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Tag: Auto

  • BMW Warns Of Pandemic Risks As Third-Quarter Profit Rebounds

    BMW Warns Of Pandemic Risks As Third-Quarter Profit Rebounds

    BMW’s third-quarter profit rose almost 10% thanks to Chinese demand for luxury cars, but the German automaker warned a new wave of coronavirus infections sweeping Europe and the United States posed a “considerable” risk to its business. Sales of luxury models such as the 8 series and X7 helped the carmaker reach a new sales record in the quarter, but the cautious outlook sent BMW shares lower on Wednesday.

    “After a more stable phase in the economic environment in the third quarter, the pandemic is now clearly regaining momentum,” BMW said.

    “If the pandemic takes an even more serious course and the global economy experiences a perceptible downturn, the risk exposure could be considerable, particularly on the demand side.”

    The growing importance of China led BMW to abandon its strategy of seeking “balanced sales across all continents”. BMW shares were down 1% at 1112 GMT, underperforming Germany’s blue-chip DAX index. Like rival Mercedes, BMW’s pretax profit recovered in the third quarter, rising 9.6% to 2.46 billion euros ($2.87 billion), lifted by an 8.6% increase in deliveries.

    The automotive EBIT (earnings before interest and tax) margin rebounded to 6.7%, from minus 10.4% in the second quarter and 6.6% a year earlier.

    “BMW beat mostly on earnings quality with auto margin recovering to year-ago level,” Jefferies analyst Philippe Houchois said, pointing to prudent cost management, lower R&D spending and a rebound in demand from China.

    But after the pandemic-related hit in the spring, BMW still expects overall deliveries of high-end vehicles and group pretax profit this year to be significantly lower than last year.

    Deliveries of BMW and Mini-branded vehicles rose 8.6% in the third quarter, mainly thanks to a 31% spike in China, which helped offset a 15.7% drop in demand in the United States, where the pandemic has hit sales hard.

    The growing importance of China led BMW to abandon its strategy of seeking “balanced sales across all continents”.

    “We don’t like to refer to it as a dependency (on China). What is happening is a natural adjustment,” Chief Executive Oliver Zipse told reporters on a conference call.

    “If we speak about dependencies, we are dependent on our customers,” he said, noting China has a higher population than both Europe and the United States.

    China accounted for 34% of all BMW Group’s new car deliveries in the third quarter, followed by Germany on 13% and the United States on 12%. Zipse also said BMW would come to terms with whoever wins the U.S. presidential election. “Naturally it is in everybody’s interest that there is an unambiguous result,” he added.

    Expecting global demand for premium cars to drop by more than 10% this year, the Munich-based company is adjusting its production footprint. Manufacturing of the BMW X1 and Mini Countryman will be phased out at Dutch contract manufacturer VDL Nedcar, with production moved to BMW plants, Zipse said. The company is also preparing to introduce a new vehicle architecture in 2025, developed to build mainly electric and digitally connected vehicles, he added.

    BMW reiterated it expected to achieve an automotive EBIT margin of 0%-3% this year.

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  • The Layout Of Tesla’s Nevada Gigafactory

    The Layout Of Tesla’s Nevada Gigafactory

    Tesla’s famous Nevada Gigafactory has been under construction for three years but it has only been completed 30 percent. It is one of the key strategic assets for Tesla to secure battery cell supply. In fact, some of the space in the Gigafactory was reserved for Panasonic as the leading electric car maker had partnered with the Japanese company. Panasonic is said to deploy a new battery cell production capacity at the facility which Tesla will use to build battery packs for its vehicles and Powerwall products.

    Originally, the plant was to produce 105GWh battery cells per year and 150GWh of battery packs per year. This would’ve made this Gigafactory the largest building in the world. But this hasn’t happened as both Tesla and Panasonic have just used up 30 percent of the space and focussed its energies on optimizing the current production facility. Panasonic’s Celina Mikolajczak, its Vice President for battery technology in North America has revealed what the future expansions are in-store for the Gigafactory. Mikolajczak was actually formerly at Tesla where she was an expert in batteries and technical leaders in the development and validation of lithium-ion batteries.

    Mikolajczak has released a slide that shows the plan for the future sections of the Gigafactory. Panasonic currently occupies the majority of the factory, but future expansions are meant to give Tesla more manufacturing space, more battery manufacturing space for Panasonic and additional space for raw materials.Now this factory has 13 battery cell assembly lines 24 hours per day 7 days a week producing 35GWh of battery cells per year. With the extra space, the factory could top beyond the 105GWh battery cell capacity.

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  • Mercedes-Benz India Sees Positive Annual Growth Despite Challenging Situations

    Mercedes-Benz India Sees Positive Annual Growth Despite Challenging Situations

    Auto sales have been on the upswing for the last four months. While we still cannot expect any exponential growth this year, thanks to the coronavirus crisis that dampened sales for three months, automakers are expecting sales to be restored and at least inch to breakeven level for the overall year. Even luxury carmakers like Mercedes-Benz India has observed sales getting back on the growth trajectory gradually and the festive season is expected to give automakers the much-needed shot in the arm.

    Speaking to Siddharth Vinayak Patankar, Editior-In-Chief, on the latest Freewheeling with SVP webisode, Martin Schwenk, Managing Director (MD) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO)- Mercedes-Benz India said, “Overall, I think we’re back as a leader brand. Again, we’re back in a completely normal year but we have sales that are comparable to what previous years have done. Overall, we are in the stable mode now and have a good starting base for next year.”

    Now the German carmaker has also started with the local assembly of its performance AMG range in India and that’s indeed a bold move especially at a time when many plans have been put off owing to the Coronavirus crisis. In fact, the German brand is confident that AMG models do have a burgeoning market by segment standards in India making them more affordable by way of localization will help to tap a potential market. “2019 was 50 percent higher in AMG and obviously this year there is some setback as well, but AMG still is doing better than the normal segment. So performance seems to be a little bit stronger in terms of growth, but honestly, the numbers are absolutely much smaller compared to our regular models,” Schwenk added. Mercedes-AMG has launched the locally built GLC 43 Coupe in India at ₹ 76.70 lakh, ex-showroom, India.

  • Mercedes-Benz To Increase Its Share In Aston Martin

    Mercedes-Benz To Increase Its Share In Aston Martin

    Aston Martin is a celebrated British car manufacturer and the company is not in great shape financially. But in order to make the going easier, Aston Martin has announced that Mercedes-Benz will increase its stake in the company to 20 percent. In return, Mercedes-Benz will grant Aston Martin access to its latest technologies. These also include Mercedes’ technology for plug-in hybrid and fully electric vehicles. What this essentially means is that Aston Martin will reduce the cost and risk of developing its own technology for electrified vehicles and will focus on investment in other areas and expand its model portfolio.

    Lawrence Stroll, Executive Chairman of Aston Martin Lagonda, said “Today, we take another major step forward as our long-term partnership with Mercedes-Benz AG moves to another level with them becoming one of the Company’s largest shareholders. Through this newly expanded agreement, we secure access to world-class technologies to support our long-term product expansion plans, including electric and hybrid powertrains and this partnership underpins our confidence in the future.”

    Mercedes-Benz will provide technology (including powertrain architecture for a conventional, plug-in hybrid, and electric vehicles) for all product launches through 2027. Aston Martin has plans to reach 10,000 unit sales per annum by 2024/25 although there is still a long way to go, with the British company delivering just 2,752 cars so far in 2020, which is a drop of 39 percent over 2019. But a part of that can be attributed to the global corona pandemic as well. Aston Martin’s operating losses for 2020 so far stands at £229m. The company aims to have a net income of £500m with interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization added back by the mid part of the decade.

    In its recently released financial statement, Aston Martin says that the company has a plan to update its entire front-engined sports car line-up, introduce a new SUV model which will sit along-side the DBX, and launch a new range of mid-engine cars.

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  • Suzuki mulls assembling passenger cars in Vietnam

    Suzuki mulls assembling passenger cars in Vietnam

    Japanese automaker Suzuki is possible to assemble passenger cars in Vietnam in the coming time, a leader of the company says.

    Toshiyuki Takahara, general director of Suzuki Vietnam, told local media that the country is a key market for the company and it is considering assembling certain models there.

    When selecting a country for establishing a car assembly plant, Suzuki needs to take into consideration the possible sales volume, he said, but did not mention a specific target, saying it was a trade secret.

    With its current market share, it is more reason for it to import completely built unit (CBU) cars for local distribution, he added.

    Suzuki now assembles light trucks and vans in Vietnam. But all passenger cars, including four- and seven-seater, are imported from Indonesia and Thailand.

    Takahara said assembling passenger cars in the country requires huge capital investments in the production line. If the assembling depends on imported components, it would be ineffective because of increasing costs, resulting in higher car prices.

    Suzuki’s market share in Vietnam has been increasing over the past three years. It sold more than 6,800 vehicles in 2018, accounting for 2.5 percent of the market share. Last year, these numbers increased to 11,780 and 3.9 percent, correspondingly.

    The market share of Suzuki brand cars increased to 5.1 percent in the first 9 months of this year.

  • Daimler Posts Forecast-Beating Results For Q3 2020 As Demand Rebounds

    Daimler Posts Forecast-Beating Results For Q3 2020 As Demand Rebounds

    Daimler shares surged 4.5 percent on Friday after the luxury carmaker posted forecast-beating third-quarter results, buoyed by a better-than-expected rebound in sales of luxury cars in September. European car registrations rose slightly in September, the first increase this year, industry data showed on Friday, suggesting a recovery in the auto sector in some European markets where coronavirus infections were lower. Swedish truckmaker AB Volvo also posted third-quarter core earnings well above forecasts thanks to a healthy jump in orders.

    Daimler’s third-quarter earnings before interest and tax reached 3.07 billion euros ($3.59 billion), it said late on Thursday, beating the 2.14 billion euro Refinitiv consensus.

    The Stuttgart-based company is due to publish further financial details on Oct. 23 and said it would publish updated guidance for the full year at that time.

    Analysts had expected premium carmakers to benefit from a rebound in demand and welcomed Daimler’s strong cash flow during the quarter.

    “Free cash flow beat is a solid surprise,” Philippe Houchois, an analyst at Jefferies, said in a note.

    Daimler said it expected the positive momentum to continue in the fourth quarter, assuming there are no further coronavirus lockdowns.

    The COVID-19 pandemic had led to a slump in sales, pushing the company to operate losses in the first and second quarters.

    To counter losses, Daimler’s Mercedes-Benz has stopped building sedans in the United States to focus on more profitable SUVs, combined its fuel cell development with Volvo Trucks, and halted an automated development alliance with BMW..

    Earlier this month, Daimler said it will cut fixed costs, capex, and research and development spending at Mercedes-Benz by more than 20% by 2025 as part of a strategy overhaul to take the brand further upmarket.

    The move will see Mercedes-Benz, currently, the world’s top-selling premium car brand, turn its back on a decades-old strategy of chasing sales volume to focus on the industry’s most profitable segments: limousines and sport-utility vehicles.

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  • New-Generation Hyundai i20 Sketches Revealed

    New-Generation Hyundai i20 Sketches Revealed

    Hyundai Motor India Limited (HMIL) has revealed the design renderings of the new-generation Hyundai i20, which will be launched in India next month. This will be the third-generation model of the i20, with the current generation model having debuted in 2014. The new i20 is designed around the company’s theme of sensuous sportiness. Needless to say, the new-gen i20 gets a complete overhaul including a new design. The look of the car is bolder now and the stance is sportier too, with a sloping hood upfront. The cascading grille and the headlight cluster are completely new and add to the bold look. The rear too sees a complete change of design, with new boot lid and sharp looking taillights which form a ‘Z’.

    Hyundai says that the new i20 has been designed keeping four elements in mind which are proportion, architecture, design, technology. The cabin of the new i20 has been completely re-done. It is likely to be an all-black affair and get features like a digital instrument cluster, 10.25-inch touchscreen infotainment unit, flat-bottom steering with mounted controls, dual airbags, rear AC vents, charging sockets, Hyundai’s BlueLink connected car technology, and other more

    The new i20 is expected to get three engine options which include the 1.2-liter petrol, the 1.5-liter diesel and the 1.0-liter turbocharged petrol engines, similar to the ones found on other Hyundai cars. Transmission options will include both manual and automatic gearboxes. The car has already started making its way to Hyundai dealerships across the country and as we said earlier, we expect the new-generation i20 to be launched in November 2020. It will continue to go up against rivals such as the Maruti Suzuki Baleno, Tata Altroz, and the Volkswagen Polo.

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  • Tesla’s Release Of New ‘Self-Driving’ Software Closely Watched By U.S. Regulator

    Tesla’s Release Of New ‘Self-Driving’ Software Closely Watched By U.S. Regulator

    The U.S. auto safety regulator said on Thursday it was closely watching Tesla Inc’s release of a software version intended to allow its cars to drive themselves, saying it stood ready to protect the public against safety risks. Tesla on Tuesday night released a beta, or test version, of what it calls a “Full Self Driving” software upgrade to an undisclosed number of “expert, careful” drivers. The release prompted online posts by excited recipients who shared video snippets of their car driving apparently autonomously on city streets at night.

    During a Tesla earnings call on Wednesday, Chief Executive Elon Musk said the latest upgrade was planned to be widely released by the end of this year, with the system becoming more robust as it collected more data.

    “NHTSA has been briefed on Tesla’s new feature, which represents an expansion of its existing driver assistance system. The agency will monitor the new technology closely and will not hesitate to take action to protect (the) public against unreasonable risks to safety,” the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said in a statement.

    NHTSA in July said its special crash investigation team had “looked into 19 crashes involving Tesla vehicles where it was believed some form of advanced driver assistance system was engaged at the time of the incident.”

    Musk for years has promised self-driving for the company’s vehicles but missed several self-imposed deadlines.

    Researchers, regulators and insurance groups say true self-driving is still years away and more complex than companies anticipated several years ago. They have criticized Tesla’s promotion of its existing semi-automated Autopilot system as dangerously misleading.

    A consortium of self-driving technology companies, Partners for Automated Vehicle Education (PAVE), which includes Ford Motor Co, General Motors Co and Google’s self-driving unit Waymo, criticized Tesla’s approach.

    “Public road testing is a serious responsibility and using untrained consumers to validate beta-level software on public roads is dangerous and inconsistent with existing guidance and industry norms,” PAVE said in a Thursday statement.

    Autopilot and similar advanced driver assistance systems can provide steering, braking and acceleration support under limited circumstances, generally on highways.

    Tesla’s website describes the new software release as “Autosteer on City Streets,” saying the system requires active driver supervision and does not make the car autonomous.

    Tesla owners can purchase “Full Self Driving” for $8,000 in hopes of eventually receiving the upgrade. Musk said early Thursday the price would rise by $2,000 on Monday, but later in the day tweeted U.S. price hikes would be pushed to Thursday next week. Similar price increases will apply in other countries as the test version was released there, he added.

    On Twitter, Tesla owners receiving the test version posted videos of their experience, claiming the car “literally sees everything,” setting indicators on its own and navigating turns even without clear lane markings. https://bit.ly/3kpgvUu

    They also posted a picture of the software update release notes, which said the system “may do the wrong thing at the worst time,” urging drivers to keep their hands on the wheel and pay extra attention.

    Reuters could not reach Tesla for comment on NHTSA’s statement and to confirm the authenticity of the release note.

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  • Tesla May Build A Battery Plant In Indonesia

    Tesla May Build A Battery Plant In Indonesia

    Tesla is reportedly planning to build a facility for making batteries in Indonesia a report by CNBC revealed. “Minister of Industry (Menperin) Agus Gumiwang confirmed about Tesla’s plan, he said that Tesla would later be directed to build a factory in Batang. Currently, the discussion process between Tesla and the government is still ongoing,” says the report.

    “I said you put the investment here today, we will give the reserves. So, if we always change from commodity base to downstream. So, we see production downstream. That will turn Indonesia into a great country into the global supply chain,” said Indonesia’s coordinating minister of maritime affairs and investment, Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan.
    Reportedly, this facility would come up in Batang. All this comes after Tesla CEO Elon Musk pleased with mining companies to increase their Nickel production. Tesla was already in talks with the Indonesian government for building a new venture for nickel as the South East Asian country has rich reserves of the mineral.

    Indonesia has banned exporting Nickel which could be one of the reasons why Tesla is now keeping to invest in the country. Tesla has already outlined its vision for scaling the production of its batteries to 200 GWh by 2023 and 3 TWh by 2030 and the only way it will achieve this ambitious target is by having a facility in Indonesia.

  • Daimler Chief Eyes China Growth As Trade Tensions Rise

    Daimler Chief Eyes China Growth As Trade Tensions Rise

    Daimler’s Chief Executive said China will remain Mercedes-Benz’s biggest growth market in the next decade and the German carmaker will adjust production locations to capture shifts in demand as global trade tensions continue to rise.

    The remarks by Ola Kaellenius come against a backdrop of increasingly strained relations between the United States, China and Europe after almost a decade of growth that has helped Mercedes to emerge as the world’s biggest-selling luxury car brand.

    “The situation has become much rougher, with a tendency toward rougher talks, right up to and including trade conflicts,” Kaellenius told the Frankfurt-based ICFW Journalists association late on Monday. “We need to look at our production footprint and where it makes sense, shift our production,” he said during the video call meeting.

    “Last year we sold around 700,000 passenger cars in China. The next biggest market is the U.S. with between 320,000 and 330,000 cars.”

    Thanks in large part to a strong rebound in demand from China, Daimler and German rival BMW both pre-released forecast-beating third-quarter results.

    “In the next 10 years we also expect the biggest growth in China,” Kallenius added, explaining that the luxury carmaker will follow the market.

    But with international trade tensions on the rise, the outlook for global sales remains uncertain.

    Britain’s Brexit negotiations could end without tariff-free trade with the European Union and serves as an example of how things can go wrong, the Swedish executive explained.

    If Britain and the European Union fail to clinch a deal, World Trade Organization (WTO) rules would apply, resulting in tariffs.

    “In the event of a so-called hard Brexit, we would not open factories, because this would not be worth it, given our sales numbers,” Kaellenius said, referring to sales in Britain. “We would have to learn to live with WTO rules.”

    Increasingly fragmented global markets make it harder to build cars at a profit because it reduces economies of scale in production, he said.

    Mercedes-Benz, for example, only builds its top-of-the-line S-Class model in Germany. With global sales of only 100,000 vehicles, it hardly makes business sense to build new production lines in the United States and China to build these cars locally, he said.

    However, tensions between the United States and the rest of the world are likely to remain, regardless of whether the Republicans or Democrats win the U.S. election next month.

    “What the two (presidential) candidates are saying is that they have an interest in improving the trade balance, and we need to be ready for that,” Kaellenius said.

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  • Tesla Is Pushing New Software Update To Increase The Range The Model Y

    Tesla Is Pushing New Software Update To Increase The Range The Model Y

    Tesla has been relentlessly improving its cars and now a new software update that is coming to the relatively new Model Y will enhance the range of the vehicle. The software update numbered 2020.40.7 is behind these new efficiency improvements.

    “Your car’s range has increased with new software that improves the efficiency of the motors and the climate control systems,” Tesla said in the update release notes.

    It also notes that there is no impact on the efficiency of the HVAC system or the performance of the vehicle with these range enhancements. Fundamentally, there are no trade-offs.

    “Note: These changes do not impact acceleration or overall climate control performance,” Tesla added.

    As reported by Electrek, a Tesla Model Y owner noted the new software update accounted for a meager enhancement in range to something between 320 and 325 miles. Tesla officially has also enhanced the range of the Model Y from 316 miles to 325 miles.

    This is not the first time the company has done this as it recently increased the range of the Model 3 by 15 miles.

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  • Tesla To Export China-made Model 3 vehicles to Europe

    Tesla To Export China-made Model 3 vehicles to Europe

    Tesla said on Monday it would start exporting China-made Model 3 cars to more than 10 European countries this month, joining a growing number of automakers using China as an export hub for electric vehicles.

    The U.S. carmaker, which started delivering vehicles made in its Shanghai factory in December, will export China-made cars this month to countries including Germany, France, Italy and Switzerland, it said in a statement.

    Elsewhere, German rival BMW is preparing to export its electric iX3 model, made at a joint venture plant in Shenyang, China, to Europe, while Daimler is shifting production of its Smart branded city cars to Hangzhou Bay.

    Tesla has been expanding in China even as tensions between Washington and Beijing have been escalating. The Shanghai factory, Tesla’s first car plant outside of the United States, aims to build 150,000 vehicles this year.

    “Support from Chinese government towards the industry, innovative local companies and customers embracing new technologies make China the best market for smart electric vehicles,” Tesla said, adding it would expand car production, charging and sales networks in China.

    The electric vehicle maker, which sold more than 11,000 Model 3 cars last month in China, the world’s biggest auto market, is also building new car manufacturing capacity in Shanghai to make its Model Y sport-utility vehicles.

    Reuters reported in September that Tesla was planning to export Model 3 vehicles made in China to Asian and European markets, citing people familiar with the matter.

    The export of the Model 3 to Europe comes as Tesla is in the process of building a German factory on the outskirts of Berlin and after the German government announced a subsidy of up to 9,000 euros for buyers of electric cars, including the Model 3.

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  • Auto sales rise to year high

    Auto sales rise to year high

    Auto sales climbed to 27,252 units in September, the highest monthly number this year, as Vietnam contained its second Covid-19 outbreak.

    It represented a 32 percent rise from August, when hundreds of new Covid-19 cases were diagnosed, according to a report by the Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers Association (VAMA).

    Passenger vehicles accounted for 75.7 percent of the sales, commercial vehicles for 23.5 percent, and special-purpose vehicles for the rest.

    However, sales in the first nine months fell 22 percent year-on-year to 179,155 units as social distancing was imposed in the second quarter due to the disease outbreak and incomes fell.

    Local brand Truong Hai Auto (Thaco) retained the top spot with a 34.6 percent share of the market through its sales fell 11 percent to 59,709 units.

    It was followed by Toyota with 41,109 units and Mitsubishi with 17,228 units, both representing double-digit declines too.

    Honda and Ford rounded off the top five.

    On June 28 the government cut first-time registration fees by half for locally made vehicles to foster sales amid the pandemic.

    The reduction will last through this year before returning to old levels on January 1, 2021.

    Auto sales had risen 11.7 percent to 322,322 units last year.

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  • Rolls-Royce shuts Vietnam dealership

    Rolls-Royce shuts Vietnam dealership

    U.K. luxury car company Rolls-Royce has closed down its dealership in Vietnam and is looking for a new partner to replace it.

    The company said on Tuesday that the dealership, Regal Motor Cars in Hanoi, had not proven as effective as expected.

    However, servicing would remain unaffected for existing customers, with Regal continuing to provide it until the company appoints a new dealer.

    The dealership opened in 2014 with a showroom on Ly Thuong Kiet Street in downtown Hoan Kiem District, and a service center on Nguyen Van Linh Street, Long Bien District.

    But the focus was on servicing existing vehicles rather than selling large numbers immediately.

    There are several hundred Rolls-Royce cars currently in Vietnam, including its latest model, the Cullinan, which costs more than VND32 billion ($1.38 million) for the standard version.

    It is not known if the company is close to finding a new distributor.

    Rolls-Royce is a subsidiary of BMW, the German giant, though the two brands operate independently.

  • Nissan Says China Sales Rose 5.1 Per Cent In September

    Nissan Says China Sales Rose 5.1 Per Cent In September

    Japanese automaker Nissan Motor said on Sunday its sales in China rose 5.1% in September from a year earlier, to 141,595 vehicles.

    China’s auto market, the world’s biggest, is a key focus for the embattled carmaker as it struggles to fix problems stemming from ousted leader Carlos Ghosn’s aggressive expansion drive.