AD #3743 - Weak Yen Turbocharges Japan's Profits; UAW Wants Higher Tariffs on Chinese Cars; China's EV Sales Slow Dramatically

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EV sales in China slowed dramatically last month. While they were up on a

year over year basis, beevs fell more than forty six percent compared to December.

The entire new energy vehicle sector, which includes phebs, was down almost thirty nine percent month over month. In fact, anyv's lost eight percentage points

of market share in the overall Chinese market, including Tesla, who lost nearly a point of share. Even exports of nyvs were down seven percent over forty.

Brands have cut prices in China to stay competitive, and this drop in sales will likely increase the pressure to cut prices even more. The growth in

EV sales has also slowed in the US and Europe, and we'll need to see if this drop in China is just a blip or a sign that the EV market is starting to plateau. The UAW is worried about Chinese car companies

coming into the US market via Mexico as a way to avoid US import tariffs.

Vehicles imported from China are slapped with a twenty seven and a half percent tariff but vehicles imported from Mexico are only hit with a two and a half percent tariff, So the UAW is calling on the Biden administration to raise tariffs on vehicles and parts because it says the current tariff isn't strict enough to force companies to comply with the US Mexico Canada trade Agreement. The USMCA, the

Office of the US Trade Representative and the Interagency Committee on Trade in Automotive Goods, is currently reviewing the USMCA and is expected to submit its results to Congress by July first. Japanese auto makers are reporting their latest financial earnings, and

they must be popping champagne in Tokyo. Toyota expects to post an operating profit

of thirty three billion dollars for its fiscal year, which is nine percent better than an originally forecast. Honda expects to post an eight point four billion dollar

profit, four percent higher than expected. Subaru saw profit shoot up seventy nine

percent in the last quarter, and it says this will be its best fiscal year ever. And even though Nissan's profits were lower than analysts expected last quarter,

they were up six percent. While antiev critics say that Japanese are doing

so well because they haven't invested heavily in electric vehicles. There's really two other

reasons as well. First, car sales are up as the industry recovers from

the chip shortage. But the big reason is that the Japanese yen has weakened

so much. It's down thirty percent over the last three years versus the US

dollar and down fourteen percent in the last year alone. The Bank of Japan

actually has negative interest rates, which makes holding onto the yen extremely undesirable, and that weakness is turbo charging the earnings at most Japanese companies. During its

earnings call earlier this week, Ford revealed that it expects to save two billion dollars this year through lower freight costs, manufacturing improvements, and more efficient designs.

Ford COO kumark Alhotra shared some of those examples, and he says for one of its vehicle lines, the company is using arrow shields for fuel economy, and engineers came up with a way to achieve the same arrow and saved forty dollars per vehicle, which is equivalent to ten million dollars a year in savings. The company is also ditching an automated parallel parking feature. Because it's

connected, vehicle data shows that very few customers are using it. That will

save Ford sixty dollars per vehicle, or another ten million bucks a year.

Renault teased an all new compact family suv that it's going to launch this spring, called the Symbios, slotting just below the austral Suv. The Symbios will

offer a strong hybrid powertrain setup with a one hundred and forty five horse power engine, and the only other information it's releasing right now is that the Symbios will feature a new generation glass roof which can automatically change the level of tint.

Even though Paris voted to triple parking fees for SUVs earlier this week, they're becoming more and more popular in Europe. For the first time ever.

SUVs were the number one body style last year, accounting for fifty one percent of sales. More than six point six million SUVs were sold in twenty twenty

three, a nineteen percent gained from the year before, and that outpaced the overall European car market, which was up fourteen percent. The Tesla Model Y

was the best selling vehicle last year and evs overall are helping to grow the suv segment. B EV's accounted for forty eight percent of premium mid size suv

sales and forty seven percent of mass market mid size suv sales. Pougeau had

a good sales year in twenty twenty three. Worldwide, it registered more than

one point one million vehicles, an increase of six percent compared to twenty twenty two. We're also getting an idea of its electrification efforts in Europe. B

EV in PEBS made up eighteen percent of its sales last year, and the Stilantis Group as a whole is continuing that momentum into twenty twenty four. Without

citing specific numbers, Stilanti says in January it increased its sales in Europe by over seventeen and a half percent compared to last year, which increased its market share by almost a full percentage point. Its EV sales are also growing in

Europe, with volumes up twenty percent, and the company expects to double its all electric model offering in Europe by the end of the year. And in

one more bit of Stilantis news, it's finally throwing a bone to launch youa.

The brand is getting its first new model in over a decade. It's

an all new version of the Epsilon, which is the only model in its lineup. The current version, the third gen of the car, came out

in twenty eleven and has had two facelifts in its time. While the all

new four gen is still compact in size, it looks more like a crossover and rides on a platform that's new to Lancia called Common Modular Platform. It

was jointly developed with Stalantis's Chinese joint venture partner, Dong Fung and is used for other models like the Fiat six hundred E and Jeep Avenger. It allows

for a mixed powertrain setup, but Lancia is only showing off an all electric version right now. It's a limited edition example of the new Epsilon that will

be held to just over nineteen hundred units. We don't know the battery size,

but the WLTP range is three hundred and ninety four to four hundred and three kilometers or two hundred and forty four to two hundred and fifty miles.

We also don't know when it will go on sale, but Lancia is going to hold a live stream for the new Epsilon on Valentine's Day? Say,

what's this talk about four doing a low cost EV? Did Kyle Vote lie

to Mary Barr about what was going on at GM Cruise. We'll China enter

the US market through Mexico Plus. With the slowdown in EV sales, our

pehbs going to look a lot more attractive. Those are some of the topics

we'll be getting into on Auto Line after hours later today, we'll have Michael Robinette from S and P Global, To Lee from Sino Auto Insights, and David Welch from Bloomberg coming on, so don't miss out. That brings us

to the end of this show. Thanks for tuning in. Auto Line Daily

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AD #3743 - Weak Yen Turbocharges Japan's Profits; UAW Wants Higher Tariffs on Chinese Cars; China's EV Sales Slow Dramatically

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