Listen to “AD #3584 – GM Won't Invest in New EV Plants; Lucid Expanding Into China; U.S. Dealers Worried Sales Will Slow” on Spreaker.
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Runtime: 8:38
0:00 GM Won’t Invest in New EV Plants
0:42 Autoliv Making Big Job Cuts
1:14 Lucid Expanding Into China
2:17 TuSimple Taking AV Trucking to Japan
3:37 Forvia/Hella Lands BMS Contracts
4:34 Chevy Honors Le Mans Camaro
5:40 U.S. Dealers Worried Sales Will Slow
6:22 China Launching Campaign to Boost Sales
7:05 Bridgestone Making New Tires From Old Tires
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GM WON’T INVEST IN NEW EV PLANTS
General Motors isn’t going to invest in new EV plants. The company’s head of manufacturing told Automotive News that it will convert its existing ICE plants to build EVs, while keeping some that will make both types of vehicles. And he says he doesn’t expect the company to close any of its current facilities. GM has already converted a couple of its ICE plants in the U.S. to produce EVs, meanwhile Ford is spending $5.6 billion to open a new site in Tennessee to build EVs.
AUTOLIV MAKING BIG JOB CUTS
More auto job cuts are coming to Europe. Ford and Volvo have already announced cuts in the region and now airbag and seatbelt supplier Autoliv said that it’s cutting around 8,000 jobs, mostly in the EU. That’s about 11% of its total workforce. It plans on closing several of its sites in Europe and will implement all of the cuts by 2025. Autoliv says it’s slashing jobs in order to cut costs.
LUCID EXPANDING INTO CHINA
Lucid, like every producer of electric vehicles, has struggled to ramp up production and it’s also burning through cash. But last week it got a major lifeline, in the form of a $3 billion investment, which mostly came from the Saudi PIF, Lucid’s largest shareholder. It will use that money to start churning out more Air sedans and once it does it will expand into new markets. Lucid announced it’s preparing to enter the Chinese market and has nabbed a Chinese auto industry veteran to help with the transition. Zhu Jiang will lead Lucid’s China efforts. He’s worked for BMW, Lexus, Ford, NIO and most recently Jidu, the joint venture between Geely and Baidu. No word on the exact launch yet, but CEO Peter Rawlinson previously said it would be this year and that it plans to build a factory in China around 2025.
TUSIMPLE EXPANDS AV TRUCKING TO JAPAN
Speaking of expanding into new markets, TuSimple, a U.S. company that makes self-driving tech for heavy-duty trucks, announced it’s going to Japan. It recently started tests on expressways in three major metropolitan areas with safety riders on-board. Almost half of Japan’s transportation workforce is over the age of 50 and the government is looking to offset the looming shortage of drivers with dedicated autonomous driving lanes. It also makes sense that TuSimple would want to expand into new markets. Last month it received a delisting notice from the Nasdaq stock exchange for not meeting its requirements.
FORVIA/HELLA LANDS BMS CONTRACTS
Despite all the talk of how automakers are bringing EV development in-house, suppliers continue to get significant contracts for EV systems. Forvia/Hella developed a BMS, or battery management system, that is currently used by two automakers. Though it did not identify them by name it says one is a premium German car marker, which suggests it’s probably Mercedes, BMW or Audi. The other customer is a transport manufacturer in the U.S., which suggests a truck maker. Forvia/Hella is working with AMP, the electrical connectors supplier. They’ll start manufacturing the BMS in Mexico in the first half of 2025. The battery management system is quite sophisticated, so it’s a real coup for a supplier to land that kind of contract.
CHEVY HONORS LE MANS CAMARO
The 6th-gen Camaro is riding off into the sunset, but not without at least one last special edition. Chevy is launching a version of the ZL1 Camaro that’s called the Garage 56 Edition in honor of the NASCAR Camaro that will race at Le Mans this weekend. Garage 56 is the name given to a single-entry class that’s reserved for the weird, innovative and/or extraordinary vehicles race organizers can’t put into another class. NASCAR, Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet and Goodyear have all teamed up to field the Le Mans Camaro. It’s about 500 pounds lighter than a regular NASCAR car and features real headlights, taillights, a larger fuel cell, carbon brake rotors and specially designed Goodyear race tires. And as viewer Lambo2015 pointed out in the comments yesterday, it’s 3 seconds faster than any other GT car in testing, which is a big margin.
U.S. CAR DEALERS WORRY SALES WILL SLOW
Every quarter Cox Automotive does a survey of US car dealers to figure out how they’re feeling. The latest results show that dealers are slightly more upbeat right now, but they’re worried that sales will start to slow down in the third quarter. A weakening economy and high interest rates which dampen consumer demand is what has them on edge right now. But the chief economist at Cox Automotive, Jonathan Smoke, points out that the Dealer Sentiment Survey was conducted before the debt ceiling agreement was settled in Washington DC. And with that behind us, he sees car sales going up this summer.
CHINA’S CAMPAIGN TO GET CAR SALES GROWING
Meanwhile, in China, the government is launching a campaign to try and get car sales back to pre-Covid levels. Even though car sales are growing this year, they’re far below where they were before the pandemic broke out. China’s strict Covid lockdowns took a toll on the economy, and while consumer spending on services is bouncing back, that’s not true for big ticket items like new cars. And that’s even though 40 car brands cut their prices to try and stimulate demand. Even more worrying for China’s auto industry is that sales of New Energy Vehicles, including BEVs and PHEVs, have plateaued for the last 5 months.
BRIDGESTONE MAKING NEW TIRES FROM OLD TIRES
Sustainability is a big focus in the auto industry today and now Bridgestone, which is a sponsor of Autoline, has started a test to recycle used tires with Japanese oil company ENEOS. The process uses pyrolysis to obtain oil and recycled carbon black from the used tires, which will be used to make new tires. Bridgestone is aiming to use these recycled materials in mass production by the end of the decade.
But that brings us to the end of today’s show. Don’t forget to check out Autoline After Hours at 3PM EST today. And we’ll see you right back here again tomorrow.
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Seamus and Sean McElroy cover the latest news in the automotive industry for Autoline Daily.