AD #3617 – Big Oil Gets Into EV Batteries; Mach-E a Sales Flop in China; Toyota Reports Break-Out Earnings

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

BIG OIL GETS INTO EV BATTERIES
Big Oil is getting into the EV battery business. Bloomberg reports that ExxonMobil is in talks with automakers including Tesla, Ford and Volkswagen to supply them with lithium. It’s also in talks with battery makers Samsung and SK On. And with two companies that have the technology to do direct lithium extraction from brine, which is also called DLE. ExxonMobil is getting material from 100,000 acres of land it bought in Arkansas, which has lithium rich brine. Any production is still years away from fruition, but this is another major oil company indicating it wants to get into the EV business.

MACH-E IS SALES FLOP IN CHINA
Ford is giving up on trying to sell Mach-Es directly to consumers in China. It’s been a complete flop. Gasgoo reports that Ford is only selling about 300 Mach-Es a month. So now Changan, which is Ford’s Chinese partner, will take over the sales operations. The first thing it’s going to do is retrofit all customer cars with Qualcomm’s third-generation chip which will instantly boost the responsiveness of the car’s electronic systems. And presumably, with a more traditional approach to selling, Changan will be able to sell more Mach-Es.

TOYOTA REPORTS BREAK-OUT EARNINGS
Toyota reported its financial earnings for the last quarter and it saw a massive improvement. The Japanese juggernaut sold 2.3 million vehicles worldwide, up a solid 15% from a year ago. And that volume must have pushed the company solidly above its breakeven point. Revenue jumped 24% to nearly $74 billion. It posted an operating profit of $7.8 billion, up a whopping 94%, and its net profit hit $9.2 billion, up 75%. That’s a net profit margin of 12.5%, which is better than Tesla’s and is probably the best in the industry for a major automaker. Even so, Toyota’s North American operations are still a drag on the company. With a profit margin of only 2.9%, it’s the lowest in the company.

NISSAN REGAINS ITS FINANCIAL FOOTING
Meanwhile, at Nissan, it’s completely the opposite. Its North American operations are what’s keeping it alive. Nissan is still losing money in Japan, but it makes nearly twice as much profit in North America as it does in Asia, Europe and the rest of the world combined. Nissan sold 3.7% fewer vehicles, in the last quarter, only a little under 789,000. Even so, Nissan saw its revenue jump 36% to $20 billion. Its operating profit shot up 98% to $899 million, and its net profit jumped 111% to $737 million.

KIA REPORTS RECORD U.S. SALES
Kia posted its U.S. sales for July and if this is an indication of how the rest of the industry will do, it looks like it was a great month. Kia set a July sales record with nearly 71,000 vehicles sold, up 14% from a year ago. And it’s the 12th consecutive month Kia has posted year-over-year sales growth. Sales of its electrified models soared 72% but it only sold about 2,000 units of the EV6, which is about 200 units more compared to a year ago. The rest of the car companies will be reporting July sales over the next couple of days.

CHINA’S NEVs GENERATE LOTS OF COMPLAINTS
Maybe “China Speed” isn’t everything it’s cracked up to be. China’s New Energy Vehicle or NEV market has exploded with hundreds of brands and hundreds of new models on the way. There’s several domestic brands that are only a few years old but already have multiple vehicles on the market. But that mad rush to the market is also causing quality problems. According to a report in CarNewsChina, owners complaints about NEVs shot up 137% compared to last year. It broke the complaints into three main categories; general, quality and service issues, with general issues accounting for the most. But it didn’t provide details of what those types of complaints would be. Chinese brands in particular also performed poorly. They accounted for 80% of all complaints about NEVs, followed by the Germans and then the Americans, which is mainly Tesla.

STELLANTIS SENDS BATTERY TECHS OVERSEAS TO TRAIN
Legacy automakers like GM are struggling to ramp up battery production for their EVs. So to try and avoid that problem, Stellantis is sending its team of engineers and technicians that will work at its new battery factory in Canada to train at LG Energy Solution’s facilities in Poland, China and South Korea over a four month period. The company says the training is expensive but necessary in order to make sure the start of production runs smoothly. Stellantis is jointly operating the battery plant in Canada with LG Energy and it’s scheduled to open next year with a capacity of 45 GWh.

LI-CYCLE OPENS GERMAN BATTERY RECYCLING PLANT
And in other Canadian battery news, EV battery recycler Li-Cycle, which is headquartered in Canada, is kicking off commercial operations at its first recycling center in Europe, which is located in Germany. Once its running at full speed, it will have the capacity to process 30,000 metric tons of lithium-ion battery material a year, bringing its global output to 80,000 tons. Li-Cycle has created a sustainable process that allows it to process all forms of lithium-ion waste without the need for discharging, dismantling or thermal processing of the battery packs.

CHEVROLET BLAZER EV GETS A LOT PRICIER
Chevy says that Blazer EVs will start being delivered to customers soon, so we’re getting a better idea of pricing. Unfortunately, InsideEVs confirmed with GM that there will no longer be the base 1LT FWD trim, which was supposed to start around $45,000. Instead the new base will be a FWD 2LT, but we don’t know the price because that version isn’t available yet. What is available is a 2LT AWD, RS RWD and RS AWD. The 2LT AWD with 279 miles of range starts a little under $57,000 before any incentives. And for some reason the RS RWD has a higher price than the RS AWD. The AWD is listed at just over $60,000, while the RWD has a nearly $62,000 price tag. That seems a little strange. Oh and if you’re wondering about the range of those models, they’re listed at a GM-estimated 279 and 320 miles. (2LT Pictured)

NISSAN Z GETS REFRESH
The Nissan Z car is getting a little boost. It launched the updated version in Japan, where it’s called the Fairlady Z, which also includes the new NISMO model. That car’s 3.0L twin turbo V6 has been tuned to 420 horsepower and 384 lb-ft of torque. That’s an increase of 20 horsepower and 34 lb-ft compared to the base Z. The NISMO also features an upgraded chassis, suspension, tires and seats, but unfortunately it’s only available with a 9-speed automatic. This car will be available in the U.S. as well this fall and while it didn’t reveal pricing for the U.S., it will start a little over $64,000 in Japan. The Z in Japan also gets two new colors and a package that has a unique bumper, decals and wheels.

But that brings us to the end of today’s show. Thanks for making Autoline a part of your day.