AD #3622 – Gas Stations Closing Fast; Nissan Axes Titan Pickup; China’s Car Market Stopped Growing

This is Autoline Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry.

CHINA’S CAR MARKET STOPPED GROWING
We start today’s show with big news in China. Car sales fell for the second month in a row. Reuters reports they were down 2.6% last month, and down 2.9% the month before that. For the full year, sales are up 1.7%. But economists are watching the latest numbers because of fears that the Chinese economy is failing to bounce back from the country’s Covid lockdowns. Sales of New Energy Vehicles, including BEVs and PHEVs were up strongly in July compared to last year, but were down compared to the month before. Automakers are making up for the soft market with exports, which shot up 63%. Even Tesla exported half of its production last month. Automakers are slashing prices and the government extended subsidies for NEVs, which is working for those models but so far car buyers, in general, seem to be waiting.

U.S. GAS STATIONS CLOSING FAST
As public EV charging stations pop up all across the U.S. and Europe, the number of gas stations is falling fast. According to DBRS Morningstar, which is a credit ratings company, the number of gas stations in the U.S. and the U.K. have fallen 35% since the year 2000. And there are now 65,000 fewer gas stations in the U.S. than there were in the 1990s. Morningstar says gas station owners face a lot more competition than they did before. Many EV owners are installing home chargers, companies like Walmart are installing public chargers, many automakers are licensing Tesla’s Supercharger network and seven automakers are joining forces to develop their own charging network. Morningstar says gas station operators need to evolve and offer more services to remain competitive.

PROTERRA FILES FOR CHAPTER 11
It isn’t easy being an EV startup. Last month Lordstown Motors filed for bankruptcy and now Proterra, the company that makes electric buses and battery packs just filed for Chapter 11. Proterra will continue its operations for now, but it has been unable to reach manufacturing scale.

LUCID’S LOSSES TRIPLE
Lucid reported its second quarter earnings, and while its top line is growing, so are its losses. It reported over $150 million in revenue, up 55%. But it posted an operating loss of $837 million, which was 50% higher than last year. Its net loss grew to $764 million, which was three and a half times worse than a year ago. Lucid sold 1,400 cars in the last three months, but that was nearly 1,000 fewer than it sold in the first quarter. The company says it’s on track to sell 10,000 cars this year, but that means it will have to nearly triple sales in the second half of the year.

CHEVY BLAZER EV POLICE EDITION
GM’s fleet management business, called GM Envolve, released a video on its YouTube channel detailing the new police version of the Blazer EV. Like the standard Blazer, the PPV or Police Pursuit Vehicle uses a 400-volt architecture and can charge at up to 190 kW. It features a two-motor AWD setup and up to 498 horsepower and 531 lb-ft of torque. By comparison, the most powerful Blazer EV, the SS, has 557 horsepower and 658 lb-ft of torque. The PPV also comes standard with Brembo 6-piston front brakes and 20-inch wheels. The battery pack is 105 kWh and the EV requires an extra 400- to 12-volt DC power module for all the lights and equipment. And as you might suspect all those extras are a drag on range. A non-SS AWD version of the Blazer EV has a GM-estimated 279 miles of range, but the PPV is estimated to have 250 miles. That doesn’t sound too bad considering many police vehicles just sit around most of the day and GM says the PPV could idle anywhere from 20-50 hours on a full charge.

BMW 5 SERIES LWB FOR CHINA
Like many global sedans that are sold in China, BMW is coming out with a long wheelbase version of the new 5 Series, including the all-electric i5, exclusively for that market. Unfortunately, it doesn’t say how much longer it is than the standard version, which is just under 200 inches, but the previous generation long wheelbase was extended just over 5 inches. BMW also doesn’t say what will power the models, but it will have gas and diesel hybrids, a plug-in hybrid and pure electric setup to choose from. We expect the i5 for China to have the same rear-drive and AWD setups, but since it’s being built in China for China we wouldn’t be surprised if it used a different battery maker. With that extra space between the wheels it could also have a bigger battery than the standard wheelbase’s 81 kWh pack. An illuminated “5” at the rear C-pillar, a huge 31-inch rear screen from the 7 Series and China-specific digital service round out the main highlights of the new long wheelbase 5 Series.

TESLA’S CFO KIRKHORN UNEXPECTEDLY STEPS DOWN
Tesla’s Chief Financial Officer, Zachary Kirkhorn, unexpectedly stepped down from that position and did not say why. But there doesn’t appear to be any bad blood because he will remain with Tesla until the end of the year to help with the transition. Kirkhorn, 39, was seen as a potential successor to Elon Musk as CEO. He worked at Tesla for 13 years and was named CFO in 2019. Tesla named its head of accounting, Vaibhav Taneja, as its new CFO.

HARLEY DAVIDSON’S MADE-IN-INDIA STRATEGY
I’ve long heard people complain that Harley Davidson’s motorcycles cost too much money. And maybe they were right. Harley is going to offer a bike in India, called the X440, that starts at just under $2,800 and goes up to a little over $3,200. And even though it doesn’t go on sale until October, it already has 25,000 pre-orders. It’s a bare-bones motorcycle with a single cylinder engine. The base model only comes with wire wheels and in one color, like the Model T, but instead of black, it has a mustard-colored gas tank. Fancier models offer other paint colors as well as graphics and alloy wheels. Harley doesn’t even make the bike. In 2020 it closed down its operations in India, But it partnered with India’s Hero MotoCorp, the largest motorcycle maker in the world by sales, to develop and sell motorcycles under the Harley brand. And judging by orders, it looks like this strategy could pay off.

E-BIKES A $1 BILLION BUSINESS FOR BOSCH
E-bikes are now a billion dollar business for Bosch, which is the largest auto supplier in the world. But it also makes electric bike components and that business unit just hit $1 billion in annual revenue. The unit is housed within Bosch’s mobility division that’s based in Michigan and supplies parts like electric motors, batteries and displays. With the increasing global popularity of e-bikes, Bosch expects the business to continue to grow. It says, like cars, connectivity is the next big technology for e-bikes and it’s currently developing software to offer different services for them.

NISSAN AXES TITAN
Nissan is giving up on trying to sell full size pickups in the U.S. market. When it launched the Titan in the early 2000’s, it hoped to sell 100,000 to 200,000 a year. But it never sold more than 87,000 and last year sales plunged to just over 15,000 units. So, it’s going away after 2024. Nissan also built the NV400 commercial van off the same platform as the Titan, but due to poor sales, it also discontinued that model in 2021. The truck and van were built at Nissan’s plant in Mississippi, which is being retooled for electrified vehicles.

But that brings us to the end of today’s show. Thanks for tuning in.