AD #3857 - Auto Industry Has Rough Quarter; Volvo Backs Off EV-Only Mandate; Cariad Can't Keep Up with China
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Speaker 1: This is Auderling Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of Speaker 1: the global automotive industry. More automakers are reporting their latest
Speaker 1: earnings and the results are all over the map. Let's
Speaker 1: start with Stilantis. It saw a big drop off in
Speaker 1: the first half of the year, which is the only Speaker 1: thing we have to go by since Stilantis does not Speaker 1: report quarterly results. It delivered two point nine million vehicles worldwide,
Speaker 1: which was ten percent lower than a year ago. That
Speaker 1: generated eighty five billion euros in revenue, down fourteen percent, Speaker 1: and its operating profit plummeted forty percent to eight point Speaker 1: four billion euros. Stilantis has big problems in North America.
Speaker 1: It used to be the most profitable part of the company, Speaker 1: and it's lost a string of top executives. Renault is
Speaker 1: another company that only reports results every six months. It
Speaker 1: sold one point one million vehicles worldwide, up one point Speaker 1: nine percent. That generated almost twenty seven billion euros in revenue,
Speaker 1: up a fraction, but its operating profit dropped by more Speaker 1: than nine percent to one point eight billion euros. One
Speaker 1: reason Renault's profit is down is because it lost four Speaker 1: hundred and forty million euros selling off shares that it Speaker 1: owns a Nissan, which is part of their new agreement Speaker 1: that both companies hold equal shares in each other. Nissan
Speaker 1: had a disastrous quarter. While it sold seven hundred and
Speaker 1: eighty seven thousand vehicles, about the same as a year Speaker 1: ago and its revenue was up two point seven percent, Speaker 1: its operating profit plummeted ninety nine percent to only six Speaker 1: point four million dollars. Even more ominous, Nissans sent a
Speaker 1: warning to shareholders that it's lowering its forecast for this Speaker 1: fiscal year because it expects its vehicle sales and profits Speaker 1: to drop significantly. Meanwhile, Ford sold one point one million
Speaker 1: vehicles worldwide over the last three months, up two percent Speaker 1: from a year ago. That generated forty eight point seven
Speaker 1: billion dollars in revenue, up six point three percent, but Speaker 1: its operating income dropped twenty three percent to one point Speaker 1: eight billion dollars, mainly because it had to set aside Speaker 1: more money for warranty work on its vehicles. If Ford
Speaker 1: can ever get its warranty issues under control, its finances Speaker 1: would look a whole lot better. The Hyundai Motor Company
Speaker 1: had a pretty good second quarter, even though sales dipped Speaker 1: three percent to a million. The company posted thirty two
Speaker 1: point six billion dollars in revenue, up six point six percent, Speaker 1: and its operating profit of three billion dollars, which was Speaker 1: up two point three percent, was a record for the quarter.
Speaker 2: So there you have it.
Speaker 1: Not a very good quarter for the industry so far, Speaker 1: especially considering Tesla's forty five percent drop in pers The Speaker 1: one bright spot is GM, which posted some decent numbers, Speaker 1: But we'll have to wait until more automakers like Volkswagen, Toyota, Mercedes, Speaker 1: and BMW report their earnings to get a better idea Speaker 1: of what's really going on in the industry.
Speaker 3: Michigan is leading the charge in mobility and innovation, and Speaker 3: I can't think of a better state to bm.
Speaker 1: You might have heard us talk about this in the past, Speaker 1: but Honda's E clutch technology for motorcycles that was originally Speaker 1: released in Europe is now making its way to the US, Speaker 1: available on the CB six fifty R and it's sportier Speaker 1: looking sibling, the CBR six fifty R. The rider no
Speaker 1: longer has to pull the clutch lever on the handlebars Speaker 1: to operate the manual transmission. Instead, you just hit the
Speaker 1: foot lever up or down to change the gears. An
Speaker 1: actuator unit on top of the transmission houses two electric Speaker 1: motors that are used to operate the clutch, while the Speaker 1: system also controls ignition, timing and fuel injection to make Speaker 1: the shifts as smooth as possible, or you can just Speaker 1: shut off the system completely for full control. While it's
Speaker 1: only offered on the two bikes, which range in starting Speaker 1: price from about nine four hundred dollars to nearly ten grand, Speaker 1: Honda says the clutch and transmission hardware are not different Speaker 1: from other motorcycles, so there's a lot more applications. And
Speaker 1: speaking of Honda, it's slashing its production output in China Speaker 1: by nearly three hundred thousand units. It currently has the
Speaker 1: capacity to make about one and a half million vehicles, Speaker 1: but it's closing one plant with GAC and is pausing Speaker 1: production at another with dong Fong. However, it might be
Speaker 1: able to make up for that loss production pretty fastn Speaker 1: that is building new EV plants with both GAC and Speaker 1: dong Fung that will have the capacity to make around Speaker 1: two hundred and forty thousand electrics, and the aim is Speaker 1: to have both up and running before the end of Speaker 1: the year. Toyota is considering implementing a four day work
Speaker 1: week for its office employees in Japan. Last year, Toyota
Speaker 1: set sales and production records, but achieving that resulted in Speaker 1: overworked employees, overstretched suppliers, and quality issues at several of Speaker 1: its subsidiaries. So CEO Coogsato ordered a review of Toyota's
Speaker 1: practices to help streamline its workflow, and the four day Speaker 1: work week is one of the ideas it's considering. The
Speaker 1: automaker is currently negotiating with the workers union and the Speaker 1: plan could be implemented by the end of this year, Speaker 1: but it won't apply to production workers and it might Speaker 1: not be as good as it sounds. Employees will have
Speaker 1: to make up that extra day off by adding more Speaker 1: hours somewhere else in the week. And here's why Volkswagen's
Speaker 1: Cariad unit partnered with a Chinese tech company because it Speaker 1: only took Horizon Robotics two years to do what Cariad Speaker 1: couldn't do in five years. The autonomous and software division
Speaker 1: of VW has struggled with development, which has led to Speaker 1: delays of several models and even a new EV platform.
Speaker 1: So in twenty twenty two, VW and Cariad partnered with Speaker 1: China's Horizon Robotics on developing self driving tech, and yesterday Speaker 1: they showed a video of a Vwid four driving autonomously Speaker 1: using Horizon system through the pouring rain on streets in China.
Speaker 1: This is not a production model, but no doubt VW's Speaker 1: working as fast as possible to implement it into future models.
Speaker 1: A lot of automakers have backed off their EV targets Speaker 1: recently because demand is slumping, and now Volvo is the latest.
Speaker 1: The automaker was aiming to be an EV only brand Speaker 1: by the end of the decade, but CEO Jim Rowans Speaker 1: says it's going to take quote time to bridge different Speaker 1: parts of the world for full electrification. He says Volvos
Speaker 1: hybrids and plug in hybrids will be that bridge, so Speaker 1: it will continue to invest in them. Automotive News also
Speaker 1: reports that Volvo's US dealers believe they'll continue selling hybrids Speaker 1: well after twenty thirty, and Cadillac is making a similar Speaker 1: change in its strategy as well. It was also planning
Speaker 1: an EV only era after twenty thirty, but it hinted Speaker 1: that it will keep ices around. It still plans to
Speaker 1: have an all electric version of all of its models Speaker 1: by the end of the decade, but Cadillac says EV's Speaker 1: and ices will quote coexist for a number of years Speaker 1: in its lineup, and circling back to Volvo, the company Speaker 1: says it will no longer share the gross margins for Speaker 1: its vehicles. Volvo began disclose using them two years ago
Speaker 1: to show that it could get price parity with evs Speaker 1: and ICs. In the second quarter of this year, Volvo's
Speaker 1: EVS reached a gross margin of twenty percent compared to Speaker 1: twenty three percent for its ices, But now that it's Speaker 1: introducing more evs to its lineup, Valvo says it won't Speaker 1: reveal its vehicle gross margins because it doesn't want its Speaker 1: competition to have that information. Chinese automakers continue to expand globally.
Speaker 1: Saic announced that it just received its second car carrier ship.
Speaker 1: It can transport seven thousand, six hundred vehicles and is Speaker 1: powered by LNG fuel, which reduces its carbon emissions by Speaker 1: thirty percent. Saic's logistics subsidiary that operates the ship is
Speaker 1: projecting that it will transport a million vehicles overseas a Speaker 1: year by twenty twenty six. Gili is also expanding quickly
Speaker 1: outside of China. The automaker revealed that it hit an
Speaker 1: overseas sales record of more than one hundred and ninety Speaker 1: seven thousand vehicles in the first half of the year, Speaker 1: which was up a whopping sixty seven percent. Because of
Speaker 1: that success, it also raised its full year overseas sales Speaker 1: target by another fifty thousand to three hundred and eighty Speaker 1: thousand vehicles. Jeely now has more than six hundred and
Speaker 1: fifty sales and service outlets and seventy six countries across Speaker 1: the globe. That brings us to the end of this show,
Speaker 1: and thanks for tuning in, but I hope to see Speaker 1: you at three pm Eastern Time for Autuline After Hours.
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