Stellantis has also noticed that the average funding terms for new vehicles are getting longer and longer, GM’s electric cargo vans are proving quite popular, and a never-ending tire trade secret scandal has turned in Goodyear’s favor. All that and more in this version of Morning shift for April 4, 2023.
First gear: In the future, you’ll never stop paying for your car
As interest rates rise and cars become more expensive, buyers end up agreeing to ever-longer financing terms just so those monthly payments can be bearable. We know that 84-month loans – that’s seven yearsto put it in the most miserable way possible – here to stayand Stellantis this week proved it with their own findings. Through Reuters:
The carmaker’s head of sales said Stellantis is seeing customers looking for long-term leases and financing for their vehicles due to higher global interest rates.
Branch manager Philippe de Rovira said loans that normally have a term of three years have now been gradually increased to four years. “This allows customers to receive a car in monthly installments similar to what they had before,” he said.
Four-year agreements are the new three-year terms, at least based on what the company is observing in Europe. The good news is that de Rovira doesn’t expect prices to continue to rise like they are now, because the market cannot maintain it. The bad news is that they won’t drop prices anytime soon, either, because “demand isn’t our problem,” in the executive’s words.
De Rovira said Stellantis has not noticed a downward trend in car prices.
“Perhaps the substantial price increases we saw in 2021 and 2022 will not repeat as the landscape is changing, but we are not seeing a drop right now, we are seeing stability.”
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It’s exciting to look at the range of new cars available now and I know deep in my bones that I’ll never be able to buy a new car again. My Fiesta will have to last forever.
2nd device: Register with BrightDrop
It’s been a while since we heard from General Motors’ BrightDrop, the manufacturer’s commercial electric cargo van division. BrightDrop still has plenty of stock and has just sold out all of its 2023 Zevo 600 trucks thanks to an order for 4,000 units from Ryder, a logistics company. From auto news:
Transportation and logistics company Ryder System Inc. on Monday said it has purchased 4,000 electric delivery vans from General Motors’ BrightDrop commercial vehicle unit over the next three years for use in its rental and rental vehicle fleets.
As a result and other deals, BrightDrop says it has now sold out of its Zevo 600 vans for the 2023 model year. It did not disclose how many trucks it will produce for 2023 but says it is currently taking reservations. for the 2024 cars, with deliveries expected to begin mid-year.
Ryder said it plans to add the smaller Zevo 600 and Zevo 400 to its rental and leasing operations through 2025. The first 200 trucks will be ordered this year, the company said. Ryder says the 2023 Zevo 600 van will be leased to customers in California, New York City and the Dallas area this year, while the Zevo 600 and Zevo 400 2024 vans will be available as soon as this summer.
The company just shipped the first 500 trucks out of the CAMI assembly plant in Ontario, Canada, every Detroit News. Its other customers include FedEx, Walmart, Hertz, and DHL. Those are pretty big names, so don’t worry about BrightDrop. In this case, no news is good news.
3rd Device: United Auto Workers Membership is on the rise
By a modest three percent, it turns out. Again every auto news:
UAW membership grew about 3% last year to more than 383,000, according to an annual financial report filed by the union.
“We are just getting started,” said UAW President Shawn Fain, referring to the increase in membership.
The LM-2 report, filed with the Labor Department late last week, compares union membership as of December 2022 with the same period a year earlier. The UAW reported a membership of 372,254 at the end of 2021, a year in which membership fell by 6%.
The union reported net assets of $1.04 billion after approximately $84 million in liabilities at the end of the reporting period.
Former President Ray Curry, who recently lost to Fain in a close election, received $267,126 in compensation last year. Former Secretary and Treasurer Frank Stuglin earned the most of the union’s International Executive Board members with a remuneration of $311,390.
Fain, who served as an administrative assistant in the Stellantis division before becoming president, received $160,130, records show.
This of course came right after the conclusion of a tough election for the president of the UAW between Fain and incumbent Ray Curry. Curry was quick to cry over the breakdown in the voting process – because that’s just what you do when you lose an election now – before inevitably conceding a goal.
4th Gear: Europe is having its own auto data access moment
you know battle right to repair happening across the country regarding data access and telecommunications in cars? The European Union is trying to code its own data access language, which is a good idea. From Reuters:
The European Commission is working on rules to ensure fair access to valuable automotive data for companies and industry but does not know when they will be ready, a spokesman said. on Monday as industry groups worried about unfair competition from US and Chinese tech companies.
The huge potential of the connected car market, which consulting firm Fortune Business Insights says could grow to 400 billion euros ($435 billion) by 2030, has sparked a battle between automakers. auto and industrial users about vehicle data access.
Automakers are looking to data-driven software products and subscription services that cover everything from driving habits to fuel consumption and tire wear as search engines. next money.
However, data ownership is not explicitly regulated in EU law, leading to an ongoing dispute between car manufacturers and those who want to access that data.
“The committee is working to prepare an industry-specific proposal for in-vehicle data. It will aim to supplement the Data Act proposal, to be published in February 2022,” a spokesperson for the EU executive told Reuters in an email.
While regulators should probably think about this before 2023, it’s nice that the Commission is taking the initiative to come up with some initiative, rather than leaving it at the mercy of a permissive voting question. car manufacturers Pulling things out and disregarding the spirit of the law. Then again, there is still plenty of time for the EU to respond to the wishes of companies here and they’ve been doing pretty well lately.
5th device: Tire spy
Closing Today’s Shift is the latest shift from high stakes The game of world diplomacy and international intrigue that is the tire industry. Basically, a Czech company called Coda Development accused Goodyear almost 10 years ago of embezzling not one, not two, but a huge number. twelfth trade secret. Coda filed for $64 million in damages and got his wish — until Goodyear appealed and a district judge overturned that ruling late last week. From Reuters via car news:
U.S. District Judge Sara Lioi said most of the trade secrets Czech company Coda Development accused Goodyear of stealing were too vague to be legally protected.
A Goodyear spokesperson said Monday that the company agrees with the decision and “respects the intellectual property rights of others.” Coda’s attorneys did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday.
Coda sued Ohio-based Akron, Goodyear in 2015 and said in its revised 2019 complaint that Goodyear copied Coda CEO Frantisek Hrabal’s technology to keep tires inflated with inner tubes. , after discussing a possible partnership in 2009 for General Motors Co. Voltage.
A jury decided last year that Goodyear misappropriated five of 12 trade secrets that Coda accused them of abusing. It awarded Coda $2.8 million in punitive damages and $61.2 million in punitive damages for Goodyear’s “willful and malicious” conduct.
But Lioi said on Friday that four of the five secrets – related to the design, development and placement of Coda’s self-inflating tire pumps – were not specific enough to be considered protectable trade secrets. .
Lioi said Coda’s alleged fifth secret, involving the development of a fully functional self-inflating tire, was “no secret” as the concept was not new in 2009.
While self-inflating tires may not be a new idea in 2009 (This is a patent of USPTO dating from 1965), if Goodyear had copied elements of Coda’s work to his own solution, then Coda would have been furious here. Anyway, this case has dragged on for a long time, and I can’t get excited when the two corporations are fighting. I just hope there are spies involved, at some point.
Reverse: Little Billy
On this day in 1933 – 90 years ago – longtime NASCAR CEO Bill France Jr. was born. Substitute juniors “Big bill” led the sport in 1972 and developed it into juggling it is today. according to Florida History Network:
Bill France Jr. became head of NASCAR when “Big Bill” retired in 1972, 13 years after the opening of the Daytona International Speedway and the end of beach racing. Under the leadership of Bill France Jr., NASCAR has expanded into one of the nation’s most spectated sports, drawing national television audiences that compete with those of League of Soccer games. national stone. In 1979, he signed a deal with CBS Sports to broadcast the entire Daytona 500 live for the first time, then 20 years later oversaw the signing of a $2.4 billion television deal with Fox, NBC and TNT, asked to replace the sport’s longtime title sponsor. – Winston cigarettes – with Nextel telephone company.
Neutral: They did it again
True performance SUVs don’t have to be a thing, but if the automakers intend to keep them, we’ll at least get some like GV80 Coupe “Concept.” Someone please stop Genesis, because there’s no reason for anything this big to look this good.
