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Runtime: 10:31
0:00 U.S. SAAR Tops 16 Million for 1st Time This Year
1:20 Japanese OEMs Falsify Safety Tests
1:58 Great Wall Shuts German HQ
2:25 Great Wall Sales Slow in China
2:46 Toyota Slowly Ramps Up EV Sales
3:53 GM Appoints Ex-Apple Execs to Software Unit
4:31 BYD Moves Into the Caribbean
5:20 Polestar Scrambles to Avoid U.S. Tariffs
6:16 Ford Explorer EV Production Kicks Off
6:39 Ford to Open Michigan Central Train Station
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This is Autoline Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry.
U.S. MARKET HITS 16 MILLION SAAR
The U.S. car market hit a 16 million unit SAAR for the first time this year. That’s an important milestone for the industry, but it’s still not back to pre-Covid levels when sales hit 17 million vehicles a year for several years in a row. Not all automakers publicly reported their sales yet. General Motors and Stellantis only report sales on a quarterly basis. And Ford won’t report its May sales until tomorrow. But J.D. Power estimates that automakers sold 1.4 million vehicles, up 7% from a year ago, though there was one more selling day last month compared to a year ago. Sales of EVs did not grow as fast as the overall market and they hit 8.4% market share, down 0.4% from April. J.D. Power also had a word of warning for the entire industry. Automakers are building cars faster than they can sell them. Inventory levels are rising, and it expects to see prices coming down. Last month, the average transaction price for a new car was $45,000, down $1,000 from a year ago.
JAPANESE OEMS FALSIFY SAFETY TESTS
Japanese automakers are in hot water with authorities in Japan. The country’s Ministry of Transportation raided the offices of Toyota, Mazda, Honda, Suzuki and Yamaha because it says the companies engaged in “fraudulent acts” involving their vehicle certification tests. It told the automakers to stop shipments of all the affected vehicles until regulators can determine they are in compliance. The automakers have suspended shipments and apologized for falsifying test results. But the companies say the affected vehicles are still safe to drive.
GREAT WALL SHUTS GERMAN HQ
While Europe is concerned about a wave of Chinese EVs flooding the market, not every Chinese automaker is doing well there. Great Wall Motor announced that it’s closing its European headquarters in Munich in August and will lay off 100 employees. It says uncertainties in the market forced the move. But it’s obviously got to do with poor sales. Last year, Great Wall only sold about 6,300 vehicles in Europe.
GREAT WALL SALES SLOW IN CHINA
And it’s facing a slowdown in China, too. Last month, Great Wall sold 91,000 vehicles, but that was down nearly 10% from last year. However new energy vehicles or NEVs, accounted for about 24,600 sales last month, which is 60% up from a year ago.
TOYOTA SLOWLY RAMPS UP EV SALES
Toyota Corp is slowly ramping up sales of pure electric vehicles. Last month in the U.S., Lexus sold a little under 1,500 RZs, slightly beating out the Toyota bZ4X at 1,260 units. And the Subaru Solterra, which is based on the same platform as the RZ and bZ, actually outsold those models with 1,546 reaching customer hands in May. However, Toyota has had more consistent EV sales throughout 2024 and its sales are nearly double that of Lexus and Subaru so far this year. Tesla started turning a profit on EVs roughly around the time it started building 50,000 Model 3s a quarter. So, by that measure Toyota still has a long way to go.
GM APPOINTS EX-APPLE EXECS TO SOFTWARE UNIT
Back in March, General Motor’s head of software, Mike Abbott, left the company due to health reasons. GM had hired Abbott away from Apple and CEO Mary Barra credited him with helping turnaround its software development. Now the automaker is promoting two former Apple execs to fill in Abbott’s shoes. Baris Cetinok and Dave Richardson will head GM’s Software and Services organization. Cetinok will manage products, program and design, while Richardson is responsible for software and services engineering. They’ll both be based in GM’s new tech center in California.
BYD MOVES INTO THE CARIBBEAN
BYD is taking global markets by storm. After major moves in the South American market, it’s now entering the Caribbean. Just off the coast of Venezuela, the Chinese automaker opened its first dealership in Trinidad and Tobago, showing off several of its new energy vehicles, including displaying its first-ever pickup truck, the Shark, on social media. Car sales in the Caribbean market are dominated by the Japanese and Korean automakers. It used to be the same way in South America, but automakers like BYD have found real success in the region and now they’re expanding. Beyond Trinidad and Tobago, BYD also has plans to expand to more Caribbean nations, including Jamaica, Barbados, and the Cayman Islands.
POLESTAR SCRAMBLES TO AVOID U.S. TARIFFS
When the Biden Administration announced it was raising tariffs on Chinese-made cars to 102.5% it caught Polestar flat footed. All of Polestar’s cars are made in China. But that’s about to change. This summer the Polestar 3 will be built at a Volvo plant in South Carolina, and half of that production will be exported. Next year, the Polestar 4 will be built in South Korea by Renault and mainly shipped to the U.S. In 2027 the company hopes to build the Polestar 7 in Europe. We’re also waiting to hear about Volvo’s decision on the EX-30. It’s also made in China and was supposed to go on sale in the U.S. this summer. We think the most likely scenario is that it will be delayed until Volvo starts production in Belgium and can export them to the U.S. without that hefty tariff.
FORD EXPLORER EV LAUNCHES IN EU
Ford officially kicked off production in Germany of the all-new Explorer EV, which is based on Volkswagen’s MEB architecture. The company invested $2 billion into its plant to be able to build EVs there and a second MEB-based vehicle starts production later this year. Ford says it’s a sports crossover that will be revealed soon.
FORD TO OPEN MICHIGAN CENTRAL TRAIN STATION
Speaking of Ford, Thursday is a big day for the city of Detroit and the company. That’s when the Michigan Central train station officially opens after a nearly $1 billion restoration. Built in 1913 and abandoned in 1988, the building became the poster child of post-industrial ruin in the city. But Bill Ford saw an opportunity to transform the broken down hulk into a gleaming gem. And the grand opening is going to be a big bash, with performances from Jack White, Diana Ross, Big Sean, Jelly Roll, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and a whole bunch more. All of it will be streamed live on Peacock, and NBC will boil it down to a 1-hour special that will air at 7 pm eastern time. This wraps up today’s show, but before we go, here’s a brief video clip we shot some years ago when they held a drifting competition in front of the train station when it was still a broken down mess.
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Speaking of auto sales, I ordered a Silverado months ago and it’s been delay delay …and the latest update is it’s going to be built July 22nd. I would buy one off the lot but if you want a standard box truck there’s not many, most get the short box, and then if you want the diesel .. there’s even less.
Sean; No word on what businesses will be occupying the train station? What a great transformation to what was a huge eyesore entering and exiting Detroit using I75. Glad it was saved.
I’ve always thought the Japanese automakers were pretty ethical and honor was pretty engrained in the culture. So to hear they have falsified safety test results really makes me question if there are any business ethics anymore. Sad indeed.
You should brush on TMC(and Subaru) lease deals on Cars Direct. The paymenst in vertical parts of the country are on par or less than ICE equivalent. They are about to give them away!
Buzzerd, the companies must have switched production almost completely to huge cab, small box pickup trucks. Many don’t even show anything else on their web sites. You can’t get a regular cab, 8 foot bed from Ram at all, even the “Ram Classic,” an older generation they still build. According to the Chevy web site, you can get a Silverado that way, but only in the WT trim. Maybe if you order one, it would take forever, like with your order.
Toyota must really be going through “production hell” with Prius and Sienna. Saturday, I stopped in a huge dealer in Indianapolis, and they say they can’t get them. I thought it might just be smaller dealers, like the one nearest me.
I didn’t know new cars were even sold in the Caribbean. I’ve been on a number of Caribbean islands, mostly on cruises, and most of what you see is vehicles that were imported used from the Americas, many from the US. They seem to allow almost anything to be imported, including huge LHD vehicles in island countries where they drive on the left.
I suspect that there is a correlation between the slowdown of EV sales and the drop in the average price of new vehicles. I also suspect that the uptick in SAAR is correlated to the increase in rebates and improved financing options.
If Magna has stopped assembling the Fisker Ocean, doesn’t that mean there is lots of capacity to assemble Chinese EVs at the Magna-Steyr plant in Europe? Also, I thought Ford, GM, Stellantis still had ‘surplus’ assembly plants in the US. Wouldn’t it make sense for them to use them in a joint venture with a Chinese company in an EV catagory the big three are not in? (ex Li Auto Mega EV passenger van, or MG sports car) If the plant made Chinese and American branded models, it could benefit the American brands too.
Isn’t Lordstown Motors dead, with Foxconn owning the Lordstown plant? There’s some production capacity there.