Follow us on social media:
Runtime: 11:13
0:00 U.S. New Car Sales Up 11% In October
1:04 BYD Sets Sales Record
1:50 Leapmotor Sales Leap 110%
2:25 Porsche, Audi Profits Plummet
3:32 Scout Could Build Vehicles for Other Automakers
5:44 Ford Turns to Lectron for NACS
6:24 Walmart Chooses GM Brightdrop Vans
6:53 Carvana Is Screaming Ahead
7:42 Ampere Targets 40% EV Cost Cuts
8:38 Toyota Reveals Open-Air Land Cruiser Concept
9:27 Infiniti Creates Luxurious Tailgating Concept
Visit our sponsor to thank them for their support of Autoline Daily: Bridgestone, Intrepid Control Systems and Teijin Automotive.
This is Autoline Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry.
U.S. NEW CAR SALES UP 11% IN OCTOBER
It’s a new month, which means automakers will report October sales over the next few days. So far, we only have Hyundai and Kia’s numbers, but both set October records. Hyundai’s sales in the U.S. were up 18% to nearly 72,000 vehicles and Kia’s sales were up 16% to about 69,000 units. Big gains from electrics and hybrids drove that growth. We’ll have a clearer picture of the U.S. market next week when more automakers report their sales. But October is expected to be a good month. According to estimates from the major data firms, U.S. sales are expected to increase as much as 11%. And the seasonally adjusted annual rate or SAAR is expected to come in between 15.8-16.1 million units, about the same as September but ahead of last year’s 15.65 million SAAR.
BYD SETS SALES RECORD
BYD just set an all-time sales record. It sold a little over 500,000 vehicles in October, which is more than 80,000 units more than the previous month and nearly 200,000 vehicles more than last October. PHEVs, including extended range electrics, passed BEVs in sales in February and accounted for over 60% of all of BYD’s vehicles sold last month. For the year, the company has sold a little over 3.2 million vehicles, which is already about 200,000 units more than last year’s total when it ranked 9th in worldwide sales. At the end of this year BYD should move up to 8th and will probably put a lot of pressure on Ford and Honda.
LEAPMOTOR SALES LEAP 110%
And it wasn’t just BYD that had a good sales month in China. A number of automakers recorded solid increases. But we’re going to shine a little extra light on Leapmotor because it just started launching models in Europe with help of its new partner Stellantis. Leapmotor delivered over 38,000 vehicles in October, which is not a massive number, but it’s a record for the company and a nearly 110% increase over last year. And we’ll be interested to see how that partnership with Stellantis will continue to impact sales.
PORSCHE, AUDI PROFITS PLUMMET
Volkswagen, as you know, is going through a really tough time. Most of the focus has been on the VW brand itself, but we dug deeper and the latest financial earnings show that the problems run throughout the company. VW’s Progressive group, which includes Audi, Bentley, Lamborghini and Ducati saw its profits drop more than 54% so far this year. The Sport Luxury Group, which only includes Porsche, saw its profits drop 28%. And Cariad, the software group that has stumbled so badly, has lost €2 billion, compared to a loss of €1.7 billion at this time last year. The only bright spot at VW is Traton, the heavy truck manufacturer that also owns Navistar. It generated €3 billion in profits this year, up 16%. In fact, Traton is now more profitable than Audi, Bentley, Lamborghini and Ducati put together. And that shows just how serious the problems are at the group.
SCOUT COULD BUILD VEHICLES FOR OTHER AUTOMAKERS
We’ve been wondering how VW could justify building a new assembly plant in the United States for Scout at the same time it’s talking about closing three assembly plants in Germany. Automotive News reports that the Scout plant could also be a contract manufacturing facility to make vehicles for both Volkswagen, Audi and other car companies. And it could also manufacture after-market accessories. If that plant did make vehicles for other car companies it would help Scout’s claim that it is independent from Volkswagen. That’s an important point because Scout wants to sell its vehicles directly to consumers, and if a car company has used franchised dealers in the past, it cannot legally drop them to sell cars direct. VW’s dealers are really mad about Scout’s plans and the NADA, the National Auto Dealers Association, is already preparing a legal strategy to oppose it, possibly with lawsuits filed in every one of the 50 states.
FORD TURNS TO LECTRON FOR NACS
Last month, Ford told its EV customers to stop using a complimentary NACS to CCS connector that it provided because of a potential issue that could cause reduced charging speeds or even damage the charging port. That adapter was supplied by Tesla. So, to help customers get back access to Tesla’s Supercharger network, Ford partnered with Lectron to also supply it with NACS adapters and is now shipping that new connector to customers across the U.S. It’s free for those who already qualified to receive the complimentary adapter. Customers who weren’t eligible can purchase it from Ford for $200.
WALMART CHOOSES GM BRIGHTDROP VANS
GM announced a partnership with Walmart to supply it with fully-electric BrightDrop vans. These are the shorter wheelbase BrightDrop 400 vans, which will be used to deliver goods to Walmart customers. They don’t say how many Walmart is going to buy, but it’s going to deploy a fleet of them in Austin, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, northwest Arkansas, Orlando, and the San Francisco Bay area by the end of the year.
CARVANA IS SCREAMING AHEAD
Used car retailer Carvana has seen quite the turnaround in the last couple of years. In late 2022, it was on the brink of bankruptcy, but resorted to an aggressive cost cutting plan that trimmed over $1 billion from its expenses. And it’s really paid off. In the third quarter, it sold over 108,500 vehicles, which is up 34% from last year and a more than 7% growth from Q2. That’s driving up income and revenue, which is driving investors to the company. Its stock is trading at roughly $250 a share, a more than 400% increase so far this year and a whopping 7000% jump from that low point in late 2022.
AMPERE TARGETS 40% EV COST CUTS
Ampere, the in-house EV start-up at Renault is making some pretty impressive claims, thanks to what it learned working with a team in China. It expects to cut the cost of C-segment EVs by 40% by 2028 by using cobalt-free LFP batteries and cell-to-pack battery design. It plans to have Europe’s first SDV or software defined vehicle by 2026. And it says the new Renault Twingo was fully developed in less than 2 years, which means it shaved at least a year off Renault’s typical product development time. Ampere is also supplying Alpine, Nissan and Mitsubishi with its tech stack. And while it canceled its plans to do an IPO earlier this year, if it can deliver on these targets maybe the financial markets will be more interested in seeing it going public.
TOYOTA REVEALS OPEN-AIR LAND CRUISER CONCEPT
Yesterday, Toyota showed off a convertible concept of the 4Runner at SEMA. And now it unveiled an open-top concept of the Land Cruiser. It’s called the Land Cruiser ROX, which stands for “Recreation Open eXperience.” It’s based on the 2024 model and 50% of the SUV had to be reinvented or fabricated. It features “skeleton” doors with open upper and lower sections, a retractable soft-top and a mid-gate that opens the cabin to the bed for access to the integrated tailgate seating and extra storage. To make it more off-road capable, the ROX includes a customized independent suspension from TRD, a 4-inch lift kit and an 8-inch wider track.
INFINITI CREATES LUXURIOUS TAILGATING CONCEPT
Infiniti also showed off a concept at SEMA aimed at tailgaters who want a more luxurious experience. It’s a modified version of its QX80 SUV, called the Autograph Lounge, that features a big TV screen and custom sound-system. The cargo area also comes with custom, leather-wrapped slide-out drawers to store tailgate items.
But that brings us to the end of today’s show and this week. Thanks for tuning in and I hope that you have a great weekend.
Thanks to our partner for embedding Autoline Daily on its website: WardsAuto.com
North American dealers’ association should probably start planning for the future. The elimination of new car sales would likely have minimal effect on jobs. Dealerships will still need to exist for service and repair which they claim is where the money is anyway. Offering a place for people to trade in used cars or even buy certified used cars would still remain. The consumer should not be forced to buy through a dealership and the added costs associated with that process. In fact, the public perception of dealerships might actually improve without the variable sticker price that comes with sales departments. When surveying buyers the worse part of buying a new car is dealing with sales staff and the games of negotiating a price only to then be passed onto a manager then a finance dept that tries to push extended warranty and other fees. A process that takes hours but could be accomplished online in about 15 min.
I really think the ADA should prepare for a day very soon where direct sales becomes the norm.
For now, the dealers “own” the state legislatures in both “red” and “blue” states, so I don’t expect franchise laws to change much any time soon.
NADA should be pushing to change the process at the dealership. There are a few things about the total experience that are a turn off and that is what you enumerated Lambo. However, there are things that are good about the process as well. Particularly the ability to walk in and drive off the lot same day. Experience a variety of trim levels and features before deciding to buy. The ability to negotiate the trade in value of your vehicle and the actual price of the car. With the online models you just pay max everything and get the min for your trade based on less than MMR which is always very low compared to what people think their trade in is worth. Apparently that is worth it to some to avoid telling a finance person simply no.
The future is going to be expensive.
Another point about dealerships. They are independent businesses. That means they can make deals, change prices and offer specialized services as they see fit, without having to involve the home office. They can react to local market conditions that OEM-owned sales centers can not. And, if you don’t like the price on a Corvette at your local Chevy dealer, you can check out prices at other Chevy dealers. That does not happen at OEM-owned sales centers. They all sell the same vehicles at the same price. And, as Elon has demonstrated, they can hike and drop prices as they see fit, based on national market conditions, not local market conditions. Everyone likes to demonize the dealership model, but there are many advantages for the consumer and the manufacturer in that business model.
I like the dealership model when I buy a GM car with the employee/retiree plan. The price is set, and no “add ons” are allowed. The only negotiation is with the value of the trade, if any. Of course, the “owned by dealers” legislature and governor in Florida passed a law against car companies’ requiring that model for regular customers.
Florida dealers (all brands) charge a very high doc fee… ~$1000 when I last shopped in FL 4 years ago. Toyota dealers were worse with a similarly priced paint protection on every vehicle… no choice.
Drew, yeah, it’s the worst with Toyota in the southeast, with Southeast Toyota Distributors crooks getting control of Toyota in several states back in the 1960s, before Toyota was a big player.
Wow, you can really see how much VW Group’s sells were tied to success in China! It’s interesting how China approached the tariff situation in that country, though. First they required foreign OEMs to to partner with local companies, or face huge tariffs on their imported automotive goods. After years of doing so and the local OEMs learned enough to support themselves, they reduced the tariffs and removed most of the requirements to partner with local companies, but increased local incentives for their countrymen to buy the products from local, Chinese automakers over foreign companies. It is their right as a country to be as open or closed as they like, but I just wonder if the negotiations on the amount of the EUs tariffs on Chinese EVs and other vehicles types, would include incentives on EU vehicles built or imported in China? If so, this could use OEMs like the VW Group who at one time sold a lot of product in China, but is now a long way off from those glory days!
Maybe dealerships should get with the times and offer online sales. I could see that working out where sales remain through a dealership but the purchase could be completed online like Carvana. You could still stop in to get a test drive place your butt in the seat before buying and have an almost exact experience but complete the sale at home. If dealerships in your area did this, it would be very easy to price compare too which I could see why they might not want to go this route.
Lambo, I completed most of buying my Mini from home. There was a phone call and two or three emails involved. I “built and priced” the car I wanted to order on the web site, and sent the info to a salesman by email. I did this from Florida with an Indiana dealer, where I would take delivery. I don’t know if this is typical, but the delivery at the dealer was simple and straightforward. There was no sales pitch for service contracts, ceramic coatings, etc. I don’t know if this is typical of Mini, or other BMW group dealers, but my experience was good.
As with the Porsche, they let me know what ship my car was on, so I could “follow” it on its trip across the Atlantic, and to multiple ports in the U.S. That’s not particularly useful, but is kind of fun.