Interesting Car/Truck Manufacturer News

[Weather Man]

Lucid Motors unveils cheaper version of upcoming EV sedan
Oct. 14, 2020 12:20 PM ET|About: Daimler AG (DDAIF)|By: Clark Schultz, SA News Editor


Lucid Motors updates on the Lucid Air EV, saying a base model price will be sold at $77,400 or $69,900 after applying the U.S. federal tax credit of $7,500. The previous word from the company was that the base model would list at around $80K.

The base version of the Lucid Air will have 480 horsepower vs. over 1K hp for the top-spec Dream Edition version and range of 406 miles vs. 517 miles for the Dream Edition.

The base model is not expected to go on sale until 2022, while the $139K Air Grand Touring and $169K Air Dream Edition are still scheduled to go on sale in Q2 of 2021.

Lucid Motors had some difficulty obtaining capital until 2018 when it received $1B from Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund to pad its cash balances. There is now some SPAC speculation circling around Lucid.

Looking ahead, Lucid execs have said that they are targeting Mercedes-Benz (OTCPKDAIF) owner to generate sales, instead of considering themselves a direct Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) challenger.

 

[Weather Man]

Kandi Technologies rallies after unveiling U.S. dealer plan
Oct. 14, 2020 12:47 PM ET|About: Kandi Technologies Group,... (KNDI)|By: Clark Schultz, SA News Editor


Kandi Technology (KNDI +7.5%) says its U.S. subsidiary will offer market-exclusive agreements to a maximum of three dealer partners in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex to sell the K23 and K27 models.

Last month, Kandi unveiled a preview of its innovative micro hub showroom design. The minimalistic showroom requires a minimum of only 2K square feet, but is said to reflect the brand's core values by infusing tech-savvy and environmentally-friendly elements throughout the design.

Looking ahead to a national launch, Kandi America plans to partner with a limited number of dealers in each market and will ensure they have exclusive rights to the territory. Pre-orders will be fulfilled by these dealer partners when the vehicles are available in late Q4 2020.

 

[Weather Man]

EV stocks break lower with Q3 earnings on tap
Oct. 15, 2020 11:11 AM ET|About: Blink Charging Co. (BLNK)|By: Clark Schultz, SA News Editor


Investors are taking a bit of a breather on a number of EV stocks after Tesla cut prices on the Model S again.

Decliners on the day include Blink Charging (BLNK -4.9%), Electrameccanica Vehicles (SOLO -9.3%), Kandi Technologies (KNDI -4.0%), Nikola (NKLA -4.9%), GreenPower Motor Company (GP -5.7%), Xpeng (XPEV -0.5%), Hyliion Holdings (HYLN -1.7%), Workhorse Group (WKHS -3.9%) and sector heavyweight Tesla (TSLA -3.2%).

The selling pressure isn't knocking Chinese automakers Nio (NIO +8.1%) and Li Auto (LI +0.4%). An extremely bullish note on Nio and the Chinese EV market from yesterday may still be helping those two names today.

 

[Weather Man]

SPI Energy rallies as subsidiary signs pact with a Chinese EV Co.
Oct. 15, 2020 5:57 AM ET|About: SPI Energy Co., Ltd. (SPI)|By: Niloofer Shaikh, SA News Editor


SPI Energy (NASDAQ:SPI) +82% premarket, as its wholly owned subsidiary EdisonFuture has inked a strategic cooperation framework agreement with Shaanxi Tongjia Automobile, a leading manufacturer of all-electric logistic vehicles in China.

As per the agreement, EdisonFuture and Tongjia will customize design, development, production, and sales of a new generation of smart electric pickup trucks and electric logistics vehicles.

EdisonFuture will also be the exclusive North American distributor of all-electric "last-mile" delivery box trucks and pickup trucks currently produced by Tongjia.

"We are very excited to advance our new EV business with a strong partner such as Tongjia," stated Xiaofeng Peng, Chairman and CEO of SPI Energy. "As the multi-billion-dollar last mile delivery market in North America continues to see rapid growth, logistic operators are looking to EV solutions to lower costs and increase profits. Through our partnership with Tongjia we believe we can meet this growing demand."

 

[Weather Man]

Cars.com +5% on robust Q3 prelim data
Oct. 14, 2020 11:32 PM ET|About: Cars.com, LLC (CARS)|By: Mamta Mayani, SA News Editor


Cars.com (NYSE:CARS) +5% after-hours after reporting strong business momentum in its preliminary Q3 2020 results.

Revenue of ~$142M to $144M and an Adjusted EBITDA margin between 33% and 34% are expected in Q3.

Net loss is expected to be between $10M and $12M.

The company continued to see strong value delivery to its customers during the quarter, leading to all-time low cancellation rates and net growth of nearly 100 dealer customers.

CARS ended Q3 with ~$44M of cash and cash equivalents and $598M in debt outstanding after paying down ~$48M in debt during the quarter.

 

[Weather Man]

Tesla responds to Lucid Air with another Model S price cut
Oct. 15, 2020 3:13 AM ET|About: Tesla, Inc. (TSLA)|By: Yoel Minkoff, SA News Editor


Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) has cut the price of the Model S for the second time in one week, after EV startup Lucid Motors, led by former Tesla executive Peter Rawlinson, announced the base price of its upcoming Air EV would cost $69,900 (after tax credits).

"The gauntlet has been thrown down! The prophecy will be fulfilled. Model S price changes to $69,420 tonight!" Elon Musk wrote on Twitter. Earlier this week, the price was reduced from $74,990 to $71,990.

Lucid has projected that the base model of their sedan will deliver an EPA estimated range of 406 miles per single charge vs. 402 miles per charge on the Model S.

Tesla introduced its Model S in 2012, but in recent years the car has faced competition from the less expensive, mass-market Model 3 sedan, which currently starts at $37,990.

According to Credit Suisse, the Model S makes up only around 5% of Tesla's unit volume.

 

[Weather Man]

Fiat grinds out more EV plans
Oct. 15, 2020 3:45 PM ET|About: Fiat Chrysler Automobiles... (FCAU)|By: Clark Schultz, SA News Editor


Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCAU -0.6%) agreed to invest as much as $1.1B in one of its two assembly plants in Canada as part of a tentative agreement reached covering more than 9K local autoworkers represented by Unifor.

The automaker will invest in a new electric-vehicle platform that will be produced at its Windsor, Ontario in a decision that means 2K jobs will be added at the plant.

The Fiat plan is an indication that it is stepping up its electrification program after a late start. A 5-year chart shows where investors have had their focus.

 

[Weather Man]

Ford Q3 China sales rise 25% to 164,352 units
Oct. 16, 2020 4:46 AM ET|About: Ford Motor Company (F)|By: Mamta Mayani, SA News Editor


Ford Motor (NYSE:F) and its joint ventures, Changan Ford, JMC and Ford Lio-Ho, sold 164,352 vehicles in China in Q3, representing rise of 25.4% Y/Y and 3.6% Q/Q.

Sales of Ford, Lincoln and JMC brand vehicles achieved Y/Y growth of 12.5%, 64.8% and 38.3%, respectively.

Ford brand SUVs sold 38,749 units in China, +72.2% Y/Y and 34.8% Q/Q.

Ford Transit recorded sales of of 12,463 units, an increase of more than 30% over the prior year.

Lio-Ho sold 9,128 vehicles in the Taiwan, up 60.7% Y/Y.

JMC brand vehicle sales exceeded 58,000 units, a rise of 38.3% over Q3 2019.

“Ford is strengthening its sales momentum in China by building on growing consumer preference for our iconic brand and favorable product mix of luxury and near-premium utility vehicles,” said Anning Chen, president and CEO of Ford China.

Overall vehicle sales in China grew 13% in September, 12% in August and 16% in July.

 

[Weather Man]

Nikola -15% on CEO's 'go it alone' comments
Oct. 16, 2020 12:50 PM ET|About: Nikola Corporation (NKLA)|By: Clark Schultz, SA News Editor


Nikola (NASDAQ:NKLA) falls sharply after CEO Mark Russell says he sees a path for the company even if it can't work out a deal with General Motors (NYSE:GM) on a strategic partnership.

"We have the ability and we have a base plan of doing it ourselves. If we have a partner, that just enables us to consider going faster and helps reduce the risk," states Russell.

Nikola is prepared to drop the Badger truck from its production plans if it can’t secure an agreement with an original equipment manufacturer like GM.

Talks between Nikola and GM are said to be still going on.

Shares of Nikola are down 14.88% and have traded as low as $19.63 during the session. GM is up 1.85%.

 

[Weather Man]

GM to convert Detroit-Hamtramck plant to produce only electric vehicles
Oct. 16, 2020 4:25 PM ET|About: General Motors Company (GM)|By: Carl Surran, SA News Editor


General Motors (GM +2.6%) unveils its first electric vehicle-only factory, reconfiguring its Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly Center to produce its GMC Hummer EV pickup and other EV models.

GM says it will invest $2.2B - the single-largest by the company for any plant in its history - to retool and upgrade the facility to build EVs, including the Cruise Origin, a purpose-built electric, self-driving, shared vehicle.

The facility, renamed Factory Zero, will be GM's flagship assembly plant "in our journey to an all-electric future," the company says.

GM says it is committed to sourcing 100% of its U.S. facilities with renewable energy by 2030, and all global facilities by 2040, including Factory Zero, which features a 30 KW solar carport and 516 KW ground mount solar panel system.

GM also announced yesterday that Cruise plans to begin testing unmanned autonomous vehicles by the end of this year in San Francisco.

 

[Weather Man]

GM Hummer event: General Motors (GM) will hold an event to show off the new Hummer, which it calls the world's first supertruck. The automaker says the Hummer EV pickup will feature 1,000 horsepower; 0 to 60 mph acceleration of three seconds; and 11,500 pound-feet of torque. GM is launching a high-profile ad blitz next week to get the word out on the Hummer rebirth to about 80% of U.S. adults across social media and streaming platforms. GM will begin taking reservations and $100 refundable deposits for the vehicle next week, while sales are expected to begin shortly after production starts at a Detroit factory next fall. "It will be interesting to see if Hummer loyalists will make the leap from the brand’s traditional gasoline drivetrains to an all-new, all-electric vehicle," says iSeeCars analyst Karl Brauer. The company says its Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly Center will be reconfigured to an all-electric vehicle assembly plant to be known as Factory ZERO. In regard to the big picture out of Detroit, the Hummer is expected to be the first vehicle to showcase GM's next-generation electric vehicle platform and batteries under the $20B plan to shift to electric and autonomous vehicles through 2025.

 

[Weather Man]

GM to announce expanded electric vehicle production
Oct. 19, 2020 6:46 PM ET|About: General Motors Company (GM)|By: Carl Surran, SA News Editor


General Motors (NYSE:GM) says it plans to make a "major U.S. manufacturing investment announcement" tomorrow, which reportedly will include plans to begin building the Cadillac Lyriq electric SUV at its Spring Hill, Tenn. plant.

On Friday, Gerald Johnson, GM's head of global manufacturing, said the factory for the Lyriq would be announced this week.

Consulting firm LMC Automotive predicts the Lyriq, GM's first electric SUV, will be built in Spring Hill, which would make the facility the company's third for producing electric vehicles.

The Spring Hill facility, GM's biggest in North America, currently makes the Cadillac XT5 and XT6 gas-powered SUVs as well as the GMC and Holden Acadia SUVs.

On Friday, GM unveiled plans for its first electric vehicle-only factory, reconfiguring its Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly Center to produce its GMC Hummer EV pickup and other EV models.

 

[Weather Man]

XPeng completes production of 10,000 units of P7 smart EV sedan
Oct. 20, 2020 4:32 AM ET|About: XPeng Inc. (XPEV)|By: Niloofer Shaikh, SA News Editor


XPeng (NYSE:XPEV) completed the production of 10,000 units of the P7 smart EV sedan within 160 days, a record among new EV markers in China at its self-built wholly-owned factory in Zhaoqing, Guangdong Province on Oct 20, 2020.

“Today sees us achieving the 10,000th unit production target earlier than expected. We delivered on our promise to bring high-quality smart EVs to meet our customer demand,” said He Xiaopeng, Chairman and CEO of XPeng at a ceremony in Zhaoqing.

The P7 smart EV sports sedan is designed and built with four goals: drive further and smarter, charge quicker, accelerate faster and control smoother. The P7’s chassis was jointly developed with a luxury sports-style German engineering brand.

“The Smart EV market in China is at a crossroads, where companies focusing on differentiated products and quality services stand out from the rest, and we see it an irreversible trend,” CEO He Xiaopeng added.

 

[Weather Man]

Tesla registrations in California drop in Q3
Oct. 20, 2020 8:12 AM ET|About: Tesla, Inc. (TSLA)|By: Clark Schultz, SA News Editor


Tesla's (NASDAQ:TSLA) vehicle registrations in California fell 13% in Q3 compared to a year ago, according to data from research firm Cross-Sell.

The report indicated Tesla registrations for the quarter were 16,200, which was a big jump from the 9,800 registrations in Q2 during the Fremont shutdown period.

California registrations for Tesla's Model 3, which in the past accounted for more than half of total registrations, fell 60% during the quarter to 6,500 units.

Overall, Tesla reported deliveries of 139K for Q3 and hasn't yet pulled its full-year target for 500k deliveries.

 

[Weather Man]

GM spending $2B to transition Tennessee plant for electric vehicles
Oct. 20, 2020 11:15 AM ET|About: General Motors Company (GM)|By: Stephen Alpher, SA News Editor


General Motors' (NYSE:GM) Spring Hill, TN assembly plant will become the company's third manufacturing site to produce electric vehicles.

The new Cadillac LYRIQ will be the first EV produced at Spring Hill, with production of the traditionally-powered XT6 and XT5 also to continue there.

Alongside, the company is confirming investments in five other Michigan plants for future crossover and full-size pickup production, bringing the total investment to more than $2B.

 

[Weather Man]

Ford plans for self-driving commercial car launch in 2022
Oct. 20, 2020 3:08 PM ET|About: Ford Motor Company (F)|By: Clark Schultz, SA News Editor


Ford (F +2.2%) plans to launch its self-driving commercial business in 2022 with vehicles based on the Ford Escape Hybrid crossover.

The automaker says the vehicles will be tested alongside self-driving Fusion hybrids in Austin, Detroit, Miami, Palo Alto, Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C.

Ford Autonomous Vehicles LLC Chief Engineer John Davis: "The systems we're incorporating into our newest test vehicles are 'launch-intent' in terms of the components we believe will be needed to support commercialization. What this means is that with a well-defined architecture and platform in the Escape Hybrid, our team can continuously test and refine performance over the coming years to better prepare us for launch. Everything we learn while using them can be channeled directly into our self-driving service as soon as it starts serving customers."

The vehicles are the automaker's fourth generation of self-driving test vehicles with Argo AI. Ford and Volkswagen (OTCPK:VWAGY) split an 80% majority stake in Argo earlier this year.

 

[Weather Man]

Ducati brand could be on the sales block
Oct. 20, 2020 12:55 PM ET|About: Volkswagen AG ADR (VWAGY)|By: Clark Schultz, SA News Editor


Volkswagen Group (OTCPK:VWAGY) is holding early talks with potential bidders for its Ducati brand ahead of a November meeting aimed at five-year plans, sources tell Reuters.

The German automaker is said to be gauging the level of interest in the motorcycle brand before the strategy session.

Volkswagen is also expected to discuss the future of super sports car brands Lamborghini and Bugatti.

 

[svtfocus2cobra]

Used car prices spiked 6.7 percent in September, marking the biggest monthly move since February 1969. The jump followed a 5.4 percent increase in August, the U.S. Labor Department reported.

Second-hand automobile inventories have tightened in recent months due to a reduction in trade-ins caused by the drop in new car sales this year.

Prices have been on the rise since July and are up 10.3 percent year to date, while average new car prices increased just .3 percent in October and 1 percent so far in 2020 to a record high of $35,655, according to J.D. Power.

Industry insiders expect used car pricing to start coming down soon, however, as a new car sales recovery is underway, with third-quarter sales down 9.3 percent year over year compared to a 31.9 percent drop in Q2.

Used car prices saw record rise in September due to short supplies

I've seen this play out in our shop. I get pre-purchase inspection inquires a few times a year, but in the past 2 weeks I have received probably 10 or so?

 

[Weather Man]

Hummer EV sport utility truck starts at $112,595
Oct. 21, 2020 3:17 AM ET|About: General Motors Company (GM)|By: Yoel Minkoff, SA News Editor


The latest edition of GM's (NYSE:GM) plan to shift to "electric and autonomous vehicles through 2025" is the GMC Hummer EV sport utility truck, which will become available next fall at a starting price of $112,595.

A $99,995 version will be available a year later, followed by $89,995 and $79,995 models in the springs of 2023 and 2024, respectively.

Specs: Zero to 60 mph in 3 seconds, and estimated best-in-class 1,000 horsepower and 11,500 lb.-ft. of torque, fast charging of up to 100 miles of range in 10 minutes and more than 350 miles of range on a full charge.

The vehicle also features an open-air layout in which customers can remove the roof, as well as a "crab walk" feature that lets the front and rear wheels steer at the same angle at low speeds so it can move diagonally around obstacles.

The Hummer will hit the road alongside significantly cheaper models from rivals, like Ford's (NYSE:F) electric F-150, Tesla's (NASDAQ:TSLA) Cybertruck and pickups from four startup companies.

"This is all about people who just love the best in automotive innovation, performance, capability and technology," GMC Vice President Duncan Aldred declared. "These are the people who you may have seen buy the exotic sports car type brands. This will be the must-have item."

 

[Weather Man]

AutoNation EPS beats by $0.73, beats on revenue
Oct. 21, 2020 7:29 AM ET|About: AutoNation, Inc. (AN)|By: Niloofer Shaikh, SA News Editor


AutoNation (NYSE:AN): Q3 Non-GAAP EPS of $2.38 beats by $0.73; GAAP EPS of $2.05 beats by $0.52.

Revenue of $5.4B (-1.1% Y/Y) beats by $210M.

Shares +3.9% PM.

AutoNation +11% after earnings smasher, buyback boost
Oct. 21, 2020 7:46 AM ET|About: AutoNation, Inc. (AN)|By: Clark Schultz, SA News Editor


AutoNation (NYSE:AN) reports same-store new vehicle sales were down 3.5% in Q3 and same-store used vehicle sales were up 9.3%.

Same-store new vehicle gross profit per vehicle retailed rose 56% Y/Y to $2,535.

Same-store used vehicle gross profit per vehicle retailed rose 43% to $1,994.

Same-store gross profit was up 11% to $972M.

Looking ahead, AutoNation plans to build over 100 AutoNation pre-owned vehicles stores. The buyback allowance was boosted to $500M.

Shares of AutoNation are up 11.23% premarket to $70.11.