+++ The Senate Finance Committee is launching an investigation into whether major automakers such as Ford, General Motors and Tesla are using parts made with forced labor from the Xinjiang region of CHINA . “Unless due diligence confirms that components are not linked to forced labor, automakers cannot and should not sell cars in the United States that include components mined or produced in Xinjiang”, Senator Ron Wyden, the committee’s chair, wrote in letters sent Thursday. “The United States considers the Chinese government’s brutal oppression of Uyghurs in Xinjiang an ‘ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity’ ”. The letters, which were also sent to about half a dozen automakers including General Motors, Ford and Stellantis, follows a report from the UK’s Sheffield Hallam University that found links between Chinese companies operating in Xinjiang and the import of parts from automakers that include batteries, wiring and wheels, Wyden’s office said. Representatives from General Mototd, Ford and Stellantis had no immediate reply to a request for comment. The committee’s investigation comes amid increasing scrutiny about companies’ ties to China’s Xinjiang region where the U.S. has accused China of requiring hundreds of thousands of detainees (mostly Uyghur Muslims or other minorities) to work against their will. Beijing has denied those allegations. Under the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, the U.S. government assumes anything made even partially in the Chinese manufacturing hub of Xinjiang is produced with forced labor and can’t be imported into America. Companies can win exemptions if they are able to provide “clear and convincing evidence” the goods are free of force. +++
+++ While many believe that ELECTRIC vehicles are the future, a number of automotive executives are less confident in the adoption of EVs now than they were last year. An annual global auto survey recently conducted by KPMG analyzed the views of more than 900 automotive executives. These executives believe that the EVs sold globally will likely account for between 10 and 40 percent of the total vehicle market by 2030, a fall from the 20-70 percent share they had estimated in last year’s survey. In the United States, automotive executives believe EVs will account for 35 percent of new vehicle sales by 2030, a sharp drop from their estimation of 65 percent just 12 months ago. “A year ago, automotive executives sensed a change was coming and the future was theirs to seize”, KPMG International Global Head of Automotive, Gary Silberg said. “In the latest survey, translated into 20 languages, more than 900 executives in 30 countries remain optimistic, but the mood is tempered by realism”. KPGM’s survey discovered significant declines in the estimates of EV penetration in markets including India, Brazil and Japan. This is because of infrastructure challenges in India, a focus on alternative fuels in Brazil, and Japanese car manufacturers prioritizing hybrid vehicles and exploring those powered by hydrogen. Interestingly, the survey also discovered that 82 percent of automotive executives believe that in the next 10 years, EVs can be adopted widely without subsidies and that they will be able to achieve cost parity with ICE vehicles without government assistance. “You can be long-term optimistic, but near term, you’ve got to be very realistic”, Silberg added. “It’s not rainbows and butterflies and euphoria anymore, it’s game on”. Executives believe that Tesla will remain the EV leader in 2030 but the likes of Audi, BMW, Ford, Honda and BYD are expected to close the gap. The survey also revealed that executives believe Apple could become the 4th most prolific producer of electric vehicles in 2030. +++
+++ MERCEDES has issued 2 separate recalls just before Christmas, but fortunately for the car manufacturer, relatively few vehicles are involved. The first recall impacts 11 Mercedes-AMG GT 53 4-Door and GT 63 4-Door vehicles, more specifically 1 unit of the former and 10 examples of the latter that were manufactured between May 24, 2018 and March 4, 2019. A safety recall report reveals that the front center console storage compartment of these models might not meet safety requirements that necessitate interior compartment doors must remain closed when subjected to specific forces. Mercedes-Benz has revealed that during a frontal crash, the sliding lid of the front center console compartment may inadvertently open. While it remains open for just a few milliseconds before closing again, it still needs to be fixed. Dealerships will resolve the issue by simply replacing the front center console storage compartment. Owners will be notified on February 14, 2023. The second recall involves 69 units in total, including select 2021-2022 Mercedes-Benz GLE 350, GLE 450, 2022 Mercedes-AMG GLE 53, GLE 63 and GLS 450 models. These vehicles were built between July 22, 2021 and May 26, 2022. In this case, vehicles may have a steering coupling locking screw that might not be tightened to the specific torque value. This could lead to free play in the connection and driving vibrations may lead to the steering coupling detaching from the steering shaft, impairing the ability to steer and increasing the risk of a crash. Mercedes-Benz is not aware of any warranty claims, field or service reports, nor injuries related to the defect in the United States. The issue will be fixed by Mercedes-Benz dealerships replacing the steering coupling locking screw on the affected vehicles. +++
+++ Chinese electric car company NIO has revealed the new EC7 as a luxury-focused SUV-coupé with a lounge-style interior, advanced cabin technology and a range of nearly 1.000 km. Revealed at the firm’s annual NIO Day presentation, the Audi Q8 e-Tron Sportback rival is essentially a more rakish version of the recently revealed ES7 and will follow that car into Chinese showrooms from May 2023. NIO chairman William Li made no mention of plans for a European launch at its unveiling, but the brand recently arrived in the market with the ES7 (sold as EL7 outside of China) and ET5 and ET7 saloons, so it’s highly possible this new addition will come here, too. NIO has pledged to start selling cars in the UK by the end of 2023, but so far has committed only to bringing the ET5 here alongside another unnamed model. The EC7 is billed as a high-performance and luxurious proposition with a ‘living room’ interior and some of the most advanced software and hardware on the market – including a roof-mounted lidar device and 32 ‘high-precision’ sensors for Level 4 autonomous driving. It rides on the same platform as the ES7 and measures 4.968 mm long, 1.974 mm wide and 2/960 mm between the wheels. Those dimensions line it up neatly against other mid-sized electric SUVs including the Q8 e-Tron, BMW iX and the upcoming Polestar 3. That means the EC7 also gets the same 650 hp, 840 Nm twin-motor, 4-wheeldrive powertrain and sprints from 0-100 kph in just 3.8 seconds; slightly quicker than the ES7 thanks to its aero-optimised design. NIO actually claims the EC7 is the world’s most aerodynamically efficient SUV, with a drag coefficient of 0.23. The carmaker highlights airflow-optimising features like the active front grille shutter and active spoiler, in addition to its sloping roof. Its slipperiness means the EC7 offers extremely competitive range figures. Equipped with the entry-level 75 kWh battery, Nio claims the EC7 will travel 500 km per charge, and that rises to 640 km with the larger 100 kWh unit. But it’s the top-rung 150 kWh battery pack that nets a headline maximum range figure of 920 km, which in theory makes this one of the longest-legged EVs in production. Though, importantly, these figures are all based on China’s CLTC homologation cycle, which tends to give higher readings than Europe’s WLTP system. If it launched today, that would easily be the largest battery on sale in Europe and larger than the Audi Q8 e-Tron 55’s 118 kWh. However, it’s still quite a way off the GMC Hummer’s estimated 200 kWh. The comparable Lucid Air saloon boasts a 118 kWh for a maximum range of 830 km per charge. As with all other NIO models, the EC7 is compatible with the brand’s Power Swap battery changing stations, which offer much faster refills than chargers. The new third-generation Power Swap station, revealed alongside the EC7, houses 21 batteries at a time and can handle more than 400 swaps per day. +++
+++ SSANGYONG will operate under a new name, KG Mobility, its new chief has said, in a move signaling a new chapter in the company’s decadeslong history marked by long restructuring efforts. Kwak Jea-sun, new chairman of SsangYong, said he will seek approval for the proposed name change at a shareholders’ meeting in March next year. “The name, SsangYong, has a fandom, but also has a painful image. SsangYong’s new cars will come out in the world as ‘KG,’ and its history will not change and have the same conditions”. Kwak said at an event hosted by the Korea Automobile Journalists Association on Wednesday. Kwak is the chairman of KG Group, a chemical-to-steel company that led a consortium that acquired a 62-percent stake in SsangYong following court approval of its debt rescheduling plans in August. KG Group’s takeover of SsangYong helped the carmaker exit the court-led, 18-month debt restructuring in November. SsangYong underwent 2 previous rounds of court receivership over the past 2 decades amid a lack of interest from buyers and unfavorable market conditions. It will mark the first name change for SsangYong since 1998. SsangYong started in 1954 under a different name, before being renamed Dong-A Motor in 1977 and Ssangyong in 1986 upon the takeover by the now-dismantled SsangYong Group. +++
+++ The impact of Elon Musk buying Twitter on TESLA is getting scarier for investors. For the third time, after saying in April that he had “no further Tesla sales planned,” filings made on Wednesday revealed Musk sold 22 million more shares of Tesla, valued some $3.6 billion. That brings the total amount of Tesla stock that Musk has sold this year to $23 billion. Just a few days ago, Musk promised that in the long haul, Tesla would benefit from his ownership of Twitter. But there’s growing skepticism from analysts that will happen. Dan Ives at Wedbush wrote in a report on Thursday that Twitter remains a nightmare for investors because Musk has been using “Tesla as his own ATM machine to keep funding” the social network. Tesla’s falling electric vehicle sales as countries around the world face their own recessions amid the ongoing fall out of the pandemic isn’t necessarily a shock. But it does present a problem for Tesla and its owner, who continues to use its shares to fund his refashioning of Twitter for his ventures to build out ’the everything app’ that he refers to under the name “X”. Ultimately, Elon promised Tesla shareholders they’d benefit from Twitter. He also promised he wouldn’t sell any more Tesla stock. It’s up to Tesla investors to decide whether he plans to keep his promise. “Elon is Tesla’s brand. He needs to pull it together”, Loup Ventures’ Gene Munster told earlier this week. Some, like major Tesla shareholder KoGuan Leo, have gone so far as to suggest that Musk has “abandoned” his duties at the carmaker, and called for a new CEO to replace him. Meanwhile, Insider has reported on a slate of problems for Twitter that include: advertisers that have suspended their activity on the platform; the failure of Elon’s reimagined Twitter Blue; growing concern around the rise of bigotry on the platform; and Elon’s troubling political tweets that seem to be adding to the non-stop swirl of controversy around the company. In his note to clients, Ives maintained an outperform rating for Tesla, indicating that he expects Tesla’s rate of return to do better than its peers despite signs that it won’t be the best performer in the batch. Munster, for his part, further admonished that Elon would cause long-term damage if he does nothing about the number of issues arising from the billionaire’s purchase of Twitter. The broader market is also worried. Tesla’s stock has dropped 31% since Musk bought Twitter at the end of October. When you track how the stock has held up since Musk’s offer to buy Twitter in mid-April, it’s down 52%. It should be noted that tech stocks lost trillions of dollars in value this year due to a drop in consumer demand, inflation, and the overall market correction from the astronomical multiples seen the year before. Tesla faces other issues besides Musk’s Twitter problems. The company is no longer the main electric car maker on the block in multiple countries. Since new entrants have carved out their own market share and traditional automakers have successfully launched a series of hybrids and their own EV models, Tesla has seen a rise in competition in the US, China, and parts of Europe. It was only earlier this month that Bloomberg reported that Tesla was slashing some of its production output in China by 20% to 30%, a sign that the reality of sales didn’t live up to what they were projected to be. It’s been also reported that the EV maker lowered the cost of its cars in China in an attempt to boost sales. It worked, but Tesla ultimately lost out to its Chinese competition, BYD. “More activism and growing investor frustration will force the Board of Tesla to confront some of these issues head on in the near-term. This is a moment of truth for Musk and Tesla”, wrote Ives. +++
+++ VOLKSWAGEN plans to reduce the number of shifts at its Wolfsburg factory in January. A Volkswagen spokesman said the work stoppage would affect the late shift in Golf production for assembly line 3 and other adjacent areas from January 9 through January 27. The body shop, paint shop and other adjacent areas will be affected on a pro rata basis, he said, while the holding areas and maintenance necessary to supply the plant are excluded from the measure. The reasons for the stoppages are the Covid-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine, which has disrupted supply chains. Earlier this month, VW brand chief Thomas Schäfer said in plant is building well under 400.000 cars a year, less than half its capacity, because of “flat-out chaos” in the supply chain. The plant employs about 60.000 workers building combustion engine models including the Golf, Tiguan and Touran. VW is adding production of 2 full-electric models at the factory: the ID3 and a Tiguan-sized EV. +++
