AD #2966 – Tesla Worth More Than Entire N.A. Auto Industry; Environmental Group Calls for PHEV Ban; New Nissan Note

This is Autoline Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry.

TESLA WORTH MORE THAN ENTIRE N.A. AUTO INDUSTRY
Last week, after the S&P 500 announced it’s adding Tesla to its index, it’s stock started soaring. Yesterday it closed at $521 a share. That means its market capitalization is now just shy of half a trillion dollars–$497 billion to be exact. Let’s put that in perspective. If we add up the market cap of all the publicly traded auto related companies in North American. That includes GM, Ford and FCA, and all the suppliers like Magna, BorgWarner, Lear, Dana, Gentex, Goodyear, American Axle, Aptiv and Visteon. And let’s throw in retailers like Penske Automotive, AutoNation and Carmax. If you add them all up, Tesla is worth more than all of them. You heard that right. Tesla is now worth more than the rest of the entire North American auto industry put together.

ELON MUSK NOW 2ND RICHEST PERSON IN THE WORLD
And thanks to that surge in value, Elon Musk is now the second richest person in the world. According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Musk is now worth about $128 billion, passing Bill Gates at $127.7 billion. Musk started the year at number 35 on the index but has surged to number two by adding over $100 billion to his net worth, the most by anyone.

ENVIRONMENTAL GROUP CALLS FOR PHEV BAN
Plug-in hybrids are supposed to be good for the environment, right? That’s why governments around the world subsidize sales giving consumers thousands of dollars or euros or yuan to buy them. But a European environmental group says hold your horses, we need to ban PHEVs. The Transport & Environment group says PHEVs emit too many emissions when the internal combustion engine is running. T&E says PHEVs are “fake electric cars, built for lab tests and tax breaks, not real driving,” Here’s our Autoline Insight. Did you know that 80% of the emissions of every trip come from the first 2 or 3 minutes after you start the engine? That’s how long it takes for the catalytic converter to heat up. Once the cat is hot it cuts emissions by 99%. In most driving situations the engine in a PHEV comes on when the cat is cold, and it can toggle back and forth between EV and ICE several times in a trip. The U.S. EPA and California Air Resources Board is aware of this and don’t be surprised if they call for a ban on PHEVs, too.

TOYOTA SEES ROOM FOR TUNDRA TO GROW
Even though Toyota dominates the mid-size pickup segment in the US, it’s in a distant fourth place when it comes to full-size pickups, way behind the Ford F-150, Chevrolet Silverado and Ram 1500. So can the Tundra make up any ground or has it just found its natural level of market acceptance? On Autoline This Week, Jack Hollis, the Senior Vice President of Automotive Operations at Toyota, explains why there’s room to grow for the Tundra.

“We can grow but I got to tell you, it’s kind of like us with our Camry or our RAV4. Number one selling sedan, number one selling SUV. That F-Series, what’s it been like 712 years since they have not been number one in trucks? It’s something around there. And they’ve found that niche and that cruising altitude and production levels to sustain that. And while we haven’t and that’s never been our intention. Our intention has been to grow and I think that’s what you’ll see out of our next-generation Tundra. And we will grow it. Will we grow it to F-150? No I’m not even going to try and take that one on and I’m glad you’re not going to ask me to try and do so. But I do believe there’s a significant amount of buyers who are both in Tacoma’s now who would like to see a Tundra or Tundra owners who would like to see it. And I do think it’s going to be really interesting because I’ve been able to touch, feel, see, drive the new one. No I’m not ready to make any announcements yet but I will say it blows me away with what we’ve been able to do and will I think completely change the perception of a lot of those buyers, who are kind of on the fence, trying to figure out what they want to do in the truck space. You’re going to see a significant number of those, call them independents, checking out Tundra.”

NOVEMBER SALES FORECAST TO FALL
This could be a danger signal to the auto industry. Wards Intelligence forecasts that light-duty sales in the U.S. market will drop this month. At the current pace, new car sales will barely inch past the 1.2 million mark, a drop of over 14% compared to a year ago. So what’s going on? Prices are going up and production is going down. Production in October fell almost 53,000 units below what was expected. Supply issues related to the pandemic seem to be the cause. And it’s another one of the reasons why November sales are supposed to be off. There is some light at the end of the tunnel though. There are three fewer selling days in November this year compared to last, so the drop is not as big as it seems. And maybe that will be made up in December, which has three more selling days than last year.

DO YOU FOLD IN YOUR SIDE-VIEW MIRRORS?

(Video about folding in side-view mirrors can only be viewed in the video version of today’s show.)

GM PULLS SUPPORT OF TRUMP ADMIN EMISSION RULES
Well, it sure looks like GM believes Joe Biden won the election. Yesterday, GM announced it’s no longer backing the Trump Administration in its battle with California over the state’s right to set its own emission and fuel economy standards. GM is also calling on other automakers to drop their support as well. GM says it’s changing course because California and president-elect Biden’s electric vehicle goals are the same as its own.

FORD MUSTANG MACH-E MADE ON UNI-BODY PLATFORM
We got to test drive the Mustang Mach-E yesterday but sorry, we can’t give you our driving impressions. Not yet at least. We’re sworn to secrecy until December 15. But here’s a few things we learned. The Mach-E is not built on a skateboard chassis. It has a unit body design. But it’s modular, so it can be easily configured for different models. What do you think will be the next model off this platform? We’re guessing it’s got to be something for Lincoln.

NISSAN ELECTRIFIES THE NEW NOTE
Nissan revealed the new Note, which is first launching in Japan. Big changes in styling, but we also see a lot of influence from the Ariya crossover. The interior is pretty simple with a multi-layered dash and two large digital screens that kind of meld together. The new Note will feature Nissan’s e-Power setup, which uses a gasoline engine to charge a battery pack and an electric motor to drive the wheels. A dual motor, AWD variant will also be available. Sales for the new Note are expected to kick off in December.

LIMITED EDITION CIVIC TYPE R GIVEAWAY
And one lucky winner will get their hands on the very first, serial number 001 Civic Type R Limited Edition for the United States. All one has to do is make a donation to the Thurgood Marshall College Fund on the online fundraising platform Omaze and you’re automatically entered. The winner, who will be chosen at random, will also get lessons on the track from IndyCar driver, Colton Herta.

A programming note here. With the Thanksgiving holiday coming up this Thursday, Autoline Daily will take a break on Thursday and Friday, and the same goes for Autoline After Hours on Thursday. But we will pick up our normal programming next week.

But that wraps up today’s show, thanks for watching.