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Runtime: 8:35
0:07 FCA’s Sales & Profits Slide
0:41 Global Vehicle Sales Down
1:20 Mercedes Most Valuable Car Brand According to Study
2:24 Autonomy Could Be Worth Trillions
3:26 Passenger Car Sales Continue to Fall
4:07 EV Sales Down in January
5:52 Hyundai Reveals New i20 in Design Sketches
6:30 New Explorer Brings in Younger Buyers
7:22 Audi Offers Free Solar Power Subscription
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This is Autoline Daily reporting on all aspects of the global automotive industry.
SALES AND PROFITS SLIDE AT FCA
FCA reported its financial earnings this morning. The company sold 4.4 million vehicles, which was down 9%, and sales were down in every global region. It reported revenue of 108 billion euros, down 2%. It achieved an EBIT of 6.6 billion euros, down 1%, and a net profit of 2.7 billion euros, down 19%. FCA posted record results in North America and made a profit in South America, but lost money in Europe and Asia.
| FCA 2019 Earnings | ||
|---|---|---|
| Sales | 4.4 Million | -9% |
| Revenue | €108 Billion | -2% |
| EBIT | €6.6 Billion | -1% |
| Net Profit | €2.7 Billion | -19% |
GLOBAL VEHICLE SALES DOWN
As we’ve been reporting, the global auto industry is going through a slowdown. So it’s not surprising to see that car sales fell in 2019. According to Wards Intelligence, automakers sold just under 92 million vehicles last year, including medium and heavy-duty trucks, and that’s a drop of 4%. Sales in North America were down nearly 2% and in South America sales dropped 4%. In Asia, sales fell 7%, mostly due to declines in China and India. And over in Europe, sales were flat compared to the prior year. It was the only region that didn’t see a decline.
MERCEDES MOST VALUABLE CAR BRAND ACCORDING TO STUDY
Mercedes-Benz is once again the most valuable car brand according to Brand Finance. Its ‘Global 500 2020’ study looked at 500 global brands and ranked Mercedes at number eleven overall at $65 billion, well below Amazon’s $220 billion value but good enough to put Mercedes at the top spot among automakers. Toyota was the second most valuable automaker at $58 billion and Volkswagen rounds out the top three at nearly $45 billion. Tesla is ranked 147th at $12.4 billion but it’s the fastest growing brand overall, up 66% from last year. And interestingly, Mitsubishi ranks as one of the fastest growing brands, up 43%. The study also looked at brand strength, and for the second straight year, Ferrari ranked number one. And that’s amongst all the companies, not just automakers.
| Global 500 2020 Study | |
|---|---|
| 1. Amazon | $220.7 Billion |
| 11. Mercedes | $65.0 Billion |
| 15. Toyota | $58.0 Billion |
| 25. Volkswagen | $44.9 Billion |
| 147. Tesla | $12.4 Billion |
CRUISE SAYS AUTONOMY COULD BE WORTH TRILLIONS
Autonomy could be one of the most transformative technologies to hit the automotive industry. And it seems like everyone wants in on the action and here’s why. GM’s self-driving unit Cruise believes that the autonomous market will be worth trillions. CNBC reports Cruise says it could be worth $8 trillion; $5 trillion for ride sharing, $2 trillion for freight and $500 billion each for data insights and in-vehicle experiences. As we reported earlier this week, GM will start building Cruise’s autonomous shuttle, the Origin, at its Detroit-Hamtramck plant in November of 2022. And that suggests it could launch the service sometime in 2023.
PASSENGER CAR SALES CONTINUE TO FALL
Ford and FCA have dropped most of their passenger cars in the U.S. market and GM is cutting way back. Other automakers rejoiced over this and said they expected to pick up those customers who prefer cars. Only problem is, those customers continue to switch over to CUVs, SUVs and pickups. Last month sales fell by another 50,000 passenger cars. Even if you take out the Detroit 3’s car sales, the rest of the pass car market fell by nearly 17%. Right now passenger cars account for 22.4% of the total market and you have to wonder how low they’ll go.
JANUARY EV SALES DOWN
Here’s another important data point from last month. Sales of battery electric cars plummeted 46%. That’s all because Tesla’s sales in the U.S. market fell 65% according to Ward’s Intelligence. When you strip out Tesla, sales of EVs from other automakers shot up 137%. But don’t get too excited. They only sold 5,900 BEVs divided amongst 12 different brands. Moreover, most of the increase was because the Chevrolet Bolt had a blow out month, with sales up 262%. Chevrolet knocked $10,000 off the price last month. According to True Car, most Bolts are going for $27,000, and that doesn’t include a federal tax rebate of $1,800. And you can lease one for about $170 a month. Obviously this is a clearance sale, even though there is only a 12 days supply of Bolts. While GM says it has no plans to drop the car, this sure doesn’t bode well.
And don’t forget to join us for Autoline After Hours this afternoon. Our special guest is John Manoogian, a former GM designer and the current Director of Design at the startup Quadrobot. Also joining us for the show is Lindsay Brooke from SAE International. So if you have any questions about the design world, send them our way to viewermail@autoline.tv. And join us at 3PM eastern time today on our website, Autoline.tv.
HYUNDAI REVEALS NEW i20 IN DESIGN SKETCHES
Hyundai is showing design sketches that give us an idea of what the new i20 will look like. The hatchback maintains its upright nose, but features a larger grille opening and lower vents. The rear appears to have a more raked roofline and Z-shaped taillights that flow into the rear glass. Although there are no pictures, the interior will feature two 10 and a quarter inch display screens. If the i20 looks familiar to our North American viewers, the Kia Rio 5-door is a rebadged version of the i20. The new car will make its debut at the Geneva auto show in March.
NEW EXPLORER BRINGS IN YOUNGER BUYERS
The Explorer is a really important vehicle for Ford. It reports that the all-new model is bringing in younger buyers and the performance ST model is beating its own sales expectations. 18% of new Explorer buyers are 18 to 35 years old and 46% are 36 to 55 years old. The ST now accounts for 21% of all Explorers sold and 21% of non-Ford trade-ins for the Explorer are coming from luxury brands. Performance vehicles like the ST are so important to automakers because they can charge more for them, which increases profits. As we said yesterday, the botched launch of the Ford Explorer was inexcusable because it’s such an important vehicle to the brand and really hurt Ford’s earnings.
AUDI OFFERS FREE SOLAR POWER SUBSCRIPTION
Audi is giving buyers and lessees of the all-electric e-tron a 10-year solar power subscription at no additional charge. If that sounds too good to be true, you must be thinking there’s a catch. Well, there’s always a catch. It’s only available to the first 3,000 people who bought or leased an e-tron after Tuesday the 4th. What’s more, you have to have an existing utility account with Arcadia and live within the service radius of one of the company’s remote solar panel farms. If you’re one of those lucky people and decide to sign up, you’ll receive solar savings, in the form of credits on your bill each month at no additional cost for the next 10 years. Audi says each subscription with Arcadia helps generate enough electricity to offset the approximate cost of up to 2,400 miles of driving per year.
But that wraps up today’s report, thanks for watching and we’ll see you back here again tomorrow.
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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.
