Good morning! It’s Thursday, October 19, 2023, and that is The Morning Shift, your every day roundup of the highest automotive headlines from around the globe, in a single place. Here are the essential tales it’s good to know.
1st Gear: Keep Waiting For The Cybertruck
To the shock of nobody who’s paying consideration, mass manufacturing of Tesla’s Cybertruck has been kicked down the highway as soon as once more. CEO Elon Musk made the announcement about the stainless-steel electrical pickup truck throughout a Q3 earnings name. He was just about bracing of us ready for the truck for an extended and troublesome ramp up at the Texas manufacturing facility despite the fact that the official launch occasion is ready for November 30.
“I’ve driven the car, and it’s an amazing product,” Musk stated through the name. “I do want to emphasize that there will be enormous challenges in reaching volume production.” From Automotive News:
He stated pickup manufacturing ought to attain 1 / 4 of 1,000,000 yearly by 2025, and stated there are round 1 million reservations for the Cybertruck.
Tesla has but to announce ultimate pricing for the pickup. Musk stated the automaker is attempting to make it inexpensive however that it’s loaded with new applied sciences, making price a problem.
Musk reiterated Tesla’s steerage to provide 1.8 million autos this 12 months, however he wavered through the earnings name on whether or not the corporate remained dedicated to attaining 50 % international quantity progress yearly for the foreseeable future. He did say he expects Tesla to develop sooner than another automotive firm on Earth “by far.”
In its third-quarter monetary assertion after the market shut Wednesday, Tesla stated its gross margin shrank from a 12 months earlier because it slashed costs to spice up demand within the face of upper rates of interest. The firm reported a gross margin of 17.9 % in contrast with 25.1 % a 12 months earlier. In the second quarter, Tesla posted a gross margin of 18.2 %.
Since the start of the 12 months, Tesla has been centered on huge time worth cuts to maintain curiosity in its getting old fleet of autos excessive. It type of labored.
Third-quarter web revenue fell 44 % to $1.9 billion whereas income within the quarter rose 9 % to $23.35 billion, the slowest tempo of progress in additional than three years. Analysts had estimated $24.1 billion in income for the quarter.
Still, the automaker’s adjusted revenue margin was reportedly nearly in keeping with expectations, at a tick beneath 18 %.
Anyway, as I’m certain you already know, the Cybertruck has been delayed proper round 10,000 occasions because it was first set to his the streets about two years aog. Right on schedule, Elon. Right on schedule.
2nd Gear: Stellantis, China’s Dongfeng Deep Ties
Stellantis and Dongfeng stated on October 19 that the automakers are increasing their car and element export enterprise by means of an asset sale to raised make the most of China’s exploding automotive market. From Reuters:
Under the asset switch deal, Dongfeng will purchase land use-rights and buildings in Wuhan and Xiangyang from Dongfeng Peugeot Citroën Automobile (DPCA), its three way partnership with Stellantis, for 1.71 billion yuan ($233.69 million).
China’s auto market, the world’s largest, is on observe to succeed in practically 25 million autos in gross sales this 12 months with total progress of about 3%, and the share of EVs and plug-ins is rising quick.
Last month, Honda Motor Co stated its Chinese unit will set up a three way partnership with Dongfeng and Guangzhou Automobile Group to acquire batteries for totally electrical autos.
“After the acquisition, the company and Stellantis will further deepen their cooperation to support DPCA’s continued production of its existing Peugeot and Citroen as well as Fukang models,” a spokesperson for Dongfeng stated in a press release.
Stellantis stated it can help the three way partnership in exporting Peugeot 4008 and Peugeot 5008 fashions to ASEAN nations, and Citroen C5X mannequin to Europe.
Reuters says the acquisition will assist Dongfeng consolidate its in-house new power passenger car enterprise. The Hong Kong-based firm reportedly made that assertion in a inventory alternate submitting.
third Gear: Honda Robotaxis Heading To Tokyo (With GM’s Help)
Honda is planning to begin its personal self-driving taxi service in Tokyo by early 2026. It’s a transfer that might assist alleviate a scarcity of cab drivers within the extremely dense metropolis. The Japanese automaker has apparently been creating autonomous autos with the assistance of General Motor’s Cruise. It’s an organization well-known for making a multitude of site visitors in a lot of U.S. cities, particularly San Francisco.
It’ll begin off with dozens of autos in central Tokyo. The purpose is reportedly to broaden to over 500 autos earlier than ultimately taking the service known as “Cruise Origin” to different areas, Honda’s CEO Toshihiro Mibe stated on October 19. From Bloomberg:
The boxy car, which might carry as much as six passengers, gained’t have a driver’s seat or steering wheel, permitting riders to take a seat dealing with one another in a cabin-like area that can be utilized for conferences on-the-go. It might be displayed on the Japan Mobility Show, which begins later this month.
Autonomous taxis might assist tackle one of many key points dealing with the business in Japan: a scarcity of drivers, after greater than 10,000 drivers left the business through the pandemic. They additionally provide a driving answer to folks with disabilities and an getting old inhabitants, stated GM CEO Mary Barra, who joined the occasion by way of video hyperlink.
“We have been designing Cruise Origin thinking its usage is not only to transport people, but also objects, and want to expand its usability,” Mibe stated on the occasion, held at Honda’s Tokyo headquarters, including that the three firms want to collaborate with transportation operators.
Japan lags behind nations just like the US and China relating to autonomous driving. So far, there’s just one city with autos that includes level-4 capabilities — outlined once they can deal with all driving duties however solely beneath particular circumstances with the choice for people to take over. Even then, the seven-seater golf carts are solely allowed to navigate a 2 kilometer (1.2 mile) course. Maximum pace: 12 kilometers per hour.
[…]
As for the challenges of left-hand driving in Japan and Tokyo’s slender roads that will result in collisions, Cruise CEO Kyle Vogt stated security is the primary precedence and the corporate has been persevering with to refine the know-how within the US. The robotaxis have been concerned in a collection of security incidents, together with a collision with a firetruck that injured one in every of its prospects.
Honda launched Japan’s first level-3 autonomous passenger automobiles in 2021, however solely provided 100 of the upgraded Legend sedans at 11 million yen ($73,400) apiece. At level-3, autos can carry out most duties, however people are nonetheless required to take over when crucial.
Back in April of this 12 months, Japan launched revised site visitors legal guidelines that enable for level-4 totally automated driving on public roads beneath sure circumstances, they usually nonetheless require distant monitoring. This newest enterprise from Honda and GM should get approval as a result of the car gained’t have a driver’s seat.
4th Gear: Chinese Tesla Supplier Spend Big Money In Mexico
Two Chinese Tesla suppliers are investing practically $1 billion in Nuevo Leon, a northern Mexican state, the place the automaker is planning to construct a brand new manufacturing facility. That’s based on Samuel Garcia, the state’s Governor.
The deliberate investments will embody $700 million from Ningbo Tuopu Group and $260 million from Hesai Technologies. From Reuters:
Tesla introduced in March it might construct a big plant within the state, the place it already has suppliers, in what Mexican officers described as a greater than $5 billion funding. Speaking in a video filmed at Tesla’s Shanghai manufacturing facility, Garcia stated Ningbo Tuopu Group was seeking to start manufacturing by the tip of the 12 months in Nuevo Leon.
[…]
Ningbo Tuopu Group develops shock absorption merchandise and different auto components, whereas Hesai Technology makes lidar gentle sensors for functions like autonomous autos and robots.
Ningbo is predicted to create some 10,000 jobs, and Hesai, as much as 4,000, Nuevo Leon officers stated.
[…]
“We’re very happy because everything seems to indicate that the Nuevo Leon site will be twice as big, at least, as the one in Austin,” Garcia stated, noting that Tesla already sources batteries, software program, computer systems and different components from Nuevo Leon.
Tesla is but to start development in Nuevo Leon, and actually its timeline for beginning manufacturing continues to be fairly unclear. Depending on what occurs, these suppliers could also be placing the cart in entrance of the horse, however I suppose solely time will inform.
Reverse: Oh, Johnny Baby. What Are You Doing?
Neutral: My Ceiling Is Not Having A Good Week
Water beginning raining down from above. Now there are two giant holes in my toilet ceiling. Luckily, the upkeep man has lined them in cardboard and let me know somebody will repair it will definitely.
On The Radio: Paul Simon – “You Can Call Me Al”
Source: jalopnik.com