Good morning! Today is Monday, July 17, 2023 and here it is Morning shift, your daily compilation of the top automotive headlines from around the world, in one place. Here are the important stories you need to know.
Gear 1: Lightning (Price) Crash (Slightly)
The Lightning F-150 It sounds like a promising value when it first launches in 2021, with prices starting around $40,000 for the base Pro model. The price of that truck has grown to more than $60,000 this year, and potential customers have responded the way you’d expect: by attack electric pickups from their consideration.
Ford has realized this and on Monday announced a significant discount on the Lightning – although the truck still won’t be as cheap as day one. The upcoming increase in production seems to have allowed the Dearborn to step back a bit on those stickers, at $9,979 for the base models and between $6,900 and $8,500 for the higher-end Lariats. The discounts vary by version, but the important thing is that the Pro version currently starts at $49,995. From CNBC:
Ford says the prices of some of the cheapest versions of Lighting will drop by nearly $10,000. Prices for all versions, including the top-end Platinum version, will be at least $6,000 less than they set in March.
Ford has raised the price of Lightning several times since its launch in 2021, citing supply constraints and significantly higher prices for the minerals used in electric truck batteries. Ford has been working to increase truck production in recent months, with a plant upgrade expected to triple production to be carried out in the fall.
The Dearborn plant that makes Lightning will be closed for several weeks while the production upgrade is in progress, Ford said Monday.
Of course, this news coincides with Tesla has finally started production of its Cybertruck over the weekend, which Ford was perhaps a little worried about. Though if that’s any consolation for the F-150 maker, Tesla isn’t clear on the Cybertruck’s pricing yet. Four years ago, it was supposed to start at $39,900, but that information was removed from Tesla’s website in August 2021. Regardless of the price, Elon Musk thought he would be able to mop the floor with Silverado in terms of sales. Gas type, not electric.
2nd gear: This is the one who lags behind in the electric car race
We know there are plenty of non-exclusive electric vehicles at dealerships around the country right now, but thanks to new data from Cox Automotive, today we have a better idea of which brands and models are losing the most money. in 2023 so far. TL;DR: Ford and Kia are on a downward trend. From auto news:
One of last year’s best-performing models, the Ford Mustang Mach-E compact crossover, saw sales decline in the first five months of the year compared to the same period last year.
For the full year of 2022, new Mustang Mach-E registrations increased 50% to 38,469 from a year earlier. But in the first five months of 2023, they fell 29% to 10,948. Ford slashed the price of the Mustang Mach-E earlier this year after Tesla dropped the sticker for its Model Y competitor.
As a brand, Ford has increased electric vehicle registrations by 30% as of May and is the third electric vehicle brand after Tesla and Chevrolet, with 22,425. But its growth rate is much lower than the overall EV market’s 68% this year, and significantly slower than the 120% growth rate in 2022, Experian said. […]
Another hot electric car brand last year, Kia, saw its fortunes skyrocket in the first five months of this year. New registrations of the EV6 compact crossover fell 29% to 6,780. Its smaller EV crossover, the Niro, saw registrations drop 27% to 4,425, Experian said.
For the full year of 2022, Kia posted a 236% increase in EV registrations to 23,506. Kia’s electric vehicle market share has fallen to 2.5% this year from 5.8% last year, based on five months of Experian data.
It is worth mentioning that since last year, Mach-E’s tax relief has been halved, while Kia cars are no longer eligible for it. Hyundai has performed slightly better thanks to more aggressive Ioniq 5 rental offers. In addition, Nissan’s already small market share is dwindling when the Ariya launches but only just enoughand Tesla sold twice as many Model S models as Porsche sold the Taycan in the first five months of 2023. The only notable, objective winner in the report? Rivian.
3rd device: Battery factory vs farm
The small town of Marshall, Michigan is the future site of Ford’s BlueOval Battery Park, and locals and farmers alike are concerned about the facility’s impact on the community for a number of reasons. An opposition group is trying to halt Ford’s construction on a parcel of land that has recently been rezoned for industrial use, although success seems unlikely. From Crain’s Detroit Business by car news:
The primary concern is being “boxed” by industrialization, [Marshall Township supervisor and owner of Bosserd Family Farm David] Bosserd said. Many acres of “good arable land” allocated to this site will not be cultivated in the future. The industrial use of the fertile land has been criticized by farmers across the region, with many lamenting the removal of land they see as a valuable and vital resource for their livelihoods. Surname.
Bosserd said the loss of land will put pressure on local farmers, who will now have to travel further afield to find “new land to be able to sustain (their) operations”. Competition will also increase among farmers.
“When you break down agriculture, it makes it harder to survive,” he added. “You increase traffic because we have to move equipment down the street. And there has to be a certain size to a farm for it to be self-sustaining.”
Pollution of the Kalamazoo River Basin is another concern:
Victoria McGuffin, a professor of chemistry at Michigan State University and a resident of Marshall, has also been outspoken in her concerns. She’s not opposed to the battery plant itself, but fears the location could threaten “surface water, groundwater, and private and public water supplies.”
McGuffin said the Kalamazoo River is a “vulnerable” watershed to the Enbridge Inc. pipeline failure. in 2010 released about 843,000 gallons of heavy crude oil into the river. She added that the restoration took more than four years and “the river is still recovering”.
Ford’s argument is that the site will add 2,500 jobs to an area that has lost about 2,000 jobs since 2003, and the promise of “community prosperity” helps rejuvenate schools and businesses. small and infrastructure. It’s a beautiful dream on paper – but more than ever, only if you can keep the giant corporate statue with it.
4th gear: This is how VinFast is doing
Are you wondering how many new VinFast cars have been running on the national road system since the beginning of 2023? Well, wonder no more. The answer is 128 — at least on June 1. Courtesy car news:
According to Experian data, VF 8 had one new registration in February, 16 in March, 66 in April and 45 in May. Among the 25 brands on Experian’s list of new electric vehicle registrations, VinFast is in 22nd place, followed by Jaguar, GMC and Mazda.
This happens when investors buy VinFast’s specialized company jump train before a planned initial public offering for the U.S. stock market, and of course all those negative reviews and a VF8 . sweep recall involves a single screen that conveys information inside the entire vehicle. This is your VinFast update.
Reverse: TWA 800
On this day in 1996 – 27 years ago – TWA Flight 800 en route to Paris exploded over Long Island, killing all 230 passengers on board. A four-year investigation concluded that the explosion was caused by an electrical short that ignited the fuel-air mixture in the fuel tank in the center of the wing. In 2021, the National Transportation Safety Board announced it would destroy the ruins it is kept in a hangar in Virginia for training purposes.
Neutral: Predict your best price, right now
Tesla’s second-quarter earnings calls are scheduled for Wednesday, so let’s all make sure we’ve filled out our Cybertruck Bingo boards by then.
