+++ AUDI and its 2 Chinese partners, FAW and SAIC, announced on Wednesday that its future products will be sold and serviced via the FAW-Volkswagen Audi investor network, further realizing its future growth strategy in the world’s largest auto market. Together with FAW, Audi will expand its locally produced portfolio to 12 vehicles by 2021. Products from its second partner, SAIC, are expected to be introduced in 2022. In October, Audi signed a memorandum of understanding with FAW for the joint production of electric vehicles based on the Premium Platform Electric. PPE was developed jointly by Porsche and Audi. The carmaker said the first new electric models on this platform are expected to be produced from 2024. Audi China president Werner Eichhorn said on Wednesday: “I am pleased to see that we have reached consensus on such a crucial business decision. Strong local partners are important cornerstones for Audi’s success in China. With the new sales setup, we have secured a win-win-win solution for Audi’s next ‘Golden Decade’ in its most important market in the world”. “As a model for joint-venture cooperation in China’s automobile industry, FAW China and Audi AG have been pioneers in many fields. The comprehensive deepening of the partnership marks a new era for ‘all fields cooperation’ and ‘mutual creation of the full value chain’ for both sides”, said Qiu Xiandong, president of FAW Group. “Together with the Audi brand, we will bring ‘in China, for China’ Audi products and services to Chinese customers with innovative ideas toward the future, share opportunities and achieve win-win development with our partners, and become the practitioners and pioneers of Audi’s new journey together”, said SAIC Motor president Wang Xiaoqiu. Audi has sold more than 6 million vehicles bearing the four-ring logo in China, more than any other premium brand. +++
+++ The auto industry dodged disaster when the U.K. and European Union sealed a post BREXIT trade accord, but not before carmakers announced factory closures and called off plans to make several new vehicles in the country. More damage may still be done even with last week’s deal. Automakers including Nissan might struggle to qualify some U.K. assembled models for tariff-free export to the EU as they evaluate whether they source enough of their components locally. Costs associated with having to switch suppliers and the burdens of customs declarations, certifications and audits could still leave car companies convinced they’re better off investing elsewhere. “This is still a thin deal with major implications and costs for automotive”, said David Bailey, a business economics professor at Birmingham Business School in England. “Much will depend on the degree of flexibility allowed and the degree of phasing in”. The stakes for the U.K. economy are massive. The country’s auto industry employs more than 860.000 people, over a fifth of whom are on staff at vehicle and parts factories. The sector sent $57 billion worth of cars and components overseas last year, 13% of the nation’s total exports. The Brexit deal eliminates the risk of widespread exodus but still could fall short for carmakers with too little leeway to take on more expenses. Nissan and its Japanese peers are the companies to watch in the wake of the deal. The outlook was already bleak before the Brexit accord was clinched. The company recently decided against making an electric model at its factory in northern England and almost two years ago scrapped plans to build another sport utility vehicle at the same site. Honda is closing its only U.K. car plant next year. Nissan and Toyota’s hybrid and electric models built in England are cut some slack in the Brexit trade deal, with the accord allowing a greater proportion of vehicle content to come from outside the U.K. or EU. Still, the initial so-called rules of origin require 10 percentage points more local content than what the U.K. sought. It’s unclear whether Nissan’s all-electric Leaf hatchbacks built in Sunderland have enough local content to avoid levies. While Nissan welcomes the trade agreement, it will now “assess the detailed implications for our operations and products”, Azusa Momose, a company spokeswoman in Yokohama, said by email. Toyota’s Corolla hybrid compact cars built in Burnaston, as well as the non-electrified vehicles assembled at the site, qualify for tariff-free export to the EU, said Sonomi Aikawa, a company spokeswoman in Tokyo. The company benefits from its engine plant in Wales, she said. The carmakers’ tariff requirements going forward may be affected by their plans to bring more of their battery supply chains to the region. Electric vehicles will be given another six years to bring their amount of foreign content below 45 %, the threshold gasoline and diesel cars will be held to immediately. “The timings underscore the urgent need for government to create the conditions that will attract large-scale battery manufacturing to the U.K. and transform our supply chains”, said Mike Hawes, chief executive of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, the U.K. car industry’s trade group. “Improving the competitiveness of the U.K. will be essential to help mitigate the additional costs and burdens brought about by our new trading relationship”. Other carmakers have been putting off investments in U.K. plants pending the outcome of trade talks. BMW delayed work on a next-generation Mini platform due to uncertainties over the U.K.’s trade relations with the EU. Chief financial officer Nicolas Peter said this month BMW would consider making Mini cars in Germany or China if tariffs undermine the business case of producing them in the U.K. PSA Group CEO Carlos Tavares said in March the maker of Opel / Vauxhall cars would determine whether there was a business case for its factory in Ellesmere Port, and that the company could ask the British government to compensate for any trade barriers that may arise. BMW and PSA welcomed the trade deal, while cautioning that they’d need to closely examine the agreement to assess the implications for their operations. “It’s hoped that the deal now gives a green light to major investments in the U.K. that had been stalled amid Brexit uncertainty”, said Bailey, the Birmingham Business School professor. “There will be extra costs for the industry in terms of non-tariff barriers, but things could have been much worse”. +++
+++ CHEVROLET ’s sixth-generation Camaro will live to celebrate its 11th birthday, a recent report claims. Its life cycle has been allegedly extended to 2026, so its successor (if it gets one) might not arrive until the 2027 model year. Chevrolet has added 2 years to the Camaro’s lease on life. It was originally scheduled to retire in 2024, meaning we likely would have seen the 7th generation model in showrooms during the 2025 model year at the earliest. If the source is right, the last 6th generation Camaro will roar off the assembly line about 11 years after the model made its debut. Even at 11, the Camaro won’t exactly be ancient; the second, third, and fourth generations of the pony car remained in production for about a decade, too. Nissan still sells the 370Z it introduced in 2008 as a 2009 model, though a replacement is tentatively due out in 2021. Toyota’s Land Cruiser and Sequoia both turned 13 in 2020. Enthusiasts should be more concerned with what’s next than with the Camaro’s age. In 2019, insiders familiar with the contents of Chevrolet’s future product pipeline said the 7th generation car’s development program had been suspended, and that the nameplate would again be consigned to the automotive dust bin once the current model retires. One way to interpret the unverified report is that keeping the Camaro around for a little longer is a way to avoid developing a successor, which would confirm that the nameplate’s future looks dim. Chevrolet hasn’t commented on the report, and it hasn’t revealed what it has in store for the Camaro. If the timeline is accurate, we expect the Camaro will receive at least one major overhaul before going away. Although it’s not shockingly old, and it was last refreshed for the 2020 model year, the Camaro lags behind its main rivals on the sales chart. Chevrolet sold 48.265 units in 2019. Ford led the segment by selling 72.489 examples of the Mustang, while 60.997 enthusiasts took home a Dodge Challenger. Ford and Dodge have attempted to keep buyers interested by releasing new, often heritage-inspired variants of their coupes, like the Mach 1 and the Super Stock, but the Camaro has received comparatively minor updates. 2021 brought more connectivity features, minor equipment changes, and an option package named Wild Cherry Design. +++
+++ The unprecedented growth of plug-in ELECTRIC car sales in Europe continues. In November, sales hit another monthly record and that’s just an introduction to what we will see in December (often the strongest month of the year). 166.255 new passenger plug-in car registrations, which is 198 % more than a year ago. The market share has reached an amazing level of 16 %! Really great results, compared to the overall car market, which went down by 14 % year-over-year. It was also a month of parity between BEVs and PHEVs: BEVs: 83.512 (up 182 % year-over-year) and 8 % of the market; PHEVs: 82.743 (up 217 % year-over-year) and 8 % of the market. After 11 months of 2020, close to 1.085.000 new plug-in passenger cars were registered in Europe, which is 10 % of the total volume (5.4 % falls on BEVs)! With such a great November, we should see more than 1.25 million in 2020. This time, the bestselling model happened to be the Renault Zoé (9.953, including 7.231 in Germany and France), which is also #1 year-to-date with over 83.000! The Volkswagen ID.3 was the second-best (8.496) and it’s now the 6th bestselling plug-in model YTD, with big chances for 4th place in 2020 (and a small chance for the third place). The Hyundai Kona Electric was third (5.375), just like in November, which seems enough to maintain third place overall in 2020. The Tesla Model 3 noted the 4th best result for the month (5.014 units). Tesla’s bestselling model is #2 YTD with over 63.000, and it will not change, as even a great December will not compensate for the 20,000 difference to the Zoé. The fifth plug-in (and the first PHEV) happened to be Mercedes-Benz A-Class 250e (4.517 sales), which might also become the #1 PHEV YTD, ahead of the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV. This will be an interesting race for sure as Volvo XC40 PHEV also has a big chance to beat the Outlander PHEV. Many plug-in models noted personal best monthly results in November, which indicates a general expansion of the entire market – not just a few top or new models. The all-new cars, the Volvo XC40 Recharge noted 1.311 units, the Fiat 500 electric some 1.285, while the Jeep Compass 4xe did 1.466. But the biggest surprise is the strong 2.640 units of the Mazda MX-30. +++
+++ Fiat Chrysler Automobiles has brought the Alexa experience to the new FIAT 500, as part of the company’s strategic partnership with Amazon. With the Alexa Built-in, owners of the electric supermini will be able to ask the virtual assistant to play music, check the battery level, lock and unlock the doors, hear the news and even control smart home devices. “The New 500 is simple and intuitive with, cherry on the cake, the on-board ‘virtual’ assistant to respond to in-car commands”, said Ned Curic, VP of Alexa Automotive at Amazon. “Simply saying ‘Hey Fiat’, it is able to communicate in real-time with home automation systems, listen to the music and much more, in the end, staying connected and driving safely”. Part of FCA’s Uconnect Services, the integration of the personal assistant will first launch in Fiat’s home market of Italy, with other countries to follow throughout next year, including Austria, France, Germany, Spain, and the United Kingdom. Sporting an evolutionary design, the new 500 has become all-electric. In the base variant, a 24 kWh battery powers the 95 hp electric motor, with the 0 to 100 km/h acceleration taking 9.5 seconds. This model can hit a top speed of 135 km/h and it has a 185 km range on the WLTP cycle. A more powerful version of the car uses a 120 hp motor and a bigger 42 kWh battery, slashing 0,5 second from the acceleration time and increasing the maximum speed to 150 km/h. The zero-emission range is rated at 299-320 km on a single charge. +++
+++ The Italian-American carmaker FIAT CHRYSLER will invest 755 million zlotys ($203.99 million) in its plant in Tychy in Poland, where new hybrid and electric Jeep, Fiat and Alfa Romeo models will be built, Deputy Prime Minister Jaroslaw Gowin said on Tuesday. The investment comes as a boost to emerging Europe’s largest economy, which is hoping a switch to electric vehicles can help its auto sector catch up with regional rivals including the Czech Republic and Slovakia. “Modern, hybrid and electric cars of the Jeep, Fiat and Alfa Romeo brands will start to leave the factory in Tychy in 2022”, Gowin wrote on Twitter. He said there could be further investment in the plant in future but gave no details. Fiat Chrysler, which is planning a $38 billion merger with French rival PSA to create the world’s No.4 carmaker, said in a statement that early preparations for the expansion and modernisation of the plant started in late 2020. The plant in Poland’s industrial southern region of Silesia is one of the company’s largest and currently employs around 2.500 people. Fiat Chrysler confirmed that new hybrid and electric Jeep, Fiat and Alfa Romeo models would be built in Tychy. It said the aim was to start mass production of the first of the 3 new passenger car models for the group’s brands in the second half of 2022. Under a 2018-2022 plan, FCA pledged to invest €9 euros in electrification as part of investment plans totalling €45 billion. +++
+++ GENESIS is set to become South Korea’s best-selling luxury car this year for the first time since it was introduced as a standalone brand by Hyundai in 2015. South Korea’s luxury car market, which didn’t have a homegrown brand before Genesis, has been dominated by German brands, with Japanese brands scoring some share. Genesis sold a total of 96.069 units this year as of November; up almost 85 % year-on-year, according to Korea Automobile Manufacturers Association data. Mercedes-Benz, which unloaded the most imports in Korea for 4 consecutive years, sold a total of 67.333 units during the period; a 3.4 % year-on-year drop, according to data from Korea Automobile Importers & Distributors Association. BMW, another contender in the luxury car market, sold 52.644 units as of November this year; a 34.8 % year-on-year jump. Genesis sales in Korea were led by the G80 sedan and the GV80 SUV. A fully overhauled G80 midsize sedan was brought to market in March and 46.453 units were sold as of November. Sales of the GV80, which was rolled out in January and is the first Genesis SUV model, totaled 30.745 units as of November. Genesis had its growing pains over the past few years as it struggled to separate from the brand image of Hyundai, which is known for value-for-money vehicles. Consumers looking for luxury vehicles leaned more toward imported models rather than purchasing Genesis cars given that the prices didn’t differ that much. “The design has gone to a top-notch level over the past 5 years and Korean consumers are starting to accept the brand as a luxury one rather than something related to Hyundai”, said Kim Pil-soo, an automotive engineering professor at Daelim University. The recently premiered GV70 is being well received too. More than 10.000 orders were received for the second Genesis SUV on the first day it was made available. Deliveries will begin in January. While Korean consumers are increasingly convinced by the brand, a bigger challenge awaits Genesis, as its performance in the United States, one of the most important luxury auto markets in the world, is not solid yet. The brand sold 11.285 units in the U.S. this year as of September; a 24.3 % year-on-year drop. The GV80 was recently introduced there, and the GV70 is expected to come in 2021. Genesis hasn’t yet started selling cars in Europe or China. +++
+++ MCLAREN boss Mike Flewitt has a clear idea for the performance brand’s future, and the strategy doesn’t include crossovers in stark contrast to competitors like Aston Martin, Ferrari, Lamborghini, and others. The regulations are pushing the brand to build hybrids, though. “But we have stayed very true to the concept of making supercars. That’s a question I get in some markets: ‘Are you guys going to do an SUV?’, or ‘Are you guys going to do an EV?’ The answer is no, we’re not”, Flewitt said in an interview. “The answer ‘no’ is an entirely rational one. Our brand is completely grounded in motorsport, supercars, and drivers’ cars. It is way too early to be stretching the brand into other areas and trying to give brand credibility to a product that clearly has nothing to do with our history”. That’s the type of clear-cut, unequivocal answer that you don’t usually hear from the folks who run automakers. McLaren execs have been against building crossovers for a while, though. For example, engineering design boss Dan Parry-Williams said that “sports utility vehicles are neither sporty nor utilitarian” in 2018. Similarly, sales and marketing boss Jolyon Nash said a crossover would “compromise the brand” and he indicated the company didn’t plan to build one unless the automaker’s other models weren’t making money. More hybrids are in the brand’s future because they have to be. “I’m honest enough to say we only hybridise cars to meet environmental legislation to stay compliant”, Flewitt told. “After 2022-23 I can’t see us launching any non-hybrid cars”. The next confirmed hybrid McLaren is the Artura that debuts in the first half of 2021. It rides on the new MCLA carbon fibre platform. The combustion portion of the powertrain is a twin-turbocharged V6. In addition, we should see a successor to the P1 hypercar in 2025. +++
+++ There’s no denying that NISSAN ’s current lineup contains more than a few elderly offerings. The 370Z and GT-R are over a decade old, though being niche performance vehicles, age isn’t quite as critical in that genre. SUVs aren’t niche, and a 9 year old Pathfinder isn’t doing Nissan any favours. And then we have the Frontier, which is nearly old enough to vote in elections. This was part of the discussion that recently took place with Nissan chief operating officer Ashwani Gupta. The automaker’s woes aren’t relegated to US shores and Gupta states the company tried expanding too fast. That was the game plan of former CEO and escape artist Carlos Ghosn who targeted an 8 % market share during his tenure and was overseeing the massive expansion. The result of that effort, according to Gupta, was Nissan being “landed with aged vehicles, a huge lineup which we could not maintain”. Does that mean a slathering of new Nissan’s are on-deck? Not necessarily, though the report does point to electrification taking hold in the coming years. Aside from the new Ariya, Nissan says half of its vehicles sold in Europe will be electric. That also means performance cars like the new Z and GT-R will exit the Euro market where emissions regulations have tightened, but they will continue in the US. For that matter, the report states that Nissan considers Japan, China, and the US as its largest markets but again, don’t expect the automaker to flood dealerships with fresh blood. Its turnaround plan calls for reduced costs, and that means reduced production. Instead of an eight-percent global market share target, Nissan is aiming for 6 % and it will utilise its partnerships with Renault as well as Mitsubishi to get there. Given the global struggles faced by automakers in 2020, even a 6 % slice of the global pie by 2023 could be tough to reach. +++
+++ Not long after I found out Tesla was willing to sell out to Apple for $60 billion in 2018, as the tech company’s CEO, Tim Cook, didn’t even want to meet with Elon Musk to discuss it, I have an even older tale to tell. Apparently, back in 2013, Volkswagen’s then head of the board, Ferdinand PIECH , was so impressed after he took a Tesla Model S for a test drive that he immediately wanted to buy the company. Piëch got a reluctant Martin Winterkorn (VW’s CEO at the time, currently a fugitive of justice in the United States after Dieselgate), as well as Ulrich Hackenberg (Head of Development until he was also forced to leave due to the same scandal) on board with trying to buy Tesla, but when they reached out to Elon Musk, he reportedly turned them down flat. Back in 2013, Tesla was around 10 years old and just starting out with its first mass market electric vehicle. At that time, the game-changing Model S had only been on sale for roughly a year and it was way more advanced than any other electric vehicle on the market at the time. Legacy automakers have since closed the gap and we’ve gotten used to Tesla’s lead in the segment, but back then, the California-based startup was raising a lot of eyebrows. +++
+++ SSANGYONG partially resumed operations at its Pyeongtaek factory Tuesday after 2 days of suspension due to a supplier strike. The beleaguered automaker said that the factory is running again as some deliveries have resumed. Negotiations are continuing, but the company has already been able to get some of its contractors to agree to supply enough components to keep the manufacturing line running, though the company notes that operations are still below 100 %. The plant was shut on December 24 and December 28 as companies refused to deliver parts on concerns that the cash-strapped automaker would be unable to pay its bills. Hyundai Mobis, LG Hausys, S&T Dynamics and Continental Automotive are among the companies that have suspended deliveries. Hyundai Mobis and S&T Dynamics resumed their deliveries on December 29, but the remaining companies have yet to do so. The 2-day suspension disrupted production of some 1.300 units, according to the carmaker. SsangYong’s request for an autonomous restructuring support (ARS) program was filed along with its court receivership application on December 21. The court accepted the ARS program request on Tuesday, according to the filing. The ARS program delays the court receivership process by a maximum of 3 months to give the troubled company more time to negotiate with the creditors and raise funding. The filing said the court’s decision on whether to order the receivership program will be delayed until February 28, 2021.Until then, SsangYong plans to negotiate with the creditors to roll over the overdue payments while selling more cars to partially address its liquidity crunch. After defaulting on 165 billion won of overdue payments, SsangYong filed for court receivership last week, just 11 years after an earlier receivership. +++
+++ Even though TESLA already sources its lithium (a key ingredient in EV batteries) from China’s Gangfeng Lithium, the U.S. carmaker has reportedly signed a 5-year deal with Yahua Industrial Group, another Chinese lithium supplier. Yahua, which is based in China’s Sichuan province, will now deliver battery-grade lithium hydroxide to Tesla starting in 2021 and through 2025. The total value of the contract is said to be $630-880 million. Tesla, which started delivering cars from its gigafactory in Shanghai just last December, has yet to comment on the deal. Earlier this year in May, Yahua opened up a 20.000 tonnes/year lithium hydroxide plant, in turn more than doubling its previous capacity, despite the coronavirus pandemic affecting global lithium demand. Speaking of batteries, LG Chem announced plans to double its production capacity for battery cells in China, in order to match Tesla’s production ramp-up plans. LG Chem will ship its increased output from China and Korea to Tesla plants in the U.S. and Germany, while continuing to supply cells for the China-built Model 3. Each Model 3 uses 4.416 battery cells, with each LG Chem production line capable of producing up to 7 million cells per month. Tesla also recently begun manufacturing in Shanghai for the Model Y, which is expected to be the U.S. carmaker’s best-selling car in the People’s Republic, moving an estimated 30.000 units per month. First deliveries for China-made Model Y crossovers will reportedly begin early next year. +++