Automotive Ventures Weekly Intel Report | Dec 11 2023

Intel Report: Mobility News

BY AUTOMOTIVE VENTURES | DEC 11 2023 | VIEW ONLINE

My favorite LinkedIn comment from this week:

Thank you for the constructive criticism, Helmut! (Link)

Top 10 Articles of 2023

Here are the ten most-read LinkedIn articles we shared in 2023 (I'm sensing a trend here...):

1: Tesla's latest disruption in carmaking draws followers in Japan
Tesla pioneered the use of huge machines capable of casting entire sections of a chassis in a single step, replacing dozens of parts that were welded together previously. (Link)

2: Elon Musk started a price war that Tesla can't win
Under increasing pressure from new competition, Tesla spent the past year slashing the average price of its models by roughly 25%. But lower prices are not translating into higher sales. (Link)

3: Tesla Unveils First Model 3 Revamp, Slashes Prices in Sales Push
Tesla is now charging $74,990 for the base Model S and $79,990 for the Model X. The two vehicles began the year with starting prices of $104,990 and $120,990, respectively. (Link)

4: Tesla vs. Toyota Is the New Hot Battle in Cars
A slowdown in EV sales growth in the U.S. is testing Elon Musk’s vision for an electric vehicle future. (Link)

5: Auto execs are coming clean: EVs aren't working
With signs of growing inventory and slowing sales, auto industry executives admitted this week that their ambitious electric vehicle plans are in jeopardy, at least in the near term. (Link)

6: Whatever the UAW Strike Outcome, Elon Musk Has Already Won
Tesla price cuts this year illustrate how the automaker can take advantage of a lower cost structure to engage in price wars with rivals around the world to juice sales. (Link)

7: EVs are going backwards
Turning a car electric doesn’t make it environmentally friendly. Electricity might give you the soft and fuzzies because there’s no CO2 billowing out of your tailpipe, but that electricity has to come from somewhere. (Link)

8: Canadian supplier Magna to buy Veoneer Active Safety fro $1.53 billion
Canadian supplier Magna agreed to buy Veoneer Active Safety from investment firm SSW Partners for $1.53 billion in cash to bolster its portfolio of self-driving technology. (Link)

9: Toyota takes on Tesla's gigacasting in battle for carmaking's future
The way Tesla makes cars “is quickly moving to become an industry standard.” Gigacasting or megacasting uses casting machines to force molten metal into molds under high pressure to produce large aluminum body parts, such as the entire underside of a vehicle. (Link)

10: Are Americans Falling Out of Love With EVs?
Sales of all-electric models in the U.S. have plateaued around the 100,000-a-month mark for the past half year after a period of rapid growth. Inventories are piling up and prices are falling, led by market leader Tesla. Whether or not adoption of EVs in the U.S. is actually stalling—the jury is out—it is clearly weaker than manufacturers were anticipating. (Link)

What We're Reading:

Jeremy Alicandri discusses why transparency into the auto dealers' Six Profit Centers, which would be necessary for online car selling to reach critical mass, is unlikely to be incorporated into the Amazon automotive shopping experience. (Link)

The Cox Automotive Dealer Sentiment Index (CADSI) revealed a significant decrease in U.S. auto dealer sentiment in Q4 2023 compared to Q3. This decline is attributed to the adverse effects of high-interest rates and a weakening economy on the automotive market. (Link)

——-Needs remaining images


Independent repair shops overtake franchise dealerships as the top choice of service customers in the latest Cox Automotive report. (Link)


Why are consumers not going back to franchised dealerships for service? (Link)

Electric Vehicle (EV) owners have likely noticed that their vehicles are not delivering the manufacturer’s advertised range—an observation now backed by recent testing by Consumer Reports: “Nearly half fell short of their EPA-estimated ranges when driven at highway speeds.” (Link)

The rise of inexpensive Chinese electric vehicles has upped the pressure on legacy automakers who have turned to suppliers, from battery materials makers to chipmakers, to squeeze out costs and develop affordable EVs quicker than previously planned. (Link)


Heavier EVs represent an extension of a longstanding trend rather than something entirely new. US vehicles have gotten safer for their passengers over time as hardware like airbags and driver assistance software have proliferated. But they also began getting heavier in the 1990s. The average new vehicle now weighs about 4,300 pounds, almost half a ton heavier than 30 years ago. (Link)

What if one answer to getting more people to buy EVs was actually less range? So far, carmakers have sought to address range anxiety by creating bigger batteries with longer range. Yet they take a long time to recharge, and are heavy and expensive to make. Lucid Motors is working on designing more efficient motors that can squeeze additional miles out of each kilowatt-hour of juice. That would enable electric vehicles to use smaller batteries, helping to make the vehicles more affordable. (Link)


Three-year-old electric vehicles (EVs) aren't holding their value as well as the average 3-year-old model. Here is Black Book's historical retention data and predictions for the next 3 years. (Link)

The current EV charging model isn't profitable. Startups that have shaped the nation's charging infrastructure, such as ChargePoint, EVgo and Blink Charging, all reported recent large losses. They are reliant on a number of factors outside of their control to earn a profit, including on-time EV launches, especially for commercial vehicles; smooth and rapid infrastructure expansion with coordination between utilities and local municipalities; regulatory approvals and more. (Link)


Ample has partnered with Stellantis to roll out its battery-swapping technology in the automaker’s Fiat 500e city car. The two companies will start the first phase in Madrid, where 100 cars in Stellantis’ Free2move car-sharing service will be retrofitted to accept Ample’s modular batteries. (Link)


The angular design of Tesla's Cybertruck has safety experts concerned the electric pickup truck's stiff stainless-steel exoskeleton could hurt pedestrians and cyclists and damage other vehicles on roads. The stainless-steel exterior has even broken the stamping machine that forms the panels, Elon Musk said, touting the vehicle's toughness. (Link)

Tesla's car insurance unit must face a prospective class action claiming it overcharged drivers for their premiums by basing them on "false" crash warnings instead of actual driving behavior, a California judge has ruled. (Link)

Crews have installed what’s billed as the nation’s first wireless-charging public roadway for electric vehicles beneath a street just west of downtown Detroit. (Link)

The Autonomous Vehicle Industry Association, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Alliance For Automotive Innovation and others sent a letter to U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg imploring the agency to support the development of AVs or risk losing a competitive edge to China. (Link)


Kodiak Robotics showcased an autonomous Ford F-150 pickup truck that the Department of Defense is using to test autonomous surveillance and reconnaissance missions in off-road terrain, diverse operational conditions and GPS-challenged environments. (Link)


The latest Experian Automotive Market Trends report is available. (Link)

Elon Musk’s SpaceX has initiated discussions about selling insider shares at a price that values the closely held company at $175 billion or more. The increase would make SpaceX one of the world’s 75 biggest companies by market capitalization. (Link)

SpaceX threatens to upend the space launch market with Starship’s audacious size and scale. The rocket, designed to haul more cargo into orbit than any previous vehicle, can carry up to 150,000 kilograms (331,000 pounds) to low-Earth orbit, which could equate to hundreds of satellites in a single launch. Rival craft in development are projected to transport only a small fraction of that payload mass at most. (Link)


Customers for launch services face a rocket shortage that’s diminishing their ability to consider alternative providers. Stumbles by competitors have created challenges for space-related businesses looking for rides into orbit and may be cementing SpaceX’s dominance in the fast-growing market for satellite launches. (Link)

Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company xAI is seeking to raise $1 billion in funding from equity investors. xAI has already raised nearly $135 million. Musk created xAI earlier this year to try to compete with other generative AI companies, including OpenAI, where Musk was a co-founder.  The company has debuted one product, a chatbot called Grok, trained on data from the X social network, which Musk also owns. It is “designed to answer questions with a bit of wit and has a rebellious streak,” according to the company website. (Link)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. said artificial intelligence tools are starting to generate revenue for the bank, with future advances in AI likely to produce even more benefits. JPMorgan set a target last year of $1 billion in “business value” generated by AI in 2023, and the firm increased that goal to $1.5 billion at its investor day in May. (Link)


Our new "Car of the Week": 1981 Lamborghini Countach LP400 S Series 2. (Link)


Have a great week,
Steve Greenfield