Runtime: 7:21
0:29 December Sales Down, But Only a Little
1:16 2017 Full Year Sales
2:03 Major, Full Line Manufacturer Sales
3:19 Model 3 Production Quota Pushed Back Again
4:00 Aurora Teams with VW & Hyundai
5:34 Kia Teases New Electric Concept
5:59 Geely Buys Stake in Volvo Trucks
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On today’s show… car sales decline for the first time in 8 years in the American market… Tesla continues to have manufacturing problems… and Geely brings more of the Volvo brand under its wing. All that and more coming right up on Autoline Daily.
This is Autoline Daily the show for enthusiasts of the automotive industry.
AMERICAN SALES DOWN 1ST TIME IN 8 YEARS
Yesterday automakers posted their sales for December and all of 2017 in the US market and for the first time since 2009 sales were down. But only by a little bit. One-point-five million people bought a new vehicle last month, a slip of one-and-a-half percent in December, representing a drop of 85,000 vehicles. The SAAR hit 17.7 million vehicles, a strong number, but down from 18 million a year earlier. Even so, you have to wonder how much the deep freeze and blizzards that hit much of the country in late December kept people out of dealership showrooms. And with the deep freeze stretching into January it will probably hurt car sales this month as well.
| U.S. Light Vehicle Sales December, 2017 |
|||
|---|---|---|---|
| Drop | Change | ||
| Total Market | 1,595,793 | -85,775 | -1.5% |
| U.S. Light Vehicle Sales December, 2017 |
||
|---|---|---|
| 2017 | 2016 | |
| SAAR | 17.76 Million | 18.05 Million |
2017 FULL YEAR SALES
For the full year, automakers sold 17.1 million light vehicles, which represents a drop of 330,000 vehicles from the year before, which translates into a 1.9% decline. But the real story here is how the passenger car segment continues to crater. Car sales dropped by 793,000 vehicles in 2017. In fact, over the last two years passenger car sales are down by a staggering 1.4 million units. Meanwhile the truck segment continues to grow strong, with sales up by 463,000 trucks.Trucks now account for over 65% of all purchases.
| 2017 U.S. Light Vehicle Sales | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Total Market | 17,134,733 | -330,044 | -1.9% |
| Passenger Cars | 6,079,584 | -793,145 | |
| Light Trucks | 11,055,149 | +463,101 | |
MAJOR AUTOMAKER SALES
Amongst the major, full line manufacturers General Motors saw its sales fall 1.4% for the year. But since the overall market declined 1.9%, GM actually picked up some market share. So did Ford, which saw sales drop 1.2%. Toyota actually eked out a small gain, but FCA’s sales dropped by a significant 8.4%. FCA has a lot of new product coming out this year and should be able to turn that around. Honda also eked out a small gain, but Nissan is really closing the gap. It was up 1.9% and finished the year only 48,000 vehicles behind Honda. 2018 could be the year where Nissan finally outsells Honda in the American market.
| 2017 U.S. Light Vehicle Sales | ||
|---|---|---|
| General Motors | 3,000,147 | -1.4% |
| Ford | 2,512,881 | -1.2% |
| Toyota | 2,434,515 | +0.6% |
| FCA | 2,042,173 | -8.4% |
| Honda | 1,641,249 | +0.2% |
| Nissan | 1,593,464 | +1.9% |
Speaking of sales, Tesla could be doing a lot better if it could only build more Model 3s. And that’s coming up next.
TESLA PUSHES MODEL 3 PRODUCTION BACK AGAIN
Tesla is making more Model 3s, but it’s pushing back the date, yet again, on when it’s going to hit line speed with the electric vehicle. The company originally said it would make 5,000 Model 3’s a week by December of 2017. Then in November it pushed it back to the end of the first quarter this year and now says it won’t hit that production line speed until the end of the second quarter. It’s currently making about 1,000 Model 3’s a week, an improvement from November and says it could likely make around 2,500 a week by the end of the first quarter. News of the delay sent Tesla shares down 2%.
AUTONOMOUS STARTUP TEAMS W/ VW & HYUNDAI
Here’s a new startup worth taking note of. Aurora is a company that focuses on artificial intelligence, deep learning and robotics and was founded by a group of guys with experience at Google, Tesla and as far back as the early days of the DARPA Challenge. And it just announced partnerships with Volkswagen and Hyundai. Aurora and VW have already been working to install the startup’s sensors, hardware and software into various vehicle platforms within the VW Group. The end goal is to create a new worldwide mobility service that would allow a customer to get a ride using an app or virtual assistant. For Hyundai, it will first incorporate Aurora’s technology into its new generation fuel-cell vehicle that debuts at CES and will test it in markets like China. The Korean automaker also plans to commercialise level 4 autonomous vehicles for smart cities by 2021.
Kia is talking about future electric cars and that’s coming up next.
KIA TEASES NEW ELECTRIC CONCEPT
Kia is teasing a new concept it will show off at CES. The currently nameless vehicle is powered by a battery electric powertrain. And it will showcase what Kia says is a “never-seen-before human machine interface” and a new motion graphic lighting system. Kia didn’t reveal much else but we’ll learn more next week when the car officially debuts.
GEELY BUYS STAKE IN VOLVO TRUCKS
Volvo Cars and Volvo Trucks split into two separate companies back in 1999 but now they’re being reunited. Chinese automaker Geely, which owns Volvo Cars, just acquired an
8.2 percent stake in Volvo Trucks worth around $3.3 billion. Geely bought the shares from Cevian Capital and it now makes Geely the largest shareholder in Volvo Trucks. But even though both Volvo companies are back under the same umbrella, Geely doesn’t have any plans to merge the two.
Don’t forget to join us today for the first Autoline After Hours of 2018. John and Gary will be back and our special guest is Rick Spina, the executive chief engineer of crossovers at General Motors. We’ll have the new Buick Enclave in the studio, and James Amend from WardsAuto will also be joining us. Here’s your opportunity to have a front row seat as we dive into the details of what it takes to develop a new vehicle.
And with that we come to the end of today’s report. Thanks for watching and please join us again tomorrow.
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John McElroy is an influential thought leader in the automotive industry. He is a journalist, lecturer, commentator and entrepreneur. He created “Autoline Daily,” the first industry webcast of industry news and analysis.
