4-Legged Friends Liven Up Showrooms
Some of the stores on the 2021 Best Dealerships To Work For list have gone all-in on introducing four-legged companions to the showroom or sponsoring charitable initiatives to aid animal rescue causes, according to Automotive News. Cats and cars? Several dealerships are cool with that concept. BMW of Mobile, in Alabama, adopted a cat named Beemer. Beemer doesn't close deals, but his purring and lounging throughout the store is "instant stress relief" for customers and sales associates alike, according to Scott Davis, the dealership's center operator. Some stores dub themselves pet-friendly. Friendship Nissan in North Carolina and Friendship Hyundai in Tennessee encourage customers to bring pets with them while they shop or get their vehicles serviced, said Dustin Walters, dealer principal of both stores. Read more here (Source: Automotive News).
Investors Look Beyond Chip Dent to German Car Earnings
German carmakers will reveal the extent of the dent a global chip shortage has made in their third quarter earnings over the next ten days, as investors fret over the next bump in the road, reports Reuters. The scarcity intensified in the three months to the end of September, with passenger car output at German plants 35% below 2019 levels, auto industry association data shows, hitting sales of Volkswagen, Daimler, and BMW. But as they find ways around the chip roadblock, analysts are focused on rapidly depleting supplies of magnesium, which automakers use in everything from gearboxes to seat frames and is particularly practical for electric vehicles. The lightweight material could pose the next supply chain challenge for the industry, analysts said, as China limits output to reduce its carbon emissions. Read more here (Source: Reuters).
Hyundai's Quarterly Earnings Dinged by Chip Shortage
Hyundai Motor said it expects it will take a long time to get back to normal chip supplies after the automaker reported a net profit of 1.3 trillion won ($1.10 billion) for the July-September quarter, reports Automotive News. In the same period a year earlier the group, which includes Kia, posted a loss of 336 billion won when it was hit by a one-time expense related to engine quality issues and recalls. "Hyundai Motor expects that on-year sales growth might slow down for the rest of 2021 amid adverse business conditions caused by the unstable supply of semiconductor chips," the company said in a statement on Tuesday. Hyundai said the chip shortage would likely continue until the end of this year or next year and it expected it would take a long time to get back to normal. "The chip shortage will likely continue into the fourth quarter but supply conditions would partially improve in the fourth quarter compared with the third," Hyundai Motor's Executive Vice President, Seo Gang Hyun, said in a call with analysts. Read more here (Source: Automotive News).
Americans Are Buying Teslas, But Experts Say That's About to Change
Americans aren’t buying electric vehicles, they’re buying Teslas. That’s been a relatively true statement for U.S. consumers in recent years, with Tesla accounting for the majority of EVs sold, including 79% in 2020, according to IHS Markit. But, reports CNBC, that’s starting to change as so-called traditional automakers and start-ups invest billions in a slew of new electric vehicles to compete against Tesla. The influx of EVs — from a couple dozen today to estimates of hundreds of new models by 2025 — are expected to eat away at Tesla’s market share in the coming years. The new EVs are planned as larger automakers, such as General Motors and Volkswagen, transition to build electric vehicles almost exclusively over the next decade or so. Read more here (Source: CNBC).
Volvo IPO Prices Lower Than Expected Despite Ambitious EV Plans
Volvo Cars, the Swedish automaker owned by China’s Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, on Monday set the price for its initial public offering at the low end of its target range, highlighting investors’ unwillingness to lend traditional car makers the valuations enjoyed by younger electric-vehicle companies. According to The Wall Street Journal, Volvo said it has set the price of its shares at 53 Swedish kronor each, equivalent to $6.18, the bottom of its target range of up to 68 kronor. The offering values Volvo at just over $18 billion, shy of the $23 billion valuation that the company had hoped to achieve and the $25 billion that analysts had floated as possible. Shares are set to begin trading on the Nasdaq Stockholm exchange on Friday, Oct. 29, the company said. Read more here (Source: The Wall Street Journal).
Around the Web
Lamborghini Huracan STO First Drive Review [Autoblog]
Here Are Your Picks for the Most Indestructible Cars Ever Made [Jalopnik]
Toyota Testing Hydrogen Combustion Engines in Race Cars [ABC News]
