it’s making on hybrids and the improvements and the components keep getting smaller. Here’s a picture of one of Ford’s engineers holding power switches for the Escape hybrid. On the right-hand side are the first-generation power switches from the 2005 Escape, on the left is the 4th generation power switch for the 2020 Escape. They need to use 6 of the new switches, but even so, they’re far smaller and lighter than what you see on the right. And one of the ways that Ford is packing more battery cells into a battery pack, is eliminating the bolts on top of the can (as you see in the background on the first generation) and is welding the connectors right to the top of the can.
BEST SELLING HYBRID CAR IN THE U.S.
Quick, what’s the best-selling hybrid passenger car that you can think of? The Toyota Prius? No, not even close. Sales of the Prius have plummeted and now the Ford Fusion hybrid easily outsells the Prius by more than two to one. Get this, Ford now sells 80% more hybrids than Honda in the U.S. market. However, Toyota is still the king of hybrids. It sells twice as many as Ford.
1ST LEG OF BUICK REGAL GS ROAD TRIP
When I talked about my road trip a week ago I got the sense some of you were wondering, why a Buick Regal? Truth be told, it was the one that agreed to me putting thousands of miles on its car. But I too was like you at first. I questioned if the Regal GS we got was going to make a good road trip car. But it actually proved itself right away. I had forgotten the new Regal has a hatchback. I thought it had one of those tiny trunk lids and anyone that’s had to deal with one of those knows how much of a pain it can be to put stuff in. The hatchback made loading all our luggage a breeze. We were then ready to set out, our sights set on Lake Havasu City, Arizona. We wanted to get over there as fast as we could and I think we did pretty good. We made it as far as Oklahoma in our first stint, stopping at a cheap motel for a few hours to rest. It was during that time that the next virtue of our Regal revealed itself. The massaging function on our seats. By no means was it a good massage, but it allowed us to travel a few hours longer before stopping. Our first automotive attraction came later that day, the art installment called Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo, Texas. People come from all around the world to spray paint the 10 Cadillacs that are buried in the ground. The cars range from a 1949 Club Sedan to a 1963 Sedan de Ville and while they get repainted periodically, they always end up looking like a tie-dye shirt with the paint so thick it drips in some places. We didn’t have spray paint, but busted out a couple of Sharpies to leave our mark on the cars. We were only there for about half an hour, but it’s an image that’s going to stick with me for a long time. But it was time to get back on the road. The next thousand-mile stint was not enough to get us to Lake Havasu, but we had to stop for some rest, which ended up with us in a pretty unique motel room. And I’ll tell you all about that next week.
But that’s it for today, thanks for watching, have a great weekend and we’ll see you again on Monday.
Thanks to our partner for embedding Autoline Daily on its website: WardsAuto.com
John McElroy is an influential thought leader in the automotive industry. He is a journalist, lecturer, commentator and entrepreneur. He created “Autoline Daily,” the first industry webcast of industry news and analysis.
