AD 2629 – Tesla to Pump Up the Volume, Passenger Car Sales Continue to Tumble, Wall Street Bullish on Electra Meccanica

This is Autoline Daily reporting on the global automotive industry.

TESLA TO PUMP UP THE VOLUME
Tesla is about to pump up the volume. After setting a record for deliveries in the second quarter, the company is planning to increase production at its Fremont, California plant according to an internal email to employees. While it didn’t say how much production will increase, in its most recent quarterly report, Tesla said production could hit 500,000 vehicles globally this year, if its plant in China can hit volume production in the fourth quarter. Tesla needs more volume. It sold more cars than it made last quarter as it cleared out inventory. So now if it wants to increase sales, it has to make more cars.

PASSENGER CAR SALES CONTINUE TO TUMBLE
Meanwhile sales of passenger cars continue to drop in the U.S. market. For the first half of the year they were down by a staggering 246,000 units. That suggests they’ll be down by half a million by the end of the year. Even automakers committed to the segment are seeing sales sinking. Toyota’s pass car sales are down nearly 8% for the first half of the year. Honda is down only 3.5% and Hyundai is off by more than 11%. Just to show you how far this segment has fallen, sales are down by 2 million cars a year from just five years ago.  

DETROIT OEMs WANT MORE TEMPORARY WORKERS
Next week GM, Ford and FCA start bargaining with the UAW for a new labor contract. One of the items the automakers will be asking for is more flexible staffing, meaning they want to use more temporary workers. But the union doesn’t like temps, since they are not dues-paying union members. Automakers want temps when they need extra people for a new car launch and don’t want to lock them in as permanent employees. They also want temps to fill in when full-time workers go on vacation. A company like GM has to hire over 800 temps each summer to cover for vacation time.

PANASONIC CONNECTER ELIMINATES NEED FOR WIRE HARNESSES
Anytime you can reduce parts, complexity and weight, automakers are all for it. So take a look at this new electrical connector form Panasonic. It directly mates a flexible printed circuit or FPC to the circuit board without the need for any wire harnesses. Another benefit is that it reduces assembly time and provides more space to make parts smaller or improve design. Panasonic says it’s perfect for Daytime Running Lights, rear tail lamps and digital instrument panels and can help OEMs differentiate their designs from competitors.

TEST YOUR AUTOMOTIVE KNOWLEDGE
Autoline viewer Jerry Heverly from Oakland, California was walking through Riga, Latvia when he came across this car and asked us to identify what it is. We know exactly what it is, but to give some of you a chance to test your automotive knowledge we won’t say what it is until tomorrow’s show. But we’ll give you a hint. Take a look at the badge on the trunk. 

HISTORIC RUNS AT GOODWOOD FESTIVAL OF SPEED
The all-new Ford GT500 made its first public outing with a drive up the iconic hill at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. Behind the wheel was Drift King, Vaughn Gittin Jr. who smoked the tires at the start of his run, but settled down and seemed to push the car a bit. You can see at the end of his run that he topped 130 miles per hour. That wasn’t the only historic run at Goodwood. Romain Dumas broke the track record in the Volkswagen ID.R electric race car with a time of just under 40-seconds. He’s the first to break 40-seconds, which beat out Nick Heidfeld’s 41.6-second run in a F1 car set in 1999.

WALL STREET BULLISH ON ELECTRA MECCANICA
Electra Meccanica Vehicles Corp., an EV startup based in Vancouver, is catching Wall Street’s attention. The company’s stock soared 32% yesterday and for the year it has skyrocketed 177%. It’s all about this three-wheeler called the SOLO. Mass production is scheduled to kick off this year. The company received nearly 1,000 deposits for the vehicle and over 23,000 pre-orders as of April. Analysts are also bullish about its $50,000, two-seat, electric roadster called the Tofino which will debut in 2021. But this makes us wonder why Elio Motors, another company making a three-wheeled vehicle, has not been able to get things going.

And be sure to tune into Autoline After Hours this Thursday. Our special guest is Paul Eichenberg, a strategist on electrification, autonomy, connectivity and mobility. Join John and Gary and Joe White from Reuters for some of the best insights as to where this auto industry is headed.

But that wraps up today’s report thanks for watching and please join us again tomorrow.