Volvo Cars Says March Sales Fall 22%, Hurt By Chip Shortage

VOLVO CARS SAYS MARCH SALES FALL 22%, HURT BY CHIP SHORTAGE

Volvo Cars said on Monday car sales in March fell 22% to 58,677 cars as the automaker faced shortages of a specific semiconductor. Volvo, majority owned by China's Geely Holding, said the shortage is expected to impact production during the second quarter.

Source: Reuters

AUDI, FORD LEAD J.D. POWER LEASE-END SATISFACTION STUDY

Consumers had the highest satisfaction with lease-end practices by Audi Financial Services and Ford Credit last year, according to J.D. Power. The 2022 J.D. Power U.S. End of Lease Satisfaction Study, which polled 3,075 customers within nine months after their leases ended, ranked Audi No. 1 in the premium segment with a score of 868 out of 1,000. Ford took first in the mass-market segment with a score of 864.

Source: Automotive News

FORD, GM TO HALT PRODUCTION AT TWO MICHIGAN PLANTS - PARTS SHORTAGE

Ford Motor Co and General Motors will each halt production next week at a Michigan plant due to parts shortages, the two companies said separately on Thursday. No. 2 U.S. automaker Ford said it would suspend production at its Flat Rock Assembly Plant next week, where it builds the Mustang, due to the global semiconductor shortage.

Source: Reuters

NISSAN CONSIDERS DEALER MARGIN CUT ON ARIYA EV TO OFFSET R&D

As Nissan gears up to launch a wave of pricey next-generation electric vehicles, the EV pioneer is turning to its dealers to share in some of the financial pain. The Japanese automaker is considering a cut of 2.5 percentage points in dealer margins on the Nissan Ariya, a 300-mile electric crossover set to arrive in the U.S. this fall. Under the new plan, retailers could receive 8.5 percent of the vehicle's sticker price as a profit margin, dealers briefed on the matter told Automotive News last week. That's less than the 11 percent margin Nissan dealers earn on combustion-engine models.

Source: Automotive News

NISSAN DELAYS ARIYA ELECTRIC SUV SALES AGAIN, CITING SUPPLY CHAIN WOES

Nissan Motor Co is pushing back the release date of the electric Ariya B6 SUV again due to a global shortage of semiconductors and other supply chain disruptions, the Japanese automaker said in a statement late on Monday. The Ariya, Nissan's second EV-only model after the Leaf hatchback, will now go on sale on May 12 in Japan. The company had most recently flagged a late-March launch. The Ariya was originally slated for a mid-2021 launch but was delayed by COVID-related chip shortages.

Source: Reuters

GM AND HONDA TO PARTNER ON ‘AFFORDABLE’ ELECTRIC VEHICLES

General Motors and Honda Motor will develop a series of affordable electric vehicles based on a new global architecture, the companies announced Tuesday morning. The project will utilize GM’s next-generation Ultium battery technology. The first vehicles, including popular compact crossover vehicles, are expected to go on sale in 2027, according to a joint press release. The automakers also said they will discuss future “EV battery technology collaboration opportunities, to further drive down the cost of electrification, improve performance and drive sustainability for future vehicles.”

Source: CNBC

PORSCHE SALES SINK 25% IN U.S. AFTER WAR, SUPPLY CHAIN, SHIP DISASTER

Even the most buoyant of automakers is facing squalls after a perfect storm of supply-chain shortages, war, and the sinking of a cargo ship carrying millions of dollars worth of product across the Atlantic. Porsche Cars North America Inc. announced on April 1 that U.S. retail deliveries in first quarter 2022 sunk 24.9% compared to the same quarter in 2021. The company delivered 13,042 units during the first three months of this year, down from 17,368 delivered during that period last year. 

Source: Bloomberg

SUBARU: LOSING STREAK HITS 10 MONTHS ON LEAN STOCKPILES, LOW INCENTIVES

Subaru's U.S. sales slid 34 percent to 43,322 in March as light-vehicle inventory continues to be undermined by global microchip shortages and other supply chain issues. It was the company's 10th consecutive monthly decline. Subaru had less than a 25-day supply of vehicles throughout March, according to Cox Automotive data. Only Kia, Toyota and Lexus had leaner stockpiles last month. All but two Subaru models saw month-over-month declines in March.

Source: Automotive News

GOOD NEWS FOR OSHAWA

General Motors Canada said it will add a third shift and begin building the light-duty Chevrolet Silverado at its Oshawa Assembly Plant as it firms up more than $1.6 billion (USD) in spending across its Ontario operations. Top company and government officials announced the mix of fresh and long-planned investments in Oshawa April 4, with the federal and provincial governments pledging matching $207 million contributions to the series of projects, amounting to around a quarter of total costs.

Source: Automotive News

USED EVS SCORE WELL ON MANHEIM BATTERY TESTS

The early report cards are in from Manheim’s electric-vehicle battery testing. And the grades are pretty good. The auto auction chain last year began performing battery health tests on battery-electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid-electric vehicles as part of overall vehicle condition reports which bidders rely on. Some people balk at buying a used EV, fearing its battery pack could need replacing soon. Those skeptics include professional auction bidders. To ease such anxiety. Manheim came up with the multi-point battery tests its technicians perform.

Source: WardsAuto 

VW TO SCRAP MODELS AND FOCUS ON PREMIUM MARKET – CFO TELLS FT

German carmaker Volkswagen will axe many combustion engine models by the end of the decade and sell fewer cars overall to concentrate on producing more profitable premium vehicles, its finance chief was quoted as saying on Wednesday. “The key target is not growth,” Arno Antlitz told the Financial Times newspaper. “We are (more focused) on quality and on margins, rather than on volume and market share.”

Source: Reuters

TOYOTA SAYS STICKING TO SEDANS IS THE SECRET TO SUCCESS IN U.S.

Toyota is seeing plenty of interest for good old-fashioned passenger cars as it says buyers increasingly prize affordability and availability when looking for a new set of wheels. The Japanese automaker attributes its ascendancy as the top-selling automaker in the U.S. – a rank it wrested from General Motors Co. late last year – at least in part due to the popularity of its compact and mid-size sedans, even though the market has overwhelmingly shifted toward light trucks such as SUVs and pickups in recent years.

Source: Bloomberg 

GM EXPECTS RECORD YEAR OF CHEVY BOLT EV SALES FOLLOWING FIRE RECALL

General Motors expects sales of its electric Chevrolet Bolt models can rebound from a high-profile recall after several vehicles caught fire to achieve record results in 2022. The automaker restarted production and shipments of the Bolt EV and a larger “EUV” version this week. Production of the vehicles at a plant in Michigan had largely been down since August, when the automaker recalled every Bolt that had been produced at the factory since 2016.

Source: CNBC 

VIETNAM EV MAKER VINFAST FILES FOR $2 BILLION U.S. IPO

VinFast has filed confidentially for an initial public offering in the U.S. as the Vietnamese electric vehicle maker starts building a factory in North Carolina. The unit of conglomerate Vingroup JSC has lodged its registration with the Securities and Exchange Commission, according to a statement on its website on Thursday. The company said it hasn’t decided on the size of the offering. The biggest carmaker in Vietnam has been working with advisers on the U.S. listing in the second half of this year, it said in a statement in December. The share sale could raise about $2 billion, Bloomberg News has reported.

Source: Bloomberg