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Runtime: 10:38
0:00 Ford EVs & Hybrids Power Q1 Sales Gains
1:19 Surging PHEV Sales Not Enough to Lift Stellantis
2:11 Stellantis’ Freedom of Mobility Forum
3:16 Stellantis to Build Leapmotor Cars in the EU
5:18 BYD Jumps Into the Electrified Pickup Segment
6:01 Renault Unveils New Captur
7:15 May Mobility Targets 60% Profit Margins
8:07 Canoo CEO’s Private Jet Costs More Than Company’s Revenue
8:57 Ford Times Magazine Now Free for All to Read
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FORD EVs & HYBRIDS POWER Q1 SALES GAINS
Ford and Stellantis reported their Q1 sales for the U.S. market and they’re headed in opposite directions. Ford had a solid quarter, selling just over 508,000 vehicles, up 6.8% from last year. And it was hybrids and EVs that powered that growth. Hybrid sales shot up 42% to more than 38,000 vehicles, while EVs shot up 86% to just over 20,000. ICE sales on the other hand were up 2.6% to more than 449,000 vehicles. Ford still hasn’t fully made up lost production of the Ranger and Bronco from the UAW strike, but as that plant gets back to line speed we should see dramatic increases for those two products in the second quarter. Lincoln also had a strong quarter, with sales up 31% to nearly 25,000 units. But on one ominous note, sales of the F-Series pickups fell 10% to about 153,000 units, even though the F-150 Lightning was up 80%, with customers buying 7,700 of them.
SURGING PHEV SALES NOT ENOUGH TO LIFT STELLANTIS Q1 RESULTS
But Stellantis had a rough quarter in the U.S., with sales down 10% to 332,500 vehicles. Like Ford, Ram saw a drop in pickup sales, down 15%, but refreshed versions of the truck are just hitting dealerships now, so that should help sales. Dodge and Alfa Romeo were also down. But Chrysler and Jeep posted gains, powered by PHEV versions of the Jeep Wrangler and Cherokee, the Dodge Hornet and Chrysler Pacifica. Total PHEV sales were up 82%. That could bode well for Stellantis as it gets ready to launch 8 BEV models in the U.S. this year including the Jeep Recon and Wagoneer S, Ram 1500 REV, Dodge Charger Daytona and the all-new Fiat 500e.
STELLA’S FREEDOM OF MOBILITY FORUM
Let’s stick with Stellantis here for a minute. Yesterday, CEO Carlos Tavares held a public on-line forum called Freedom of Mobility, which brought in five thought leaders from around the world, including Tavares, to present a wide variety of viewpoints on how to provide people with sustainable and affordable transportation. One of the things that Tavares talked about is the need to cut the weight and raw materials of EV batteries in half in the next decade. But some of his fellow panelists talked about getting rid of all vehicles, electric or not. One called for an outright ban on electric SUVs, others talked about the need for a massive shift to public transportation, and some want public policies that will transfer wealth from the global north to the global south. Tavares initiated this forum to influence governments with his belief that going all electric doesn’t make sense in every region in the world. But we think he might have opened a can of worms that could end up threatening his own company.
STELLA TO BUILD LEAPMOTOR CARS IN EU
OK, one more Stellantis item. Autoforecast Solutions did a good analysis of its partnership with Chinese automaker, Leapmotor. The two companies formed a joint venture called Leapmotor International, which is 51% owned by Stellantis and gives it the exclusive rights to manufacture Leapmotor EVs outside of China. It is targeting making half a million cars a year by the end of the decade. The first car will be built in Poland, where Leap Motor will ship semi-knocked down versions of the T03, a small, A-class car with a 36.5 kWh battery, a 250 mile range, and a price tag of $20,000. Future plans include building cars in North America, though presumably that would be with a larger car, like Leapmotor’s CO1 sedan. Tavares has said that tariffs won’t save Western automakers from their Chinese rivals and that they need to learn how to compete. And one way he intends to compete is by making cars with Chinese technology.
BYD JUMPS INTO THE ELECTRIFIED PICKUP SEGMENT
Global pickup truck makers like Toyota, Ford and Nissan better take note because BYD is ready to slice into their market. It revealed a camouflaged version of its new pickup that’s designed for regions with both left- and right-hand drive vehicles. It doesn’t have a name right now, but BYD says it’s a plug-in hybrid with 100 kilometers or 62 miles of all-electric range, around 1,000 kilometers or 620 miles of overall range, and will be available with an active suspension system. The truck could get its sales license for China this month and make its way to strong pick-up markets, like Australia and South Africa before the end of the year.
RENAULT UNVEILS NEW CAPTUR
Speaking of new vehicles, Renault pulled the wraps off the significantly redone Captur. Designers closed off the large grille opening and replaced it with a more horizontal body-color element that flows into the front headlights. The rear features C-shaped taillights with the top line of the ‘C’ extending onto the trunk door. Moving to the refreshed interior, your eyes are drawn to the center screen, which is more tablet-like and mounted vertically on the dash. It has Google built-in as well as Android Automotive 12, but it also supports Apple CarPlay. The driver gets a new digital display that’s up to 10 and a quarter inches. The new Captur comes with an entirely new electronic architecture, which allows it to add a number of tech features, including expanded OTA update capabilities and Level 2 autonomous driving. Power will mostly come from a lineup of gas engines that range from 3- to 4-cylinders and mild- to full-hybrid, but there will also be an propane or LPG option. The new Captur will continue to be built in Spain and will hit the European market sometime this month.
MAY MOBILITY TARGETS 60% PROFIT MARGINS
Autonomous startup May Mobility believes there’s big bucks to be had in driverless rides. The company’s CEO, Ed Olson, believes it can hit 60% profit margins once it can get rid of human backup drivers. But since it has to use drivers for now, Olson says its profit margins are currently in the “low single digits.” It currently only offers driverless rides in Sun City, Arizona and it offers rides in three other U.S. cities with a human backup on board. May Mobility is taking a different approach than Waymo and Cruise. Instead of a ride-hailing robotaxi model, it’s pursuing contracts with city and municipal transportation departments and views city buses as its competition.
CANOO CEO’S PRIVATE JET COSTS MORE THAN COMPANY’S REVENUE
EV startup Canoo needs to raise a lot more cash, and here’s something that will turn off potential investors. The company spent twice as much on private jets for its CEO than the revenue it brought last year. According to its annual 10-Q filing, Canoo spent $1.7 million to reimburse an equity firm owned by CEO Tony Aquila for private jet usage for purposes related to the business. But the company only brought in $886,000 in revenue in 2023. Canoo said its cash and cash equivalents dropped 20% from the quarter prior, falling to $6.4 million in the fourth quarter. All we can say is that it must be nice to have a board of directors that lets you get away with things like this.
FORD TIMES NOW FREE FOR ALL TO READ
This might be a blast from your past or a chance to brush up on some history. Ford is making the Ford Times magazine collection available to the public. Launched in 1908, it originally catered to the company’s operations, but it later became a consumer publication that featured articles about recreational vehicles, golf, fishing, restaurants and more. If you go to the Ford Heritage Vault website you can read or download over 300 magazines from 1964-1981 and it says it’s going to add even more in the future.
Don’t forget to tune into Autoline After Hours later today. We’ve got Charlie Chesbrough the Senior Economist with Cox Automotive and he has some surprising insights into the way the American car market is going. Are these just a one-time blip or are we seeing fundamental changes in the market? Join John, Gary and Mike Colias from the Wall Street Journal at 3PM EST to find out.
But that’s a wrap for this show. Thanks for tuning in.
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The Ford Times, not to be confused with the infamous Dearborn Independent, owned by Ford from 1919-1927.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dearborn_Independent
I wonder if the equity firm owned by Canoo’s CEO marked up the fees from the jet leasing company, or if his company owns the jet and he was able to bill as much as he wanted to. It is an odd arrangement but it was probably something he negotiated as part of his compensation package.
Even though we have all heard about the slowing sales increase of EVs in the US market, perhaps there is more to the story than high prices and lack of charging. Tesla sales have been slowing dramatically and could be because they have not changed their models much since they were launched. Perhaps some consumers were simply waiting for more and different choices to become available, with some at lower price points. The first quarter success reported by GM and Ford with their new and existing EV models while Tesla reported a huge decrease in sales certainly seems to open that possibility. Only time will tell.
Tesla’s issue could be lack of updated products and a lot more competition. They were at one time the only EV game in town. Also it could be a matter of those that wanted a EV have already bought them . Personally I’ll never own one unless they completely ban combustion engine vehicles. . Personally I see no upside . By the time the price difference would equal out vs gas I’d have to replace a very expensive battery, . the rapid changing prices probably don’t help consumer confidence either, Buy this week and you could over pay by thousands of dollars
I read that Ford is seriously pissed at the UAW for striking their plants . Farley said that Ford was the only one that added UAW jobs in the last 15 years and feel that the UAW bit the hand that feeds . They are threatening to take all the manufacturing to Mexico. I’m sure that the F150 lack of sales is at least partially do to that and probably the ranger and Bronco as well. This is something that I warned about that if the UAW kept with their strong arm tactics it would come back and bite them.
Is the union contract the reason Ford is dropping the Escape, made in Louisville, and essentially letting the Mexican Bronco Sport take up the slack? They’ll probably now offer the BS as a hybrid, and with luck, FWD, to cover the former Escape prospects.
There are a number of reasons Tesla sales might be down, and Elon is one of them. I’m not the only one who would not buy a Tesla because of his shenanigans, though there are other reasons I wouldn’t buy a Tesla, mainly the controls/displays. Yeah, styling needs to be updated, and there is now a lot of good competition out there. Tesla still has the best efficiency, partly because the cars are lighter than the competition. A Model 3 is 600 pounds lighter than a not-much-bigger Ioniq 6. Maybe the lightness is part of why Model 3 and Y are noisier and ride worse than most of the competition, but lightness has clear benefits in efficiency and performance.
It looks like, other than Tesla, Rivian and maybe Lucid are the only EV upstarts that have much of a chance of being around a year from now, except maybe a specialty company or two making commercial vans.
Ford Times, available online? Wow! A late cousin’s parents once owned a small-town Ford dealership in East Texas (Long Motor Co. in Gilmer, Texas), and as a kid growing up int he ’60s, I would read through issues of Ford Times, when I would go visit family there.
The “Freedom of Mobility Forum” pretty much recommended the “extinction rebellion” policies. The Forum may be perfectly fine. But “extinction rebellion” disrupted the New York Auto Show by squirting oil on the Ford 150 truck and stage. In the UK, they glue themselves to streets and screw up traffic.
As reported:
. . . “fellow panelists . . . getting rid of all vehicles, electric or not. . . . ban on electric SUVs,. . . massive shift to public transportation,” which is straight out of the “extinction rebellion” principles.
The extinction rebellion USA web site has their details: https://extinctionrebellion.us
Carlos Tavares may have been tricked into being a panelist but if so, time to short sell his company stock.
Frequent styling changes was the business model dictated by GM in the 50s/60s/70s. Elon does not subscribe to that business model. Today’s environment is very different. Crash avoidance technology has replaced ever-changing crash structure changes… which often dictated new platforms with commensurate styling changes. But electrification is multifaceted. I believe Elon’s business model is focused on selling software upgrades more than selling style changes.
VW got by without styling changes for a long time.
Austin/Morris mini kept the same styling for 40 years, and BMW has sort of kept the same styling for another 20.
Porsche has kept similar styling since the beginning of time. If you have a timeless design that is an option. There are zero Tesla cars with a timeless design. The best can be said is that their designs are not offensive, except the cyber truck which is highly offensive.
While I agree that the rest of the world needs to learn to compete with Chinese vehicles, but that goes both ways! If they say “Don’t lock us out of your market with high tariffs”, they can’t receive funding to artificially lower their vehicles prices, as many believe the country’s leaders are doing. It would also be required of their vehicles, to be built under the same or similar assembly standards as their overseas competitors. If they do all of this and their products still come in at a lower price as the products from other automakers, I don’t think there would be any issues with there vehicles entering other markets.
Speaking of Ford and their new $25K EV, I hope the vehicles low price doesn’t mean that it will have ho-hum styling. While some may argue whether the Mach-E is a success or not, I am sure they would have sold less if it looked like the C-Max EV! That lower price will require some sacrifices, but I’m hoping that they are able to pull another rabbit out of their hat, like the did with the Maverick.
Kit — Regarding your comment about the Escape being put out to pasture. I wonder if the introduction of this $25K EV might be another reason why the Escape is leaving their line up? Depending on its size, that electric CUV would be priced on top of the Escape. If Ford eliminated the Escape for the $25K CUV EV, and gave the Bronco Sport (which is marketed to a different crowd) the hybrid and PHEV from Escape, I think they have a good game plan to cover all their bases!
It’s funny how non-car people don’t know the difference between my base Cayman and a 911. The shape screams Porsche, even with the vents on the side of the Cayman/Boxter.
Uh-oh, more EV reality announced by Ford today:
“In a manufacturing update Thursday, Ford announced that it is pushing back the production launch of its planned three-row electric SUV at its assembly plant in Oakville, Ontario, from 2025 to 2027.
Ford also said it now expects customer deliveries of the all-new electric pickup truck it will manufacture at its Tennessee plant to begin in 2026 and “gradually ramp up production to assure quality,” after saying last year that production of the truck would begin in late 2025“
Confused as to why they would do this since Autoline tells me that EVs powered their Q1 sales. Could be because those sales were the heavily discounted models that have been rotting on lots and now they’re eating big(ger) losses on them just to get them gone. Higher sales doesn’t necessarily mean higher profits and in this case likely means the opposite.
I’ll add that it is definitely true that Tesla needs to do some styling updates. New head and tail lights at minimum would be something at least.
For now, at least in the US, EVs are at their best as commuter cars for those with home charging. With one exception, that is what the EV owners I know use them for. One retired Model S owner uses the car for long road trips, like from the Seattle area to central Indiana. He is, obviously, not in a hurry.
The Ford dealer near me shows 2 Mach-Es and 5 Lightnings in inventory on their web site. The site shows “$10,000 savings” for all of the Lightnings, and of course, all of them were either black or white, except one dark blue Lightning. Even if I wanted one of these, I’d need to order it, to get a color and equipment I wanted. I assume Ford will let your order vehicles, as do GM, Chrysler, Porsche, and Mini.
Better for Ford and others to “admit” there mistake now, then to push something that’s not working as expected. Yet, as said before, when wayward thinking takes place at the top, it’s the workers that take the hit for the misstep. No questions why the leaders make so much, but when the company is doing well and the leaders are getting bonuses for the combined efforts of leadership and labor, folks come out of the wood work saying that ‘labor makes too much as it is’! Leadership will not be hurt in the least by this miss cue, but those with the lowest seniority on the labor side, may have to evaluate their future with the company.
That side, GM is currently releasing the Silverado EV RST first editions, at $94K plus! According to an article in Motor Trend, they are expected to begin deliveries about the middle of the year, with a range of 450 miles. Somehow it seems that we’ve seen this movie before? Like with the Lightning maybe? While folk are willing to pay that much for a Cybertruck or a R1T, will they do so for a Chevy?
wmb- To answer your question NO the Chevy EV wont sell! Sure, they’ll have a few takers that have expendable money but when it comes to appealing to the general public sales will flop at 90K+.
As for the banning of vehicles. These groups crack me up at their lack of awareness. I mean a switch to 100% public transportation could maybe happen in a few select cities and only within the central part of the city. Even L.A. as populated as that city is, its spread out and the inner most part where the tall building are is basically the same as any other city. Cities would need to basically geo fence off the central city and provide a ton of parking just outside that area. Have a reliable subway, and busses that can get people moved around efficiently. Things like EV bikes and scooters might work in the south and west but I don’t see the banker in NY riding a scooter down a snowy slushy road in January. Not going to happen. As for banning outside of a dense city it’s just wishful thinking. Maybe with the new $15 a day charge to drive into NY they’ll consider something like this. But even still you need a place to make the transition. Meaning if you live outside the city you drive part of the way to work and need to park somewhere and take the bus or train from there. The subway into NY already has this way up into Conn. Where parking lots along the way provide free parking and they can catch the train.
Lambo – see, the problem is that you’re applying actual thought, logic and human nature to the situation. Something CARB, the EPA, and their zealots do not do. Better to just mandate an arbitrary date ban this or that. Such clowns and the CEOs and politicians who eat it up deserve to look like fools and cripple their companies and economies in order to virtue signal. And yes, the labor union is the one to bear the brunt via layoffs and plant closures once reality crashes their plans. Yet union leadership continues to endorse the politicians leading this charge. Why is that?
Apparently people are not waiting in line for Rivians these days. They have inventory, and you can get one in as little as a week, but you can order one and get it in “four months or less.” I wonder how much less.
https://insideevs.com/news/689368/rivian-r1t-inventory-shop-official/
It typically takes 4-6 weeks to get an ordered GM or Chrysler, and, from my experience, ~10 weeks for cars from Europe. Cars from Europe may take longer now, with the Baltimore port closed.
As far as the Silverado EV, yeah, they won’t sell many at $94K, but manufacturers often start out with the expensive versions of new products, for the “first on the block” crowd, and then start selling the cheaper ones.
The problem for Chevrolet is that it is true they will start with the 94K version and issue cheaper later. But they already stated that the cheapest Silverado EV will be $75K. They will not be moving many of those either. It looks decent though, so that is something.
Kit- Its kind of funny that its been that way with EVs where they start out with the loaded $$$ model and release the base later. For years it was the opposite where they would launch an new model with its crappy base model engine and few options and then came the upper trim models and bigger motor and better transmissions. Kind of like when they launch the new Corvette and then release the ZR models a year or so later.
If the “cheap” Silverado EV is $75K, yeah, they won’t sell. People who might want one will wait for the price to come down.
Mini seems to start with the “middle” trim when a new generation comes out, and introduce the base later, but yeah, with Corvette, the Z06 has been later than base and Z51 package with recent generations.