Autos

Harley-Davidson cruises into trophy-asset terrain

1 May 2025

Once an iconic counterculture brand, the $3 bln US motorcycle maker’s customers keep ageing. Now investors are rebellious after overseas expansion sputtered and profit fell 40% in three years. The strong cashflow is worth a ride, but only for an enthusiast living high on the hog.

GM’s financial auguries echo beyond Wall Street

1 May 2025

In a delayed update to full-year profit guesstimates, the automaker thanked President Trump for tariff relief. Yet import levies may cost $5 bln – pointedly, before mitigating measures. Gingerly applied pressure may help shift policy, broadening the audience for such wonkery.

Auto investors make bold bet on more Trump U-turns

30 Apr 2025

Volkswagen, Stellantis and Mercedes have largely swerved the question of how much pain they expect from tariffs of up to 25%. While duties may clobber earnings and sales, valuations are not pricing in the worst. It implies a deeper stock crash if the US president plays hardball.

China’s automakers will lead a race to the bottom

30 Apr 2025

BYD, Geely and SAIC were already locked out of the US, but they will nonetheless feel the squeeze of Donald Trump’s auto tariffs because rivals will join the race to grab market share elsewhere. It’s a side effect that will hurt both Detroit and the People’s Republic.

Toyota Industries $42 bln buyout is scrap value

28 Apr 2025

That’s what Toyota Motor Chair Akio Toyoda and family may offer to take the group’s sprawling founding company private. It’s less than the implied value of its 9% stake in the carmaker and its own business units. Handing over control should warrant a proper premium.

Carmakers go on the defensive in Shanghai

24 Apr 2025

China’s annual auto show is host to everything from flying vehicles to dancing robots. But they have all been sidelined by the government forcing manufacturers to put self-driving safety first after a fatal Xiaomi crash. It’ll open a new front in a vicious price war.

US-China trade deal would be tricky and tenuous

24 Apr 2025

Investors hope that Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping can cut their triple-digit levies. But a 2020 agreement between the two failed, complicating a repeat. The sheer size of the $295 bln US deficit, and fear of China’s tech ambitions, mean tariffs and sanctions may persist.

CATL can turn Trump’s tariffs to its advantage

15 Apr 2025

The world’s largest battery maker grew earnings by 33% in the first quarter. It may be on a roll. Levies and security concerns thwarted its US plans, but Washington’s chaotic trade regime and lack of support for electrification give Chinese EV pioneers a sharper edge in Europe.

US threat oils wheels of Pirelli’s China derisking

31 Mar 2025

The $6 bln Italian tyremaker is pressing its Beijing-backed shareholder to cut its 37% stake. Pirelli’s US growth plans may admittedly suffer if it doesn’t. But a shift might also enable tycoon Marco Tronchetti Provera to once again use geopolitics to improve his influence.

Carmakers’ US dreams turn to nightmare dilemma

28 Mar 2025

Hyundai is investing $21 bln to ramp up production in the US. It's a risky bet that higher manufacturing costs will be easier to manage than tariff-induced higher import costs. It also underscores the sheer importance of the American market to the South Korean giant.

Car investors only take US tariffs semi-seriously

27 Mar 2025

Shares in the likes of BMW and Volkswagen fell after President Donald Trump whacked 25% tariffs on auto imports. Those declines may not be pricing in the worst. Carmakers can soften the blow, and Trump may backtrack. Yet US trade imbalances suggest that may not happen soon.

US auto tariffs zoom past economic speed limit

27 Mar 2025

President Trump unveiled 25% levies on cars and parts, endangering an interconnected, border-hopping supply chain. At maybe $75 bln or more, the cost could wreck industry profit. Cars are strategically valuable, and the US industry faces threats, but this is too much, too fast.

Geely is legacy carmakers’ electric poster child

25 Mar 2025

The $23 bln Chinese manufacturer’s core earnings rose 56% last year, mostly by defying shrinking demand for gas guzzlers in its home market. Yet it’s also nurturing fast-growing but often unprofitable EV brands like Zeekr. Rivals from Ford to Stellantis will look on with envy.

Xpeng’s smart cars confront commoditisation

19 Mar 2025

The $22 bln Chinese firm's assisted-driving systems helped propel its sales 33% in 2024. Now rivals including Tesla, BYD and Geely offer such tech at low prices. Throw in CEO He Xiaopeng's plan to mass produce flying cars in 2026 and the lossmaking group's strategy looks shakey.

BYD’s shareholders are too cautious by half

14 Mar 2025

They snapped up the $146 bln Chinese electric-car maker’s new stock offering after it unveiled an affordable smart-driving system. Yet they value the group lower than peers, even though the autos business sports better growth and margins. BYD deserves to trade at a big premium.

Bank investors bet on car loan scandal airbags

13 Mar 2025

A court verdict on mis-sold motor loans could pave the way for large fines for lenders like Lloyds. Yet that would undermine chancellor Rachel Reeves’ growth agenda, and the regulator has ways to limit the damage. Current stock prices imply a dent rather than a pile-up.

New Nissan CEO has little room to manoeuvre

11 Mar 2025

Japan’s struggling $10 bln automaker has picked an insider to succeed boss Makoto Uchida. A change is welcome. But any attempt to rekindle a deal with Honda or pursue a more radical turnaround will still come up against old obstacles, not least powerful alliance partner Renault.

VW’s Porsche woes make case for leadership shakeup

11 Mar 2025

The $62 bln German carmaker expects faster growth and a robust operating margin in 2025. CEO Oliver Blume is getting a boost from new models and cost cuts. Yet the sports car marque, which VW controls and Blume also runs, is stalling. It’s a good time to get a second driver.

EU firms’ barriers to Russia re-entry are sky-high

10 Mar 2025

Groups like Renault and Inditex quit the country after Moscow’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Contracts make it theoretically feasible for them to return. But even if a peace deal proves possible, the risks are too great for European groups to go back.

Trump will splinter world’s ‘China plus one’ plans

6 Mar 2025

The US president is moving aggressively against China’s exports, the economic pillar of its strategic adversary, by dangling secondary sanctions on third countries. It heralds a push towards a cleaner segregation of US-centric supply chains from those for the rest of the world.