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Runtime: 5:41
0:07 BMW Reveals 2018 Earnings and Cost Cutting Plan
1:24 Ghosn’s Trial to Begin in September
1:44 Toyota and Suzuki Share Partnership Details
2:34 Medium-Duty Truck Sales Dip in February
3:41 Mercedes Unveils GLC Coupe
4:12 BMW Teases 2 Series Gran Coupe
4:39 Kia Adds New CUV To Ceed Family
4:59 New Chevy Onix To Debut in China
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This is Autoline Daily reporting on the global automotive industry.
BMW REVEALS 2018 EARNINGS AND COST CUTTING PLAN
BMW is investing heavily into electric and self-driving cars but it’s starting to be a drag on its profits. The automaker revealed its earnings for 2018 and while sales were up 1%, its revenue dipped by about the same amount. Its earnings before interest and taxes hit 9 billion euros but that’s a drop of 8% compared to the prior year and its net profit plunged 17% to 7 billion euros. BMW expects to struggle this year as well and is forecasting its pretax profit to drop by more than 10%. So in order to offset the costs of new technology development, the automaker revealed a plan to save $13 billion by the end of 2022. Some of those savings will come from offering workers early retirement, using more digital simulation to speed up development and eliminating 50% of its drivetrain variants by 2021.
| BMW 2018 EARNINGS | ||
|---|---|---|
| Sales | 2.49 M | +1.1% |
| Revenue | €97.5 B | -0.8% |
| EBIT | €9.12 B | -7.9% |
| Net Profit | €7.21 B | -16.9% |
| Source: BMW | ||
GHOSN’S TRIAL TO BEGIN IN SEPTEMBER
We got a quick update on Carlos Ghosn’s legal situation. Japan’s NHK reports that his trial for allegedly under reporting his income is expected to begin in September. Nissan’s former CEO, who denies the charges, was released from jail earlier this month after posting a $9 million bail.
TOYOTA AND SUZUKI SHARE PARTNERSHIP DETAILS
A few years back, Toyota and Suzuki signed an agreement to collaborate on electrified vehicles and to share models, and now we have more details about the partnership. Toyota will supply its hybrid system to Suzuki for it to use globally and it will provide Suzuki with two new electrified vehicles based on the RAV4 and Corolla Wagon for the European market. Suzuki will build two compact vehicles for Toyota for the Indian market, Toyota will adopt Suzuki engines for compact cars which will be manufactured in Europe and Suzuki will build vehicles based on its vehicles for Toyota to sell in Africa. The two will also jointly develop a van for India and Toyota will build the Suzuki Vitara Brezza SUV at its plant in India.
MEDIUM-DUTY TRUCK SALES DIP IN FEBRUARY
Big truck sales have been increasing at a brisk pace for most of the last year in the U.S. but in February the segment had mixed results. While the Class 8 segment was up nearly 20% according to WardsAuto, the medium-duty segment, Class 4 through 7, fell by more than 4%. Combined, medium and heavy-duty sales were up about 7% last month and for the year, sales are up 15%. But we’ll have to keep an eye on if the dip in medium-duty trucks is a one month blip or a sign the segment is slowing down.
This is your reminder that Autoline After Hours is on tomorrow afternoon. We’ll be taking a dive into the glory days of General Motors with Greg Wallace, who used to work at the company’s Heritage Center. That’s live tomorrow at 3PM eastern time on our website and YouTube channel.
MERCEDES UNVEILS GLC COUPE
A few weeks back we showed you the updated Mercedes GLC and now it’s the Coupe’s turn. In the styling department, the grille pattern and rear diffuser are a bit different as is the lighting signature. The interior now features larger display screens and the rotary knob for infotainment controls has been replaced by a touchpad. There’s also a slightly more powerful 2.0L turbo 4-cylinder engine under the hood. The GLC Coupe goes on sale late in the year.
BMW TEASES 2 SERIES GRAN COUPE
Speaking of coupes, BMW is teasing a new 4-door version of the 2 Series, called the Gran Coupe. It’s a bit surprising to see what’s essentially an all-new sedan hit a market that’s turning more and more to trucks and utility vehicles. But BMW hopes to attract new customers with the compact vehicle, which will hit the market in the spring of 2020. It will show off the new 1 Series this year as well.
KIA ADDS NEW CUV TO CEED FAMILY
Maybe BMW should have done what Kia is doing. It’s adding a new crossover to the Ceed family of compact cars. The official name hasn’t been announced yet and we don’t know much about it, but Kia says the design of the crossover “will be nothing like you’ve seen in the Ceed family so far.”
NEW CHEVY ONIX TO DEBUT IN CHINA
And we’ve got one more, new reveal. Chevy will debut the new Onix in China. It has sold a hatchback with the same name in South America since 2012, which also has a sedan version, called the Prisma. This new vehicle is a compact sedan for global markets. So, we wouldn’t be surprised to see the Prisma replaced.
But that’s it for today. Thanks for joining us and we’ll be back 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.
