AD #4106 - Chinese EV Sales Recover in Europe; Commercial EV Sales Soar in U.S.; Investors Give Thumbs Down to Auto Suppliers and Dealers

Speaker 1: This is out Aline Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry. Europe slapped import tariffs on

Chinese EV's to try and slow them down, but Chinese EV market share is nearly packed to its pre tariff levels.

It reached a record eleven point one percent in June of last year, but that soon tumbled after the EU and POST tariffs as high as thirty five percent on Chinese made evs. Yet this June their market share recovered

to ten point six percent according to Data Force. Overall,

Chinese brands registered just under twenty two thousand evs in Europe in June, up fourteen percent from a year ago.

Not surprisingly, BYD is the top Chinese brand with over niney one hundred registrations in June.

Speaker 2: MG followed with sixty six hundred.

Speaker 1: But then it's a big drop to Japung in third, which registered seventeen hundred eves.

Speaker 2: Uh oh is.

Speaker 1: This assigned Europe's economy could be in trouble. Sales of

commercial vehicles tumbled in the first half of the year.

According to the European Automobile Manufacturers Association or ACEA, commercial van sales were down thirteen percent, and medium and heavy duty trucks dropped about fifteen percent.

Speaker 2: But there was one bright spot.

Speaker 1: Bus sales were up four percent, and while IC was down, commercial BEEV.

Speaker 2: And p HAVE sales were up strong.

Speaker 1: Electric vans were up forty seven percent, electric trucks increased by forty eight percent, and EV buses were up thirty eight percent. In the US, commercial EV sales are going

strong too. According to S and P Global Mobility, electric

class three through eight vehicles soared two hundred and seventy four percent to just under twenty five thousand units for a one year period that ended at the.

Speaker 2: End of May.

Speaker 1: Class two evs also saw a big gain, up sixty nine percent to more than four hundred and seventeen thousand units. Meanwhile,

passenger EVY registrations totaled more than six hundred and ninety four thousand units, down two percent over the same time period.

Oil production is on the rise. Exxon's global oil and

natural gas output reached the equivalent of four point six million barrels a day, which is more oil than it has produced in any second quarter since it acquired Mobile twenty five years ago, and Chevron's production in the second quarter was up three percent to an all time high of three point four million barrels a day. That increase

helped the oil giants beat estimates from Wall Street analysts who expected lower earnings due to slumping oil prices. Stillantis

is shaking up its design department under new CEO oh Antonio Filosa. The company previously had two chief designers, one

in North America and another in Europe, but now it will have one Chief design Officer, a role that was given to Ralph Gields, and then regional design heads who will operate under Jilds. Last week it announced that Jils

Vidal will head up regional design in Europe, and it just revealed that Scott Krueger will be in charge of Chrysler Dodge, Jeep and RAM in North America. Krueger has

been with the company for twenty four years and most recently managed all exterior design for Dodge and SRT. Both

regional designers will work closely with Ralph Shields, but they report directly to the Chief Operating Officer of the respective regions and will note that Antonio Filosa is also the COO of North America. While a number of battery makers

have been making headlines recently, CTL actually grew its global share of e TV batteries slightly through the first five months of the year. It now controls just over thirty

eight percent of that market, an increase of just over half a percent. So it's not surprising that COTL also

reported an increase in its battery shipments in its first half results. It shipped a little over one hundred and

fifty gigawatt hours of batteries through June, an increase of about nine and a half percent. That helped the company

generate just over twenty five billion dollars of revenue, up over seven percent, and finish with a net profit of roughly four point two billion, an increase of about thirty three percent. While EV batteries still make up over seventy

percent of cotl's total sales, it also expanded into other areas like stationary storage in battery swapping, Honda is getting into stationary storage devices as well, but instead.

Speaker 2: Of batteries, it's using fuel cells.

Speaker 1: However, these aren't units that you attached to the side of your garage. They're quite big and are capable of

powering entire buildings. In a new demonstration project, Honda installed

one of these fuel cell storage units in Japan to supply electricity to a data center operated by a division of Mitsubishi. What makes this project a little unique is

that Honda will get its hydrogen from a nearby saltwater electrolysis plant, where hydrogen is a natural byproduct. Each unit

is capable of generating up to two hundred and fifty kilowatts of power. Up to four units can be connected

in series for a total output of one thousand kilowats, and then multiple sets of those four units can be hooked up in parallel for even more power, so they can even be used when the power goes out, or as an off grid solution.

Speaker 3: Performance that shines even in the rain. That's what really matters.

Rich don't pretends to tires improved grip in wet conditions.

Speaker 1: For the last week, we've been reporting on the second quarter earnings of automakers, and without exception, every one of them reported lower profits and pretty much all of them blamed the tariffs. But how are the other parts of

the industry doing, Like automotive.

Speaker 2: Suppliers and dealers.

Speaker 1: Let's take a look at three suppliers, borg Warner, Magna and Aptive, who just reported their earnings.

Speaker 2: Borg Warner's revenue was about the same.

Speaker 1: As last year, but its net income dropped twenty six percent.

Speaker 2: It expects the second half to.

Speaker 1: Be better based on new orders for more turbochargers and hybrid technology from automakers in the Americas in Europe, while in China it expects more orders of inverters, electric motors, and evy differentials. Investors liked what they heard, and the

stock was up almost two percent. Magna saw its revenue

fall three percent because it phased out assembly of the Jaguar Epace and Eepace at its dire assembly plant in Austria, but its net profit shot up twenty one percent, exceeding the company's own expectations. Profits rose thanks to higher productivity,

but also because the US dollar weekened, and as Magna converted sales that were conducted in foreign currency back into dollars, it ended up with more dollars. Even so, it stock

dropped two point seven percent.

Speaker 2: This week.

Speaker 1: Active saw its sales rise three percent, though if you take out the effects of the weaker dollar, it was really up two percent, while it posted record operating profits.

Aptive's net profit fell fifty eight percent, and it warns that the third quarter will be slightly worse due to the US tariffs. It stock dropped over five percent on

the news, so it's kind of a mixed bag for suppliers, or at least these suppliers. Now, let's take a look

at the retailers. Automations sold over sixty five thousand vehicles

in the second quarter, up nearly eight percent from last year.

Its revenues also rose eight percent to almost seven billion dollars, but its operating and net profits both fell dramatically due to several charges that it had to take. Even though

those were non cash charges and the underlying business is healthy, investors didn't like the numbers, and the stock is down six percent this week. Penske Automotive sold over one hundred

and twelve six hundred vehicles, but that was down eleven percent, mainly because of a drop in the UK, but US sales were down as well. Revenue was flat at seven

point six billion dollars, but both operating profit and net income were up four percent. Even so, investors didn't like

the numbers, and the stock is down more than four percent this week. Meanwhile, Carvana, which only sells used cars

using a direct sales model, had a fantastic quarter. It

sold over one hundred and forty three thousand vehicles, up forty one percent. Revenue hit four point eight billion, up

forty two percent, Its operating profit hit five hundred and eleven million dollars up ninety seven percent, and its net profit shot up five times to three hundred.

Speaker 2: And eight million.

Speaker 1: Investors loved the news and the stocks shot up forty two percent this week. So what can we read into

all these numbers? With the exception of Carvana and borg Warner,

investors pretty much gave the thumbs down to suppliers and retailers.

But that's a wrap for this show. Thanks for tuning in,

and I hope that you have a great weekend.

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AD #4106 - Chinese EV Sales Recover in Europe; Commercial EV Sales Soar in U.S.; Investors Give Thumbs Down to Auto Suppliers and Dealers

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