AD #4410 – Hyundai Q3 Earnings Drop as Sales Fall; GM Pays $220M Data Privacy Settlement; VW Suspends Electric Golf Development

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

HYUNDAI Q3 EARNINGS DROP AS SALES FALL
Automakers all over the world are reporting their third quarter earnings, and rather than give you a bunch of number charts, here’s a summary of what’s going on. Let’s start in South Korea with Hyundai and Kia. They ain’t doin’ so good. Hyundai saw its global sales fall by nearly 11%, or about quarter of a million vehicles. Genesis only sold 40,000 cars worldwide, down more than 24%. Hyundai’s net income plummeted 24% compared to a year ago, and 33% compared to the last quarter. So, it’s going from bad to worse.

KIA Q3 NET PROFIT MISSES PREDICTIONS
Kia managed to boost its global sales by nearly 7% and revenue by 10%, but its net profit fell more than 9%. It missed analysts’ predictions by a mile and Kia’s stock dropped nearly 12% on the news. Hyundai’s and Kia’s problems will probably surprise most of our American viewers because both brands are doing so well in the U.S. market. 

GEELY Q3 PROFITS RELY ON EXPORTS
Let’s move north into China, where Geely reported that it sold 7% more vehicles, boosting revenue 10% to almost $15 billion. Its net income surged 28% to $782 million. But here’s the eye opener in those numbers. 93% of all those profits came from exports. Even though Geely sells far more cars in China than it exports, it barely makes any money on what it sells in China. That’s pretty much true for the entire Chinese auto industry, and if exports ever get closed off it’s going to be in big trouble.

VOLKSWAGEN Q3 OPERATING PROFIT DROPS 99%
Now over to Europe where the Volkswagen Group is facing a 5-alarm fire. Retail sales fell 14%, or more than 300,000 vehicles. Its operating profit just about evaporated, down almost 99%. VW only made €71 million in operating profit in Q3, down from €5.4 billion a year ago. In its own financial report, VW says its profit margin is zero.

   

RIVIAN Q3 REVENUE RISES 38%
Finally, let’s jet over to the ‘States where Rivian has a lot more positive news to report. Its sales shot up 46% to more than 19,000 trucks, vans and SUVs, especially the R2 which is now the company’s best-selling vehicle. As a result, revenue rose 38% to $2.1 billion. While it still lost money, $907 million to be exact. That was a $259 million improvement compared to a year ago.   

GM PAYS $220M DATA PRIVACY SETTLEMENT
General Motors has agreed to pay $220 million to settle claims that it violated customer privacy. The automaker was accused by 35 state attorney generals and the District of Columbia of illegally selling driver’s private behavior and location data to brokers, who then sold that info to insurers who used it to set and sometimes increase rates. The settlement also requires GM to limit the data it collects and get owners express consent to collect and share it. Earlier this year, GM agreed to pay nearly $13 million to settle allegations in California that it sold driver data to two brokers. And early last year, the automaker came to an agreement with the Federal Trade Commission to not disclose vehicle location and driver behavior data to consumer reporting agencies for five years.

VW SUSPENDS ELECTRIC GOLF DEVELOPMENT
The Golf is probably Volkswagen’s most important model and the new all-electric version is supposed to come out by the end of the decade. It’s expected to be one of the first vehicles from the VW Group to ride on a new software defined architecture and the company plans to retool its Wolfsburg plant to build it. However, Volkswagen had to suspend development of the all-electric Golf at the Wolfsburg plant because the facility is behind on cost-cutting targets by 300 million euros and it said “we simply can’t afford this work right now.” Even so, the company’s works council says it can make up the lost time and still launch the electric Golf by 2030.

AUDI WINS REDUCED U.S. TARIFFS
In other VW Group news, Audi is expected to get a lower tariff rate on the vehicles it imports to the U.S. because of that $4 billion plant it plans to build in Georgia. The Commerce Department plans to offer a broad tariff relief program for automakers making significant investments in U.S. production. As a result, Audi’s tariff rate is expected to go to 10%, down from 15%. While the company pushed for a 7.5% rate, it will still benefit after paying nearly $1.4 billion in U.S. tariffs last year.

  

CHINA CAR EXPORTS TO RUSSIA SURGE
As we said earlier in the show Chinese exports are ramping up because of falling sales in their home market. And Russia has emerged as the top destination for those shipments. According to Gasgoo, more than 619,000 Chinese passenger vehicles were exported to Russia in the first eight months of the year, which is an increase of 127% compared to a year ago. That is 160,000 units more than Brazil, which is the second largest. While Russia is the top overall market for Chinese car exports, Brazil is number one for exports of EVs and hybrids. More than 327,000 new energy vehicles were shipped to Brazil in the first eight months of the year, an increase of 163% from last year.

RIVIAN UPGRADES ELECTRIC DELIVERY VAN
Rivian is making its delivery van appealing to more customers with updates that are probably the first major changes since it came out. It says earlier this month it began delivering versions with all-wheel drive as well as a larger battery pack that increases range by 30%, so it should get around 190 miles on a full charge, up from 161 miles for the standard battery pack. We talked to one Amazon driver who said they couldn’t use the heater in the winter because they wouldn’t have enough range to finish their route. We suspect that was a common complaint in certain areas and it looks like these updates are an answer to that.

RALPH GILLES LAUNCHES CAR DESIGN PODCAST
Stellantis’ head of design, Ralph Gilles, is launching his own podcast. Gilles will sit down with designers, engineers and executives to talk about the process and inspiration for the vehicles they helped create. Called “Car Concepts with Ralph Gilles”, the series is recorded at Stellantis’ Conner Assembly Plant in Detroit. The first episode launched yesterday and a new one will be released every Thursday for the rest of the year. It’s available on all podcast platforms and video versions will be posted on the Stellantis North America YouTube channel.

Later today we’ll be posting the next installment of our series of interviews with Chris Theodore. All of you will be able to see what Chris has to say about the inner workings of the engineering departments at the car companies. But our Patreon and YouTube members will get access to the final part of Chapter 4, which dives into engineering tools and future trends. And thank you for your support!

But that brings us to the end of this show. Thanks for tuning in and I hope that you have a great weekend.