Autos

Activist hitches long ride on Nissan’s turnaround

12 Nov 2024

Fund Effissimo bought a stake in the sickly Japanese carmaker, sending shares up 13%. The $9 bln marque already unveiled bold cost-cutting plans, and there is limited scope to push for more. It’s a risky bet CEO Makoto Uchida can pull it off amid an increasingly tough market.

COP29 will highlight bifurcated energy transitions

12 Nov 2024

Donald Trump’s election victory casts a pall over the UN climate confab in Baku. It will also make raising $1 trln a year from rich states to decarbonise the developing world even harder. But his return will also hasten a shift East and South in the fight against global warming.

China-EU trade Plan B looks too fiddly

6 Nov 2024

The People's Republic is pushing for alternatives to the bloc's tariffs on imported Chinese electric cars. One idea is minimum pricing. But that mechanism is hard to implement and could also undermine the attraction of local manufacturing. That limits the room to manoeuvre.

BYD’s outpacing of Tesla has only just begun

31 Oct 2024

The electric-car maker still lags Elon Musk's marque on profitability. But his Chinese rival's record $28 bln revenue last quarter handily bested Tesla's. With heftier R&D spending, new factories and models coming, BYD's sales will be hard to catch up with.

Grim VW numbers give CEO a mandate for shake-up

30 Oct 2024

The 46 bln euro carmaker reported a 21% year-on-year operating profit slump in the first nine months of 2024. That may help boss Oliver Blume push through a restructuring of its ailing core brand. It’s a necessary but risky move, and other problems, like China, are getting worse.

China is reshaping, not choking, private business

30 Oct 2024

Tech giants and property developers have tumbled, while party support lifted electric carmaker BYD and solar powerhouse Longi. A blurred line between state-backed and private firms does not preclude innovation or competition in the $18 trln economy. Disdain for market forces can.

Ford’s ride-the-brakes strategy is hard to steer

29 Oct 2024

The Detroit carmaker has trimmed electric vehicle plans that nonetheless lost $1.2 bln last quarter. Meanwhile, the airbag of gas-guzzler profit is deflating on quality and supply issues. Boss Jim Farley says it’s safer to forestall the future. He’s struggling to prove it.

China robotaxi IPOs may struggle to find their way

25 Oct 2024

Pony AI and rival WeRide are prepping US listings. But shares in fellow autonomous-vehicle pioneers like Mobileye and Hesai have lost half their value or more in the past year, and the road to profitability for driverless cabs looks long. That makes these deals a harder sell.

Lean Renault offers hard lessons for ailing peers

24 Oct 2024

The $13 bln French group's sales beat expectations at a time when most European carmakers are cutting their guidance. Renault benefits from its limited China exposure, focus on cheap cars and past restructuring. That’s little solace for bigger rivals Volkswagen or Stellantis.

Tesla gives its faithful just enough good news

23 Oct 2024

Shares in Elon Musk’s $700 bln carmaker surged as operating profit rose 54%. That owes more to cost cuts than growth, but along with heady sales predictions, it overshadowed a disappointing robotaxi reveal. The rub is whether that’s enough to justify investors getting charged up.

GM clings to its first in class status

22 Oct 2024

The $60 bln carmaker beat expectations for the third quarter in a row. Electric investments are paying off, high prices haven’t scared consumers and it has a path back to robotaxis. Right now, GM is golden. Yet from subsidies to tech breakthroughs, its ranking may be challenged.

China’s smart cars will drive fast, but not far

18 Oct 2024

A Hong Kong IPO that could value Horizon Robotics at $7 bln rides the rise of assisted and autonomous driving in the world’s largest auto market. But the asking price is rich, and drivers elsewhere are slower to adopt the tech, while security concerns also hinder overseas growth.

Tesla chooses a harder set of unanswered questions

11 Oct 2024

Boss Elon Musk revealed the self-driving Cybercab, reinforcing a turn from car-industry supremacy towards AI. As growth stalls, it offers a new excuse for Tesla’s $700 bln valuation, yet raises fresh technological and operational concerns. On those counts, the event was a dud.

Ratan Tata leaves more to India than its tycoons

10 Oct 2024

The former Tata chair, who has died aged 86, put a kind face on capitalism, though his bold cross-border M&A and lingering influence hurt the salt-to-steel conglomerate. The new era of industrialists in the country are financially shrewder but less universally admired.

China’s EU reply cuts odds of damaging tit-for-tat

8 Oct 2024

Days after Brussels voted for electric-vehicle tariffs, Beijing penalised European brandy. Pork, dairy and pricey cars may be next. Yet the moves are well-flagged. And more damaging retorts, like hitting luxury or $9 bln of aircraft-linked imports, seem unlikely for now.

EV tariffs are only the first step in EU-China war

4 Oct 2024

Despite internal squabbles, member states voted for levies on imported Chinese battery cars. That may help onshore production, but doesn’t tackle China’s clout in hybrid vehicles and batteries. New trade battles are likely: autos and their supply chains are in the firing line.

Hybrids snag precarious pole position at BYD

3 Oct 2024

The $122 bln automaker is on track to sell more models powered by both a battery and gasoline than pure electric vehicles this year. Accelerating exports help drive sales of hybrids. But competition, climate goals and protectionism all complicate an overseas push.

Autos’ car crash ups the likelihood of EU airbags

30 Sep 2024

Stellantis and Volkswagen delivered big profit warnings, amid falling demand for cars. Their woes may encourage policymakers to vote through tariffs on Chinese rivals and go easy on EU carbon fines. But falling output and strained consumers mean carmakers need self-help too.

Mercedes’ China motor hits one of two roadblocks

20 Sep 2024

The $64 bln German carmaker warned of collapsing profitability this year, as a real estate bust in its key Chinese market hurt demand. Lower margins weaken scope for big shareholder payouts. Yet political tensions also raise the risk of unpleasant future tariff surprises.

Europe’s CO2 fines undermine carmakers’ progress

19 Sep 2024

An auto lobby group called on governments to ease 2025 carbon penalties. Modest relief would help. With EU electric-vehicle sales down 8% year-on-year, Europe’s plan to end combustion engines looks dicey. That’s more down to government inaction than big-spending carmakers.