Good morning! Today is Wednesday, August 21, 2024 and this is Morning shiftYour daily digest of the top auto headlines from around the world, in one place. Here are the important stories you need to know.
Gear One: The Wheels Are Falling Off in Stellantis
After achieving great sales and profits in 2023 despite global struggles and strike action Here in the US, Stellantis hasn’t been so lucky so far in 2024. The automaker has saw declining sales and falling profitslead the shareholders even threatened to take legal action against the automaker.Now, the extent of the automaker’s concerns is clear as CEO Carlos Tavares prepares to head to Detroit to try to turn things around for Jeep owners.
The worries started to swirl. Follow Stellantis’ latest financial resultsshowed a sharp drop in sales of around 30 percent for key brands such as Jeep. That was accompanied by a warning of falling profits for the automaker, which also owns Fiat, Dodge and Chrysler. Now, industry experts have warned that things are “starting to fall apart” at the automaker, report Detroit Free Press:
“The roses have died as far as Stellantis is concerned,” John McElroy, host of “Autoline After Hours,” told the Free Press. “It was looking great until the end of last year and now it’s starting to fall apart.”
McElroy sees the inventory problem as a symbolic one.
“There were certainly people who said we had to cut production and they overruled me, I believe, to let someone else get their way,” McElroy said, noting that he would have liked to know whether that decision was made “in Paris or Auburn Hills.”
“We don’t know for sure what’s going on here,” he said. “The fact that they’ve lost so many senior executives suggests that it’s not a happy situation. I’ve heard from people who work there that morale is low, and it’s not a happy place to work.”
The company has lost a series of executives in recent months, announced layoffs at locations across the US and even threatened to cut shifts at Warren Truck Assembly north of Detroit. The latter company even raised fears of strike action from the United Auto Workers union less than a year after its last major strike at Stellantis and the other Big Three automakers, Ford and General Motors.
These concerns have been noted by Stellantis’ top brass, and company boss Tavares is now planning an emergency trip to Detroit to try to bring about change at Stellantis’ North American arm. Reuters report. According to the website:
While Tavares typically visits North American operations every four to six weeks, according to the source and a second person, one of them added that the CEO’s visit this week during his summer vacation was intended to send a clear signal.
“He wanted to make it clear that he was handling this on his own,” the source said. “The North American operations were essentially funding the rest of the group.”
On the agenda will be a new strategy for Stellantis’ North American arm, which Tavares said recently was “humbled” by its latest sales figures. The company’s boss said Stellantis had fallen victim to everything from high inventory levels, production problems and a “lack of sophistication,” Reuters reported.
Gear 2: Tesla faces 9 percent tariff on Chinese electric cars
Governments around the world are tighten Chinese-made electric vehicleswhich they fear will affect competition across the entire auto industry thanks to the huge subsidies the Chinese government gives to domestic automakers. In response, The US will impose huge tariffs on any Chinese electric cars Imports to the United States and the European Union will apply separate tariffs, which will affect American automaker Tesla.
Elon Musk’s electric car company currently imports some models from its Chinese manufacturing facilities to sell in Europe. Those models will now be subject to a 9 percent tariff imposed by the bloc, according to new guidelines shared by the EU. Bloomberg Report. This tariff marks a 50 percent reduction from the original tariff proposed by the EU, Bloomberg reported:
The European Union said on Tuesday it plans to impose an additional 9% tariff on Tesla cars imported from China, as it notified carmakers of a draft decision to impose formal tariffs on electric vehicles shipped from the country.
The bloc unveiled its latest move to counter subsidies Beijing provides to the industry, as officials said they would continue to consult with producers ahead of a vote by member states on tariffs scheduled to come into effect in November.
The proposed tariffs have been revised, with MG maker SAIC Motor Corp., Volvo Car AB parent Geely and BYD Co. each facing additional tariffs of 36.3%, 19.3% and 17%, respectively — all slightly lower than previously announced tariffs.
The tariffs on Tesla cars imported from China lower because Beijing is seen as unfriendly to foreign automakers in the region. As a result, Tesla does not receive the kind of subsidies that Geely and BYD might qualify for.
All eyes will be on the EU after it sets tariffs on imported electric cars China will see how they react to the tariffs. and whether that could mean higher import costs for carmakers looking to export vehicles from Europe and the US
3rd Gear: BMW recalls 720,000 SUVs due to fire risk
Afterward Airbag recalls have swept across the industry. And Tesla hacking software issueBMW is now in the spotlight for a major recall. The German automaker has been forced to recall more than 700,000 cars and SUVs because of electrical problems in some vehicles that could cause fires.
More than 720,000 BMW vehicles from 2012 to 2018 have been recalled, report Car and driver. The recall impact 3- And 5 series car as X3 And X5 SUVThere may be faulty gaskets that can cause a short circuit – in some cases – which can cause a car fire. As Car and driver report:
The recall covers multiple cars and SUVs in BMW’s lineup, from model years 2012 through 2018. The list of affected models includes the Z4 convertible; certain 2-, 3-, 4- and 5-series vehicles; and certain X1, X3, X4 and X5 SUVs.
Specifically, the issue with these BMWs involves the water pump’s electrical connector allowing water to drip from the positive crankcase ventilation system through the seal, potentially causing a short circuit. The short circuit could cause a fire in the engine compartment, necessitating a recall. In its recall chronology report, BMW reports 18 incidents of damage or complaints due to the issue. Fortunately, BMW notes that it has not received any reports of injuries related to the issue.
BMW has begun notifying dealers of the upcoming recall and will begin notifying owners of affected models in early October. A fix for the issue has also been identified, and owners will be asked to bring their vehicles to a dealer, who will inspect and (if necessary) replace the water pump and plugs free of charge. Dealers will also install a shield to divert fluid dripping away from the pump and plugs.
Fortunately, the company has not received any reports of injuries caused by this seal defect to date.
If you are concerned that your vehicle may be affected by the recall, There are some easy ways to check if so. First, NHTSA has a super handy app you can use to see if your car is affected by the recall, or you can go to the agency’s website and enter your VIN into its retrieval search engine.
Gear 4: Waymo Doubles Ridership in Three Months
After the year starts with Self-driving car burns in San Francisco And Safety concerns for self-driving car startupsPaying customers don’t seem to mind the negative press, as Waymo has seen the number of paying riders using its service double in just three months.
Alphabet-backed self-driving taxi service is said to have reached more than 100,000 paying passengers per week, Reuters report. The figure represents the number of cyclists across Arizona and California and is double the number achieved in May, Reuters reported:
Waymo, which has about 700 vehicles in its fleet, is the only U.S. company that operates driverless taxis that collect fares. The company opened its service to everyone in San Francisco in June, without a waitlist, while expanding its operations in the Phoenix metropolitan area. This month, Waymo expanded its service to the San Francisco Peninsula and certain parts of Los Angeles.
“People still think of self-driving cars as a distant future, but for more and more people, they are now an everyday reality,” chief product officer Saswat Panigrahi said in a statement, adding that Waymo has been “intentionally expanding” and “cost-optimizing.”
The ratio of The expansion for Waymo is significant. as it faces increasing pressure from competition across the entire self-driving taxi sector. Certainly, Cruise is backed by GM struggling, but US startup Zoox is also expanding and Chinese company WeRide is also looking for growth across the US
Then there is The Ever-present Threat of a Tesla Robot Taxioften touted by big boss Elon Musk, although it has faced delays and is now unlikely to launch before October at the earliest.
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On the Radio: Blossoms – ‘Perfect Me’
