Rivian, Other Startups Face Ban from Mich. Dealers in Direct-Sales Fight
Michigan auto dealers are trying to block startup electric carmakers such as Rivian Automotive Inc. and Lucid Motors Inc. from following in Tesla Inc.’s footsteps by selling vehicles directly to consumers and servicing them in the state, reports Automotive News. A bill introduced in the Michigan Legislature last week would block any manufacturer other than Tesla from selling cars to customers without a dealer as an intermediary and from owning and operating service and repair facilities. It could come up for a vote as soon as Tuesday, according to a Rivian official. Rivian has maintained a major engineering operation with 750 employees in Plymouth, Mich., near Detroit for the last few years, but has been moving some of those positions to California in recent months. The 11-year-old company has raised about $6 billion from backers including Ford Motor Co. and Amazon.com Inc. It expects to begin production of its first two vehicles -- a battery-powered pickup and a sport-utility vehicle – by mid-2021. Read more here (Source: Automotive News).
Detroit Auto Show is Pushed Back – to Fall 2021
The Detroit auto show, which was supposed to move from January to June so that events could take place outdoors, has been moved again — to September 2021, reports The Detroit News. The summer debut of the North American International Auto Show had been planned for June of this year, but the COVID-19 pandemic pushed the annual extravaganza to next summer as the TCF Center was repurposed as a field hospital. It has now been moved to Sept. 28-Oct. 9, 2021, show officials said Monday, with the public show happening Oct. 2-9. That will mean a nearly 33-month gap since the last show was held in January 2019. The move comes after the Los Angeles Auto Show recently rescheduled its November event for May 2021, between the New York International Auto Show in April, and the planned show in Detroit in June, making it logistically challenging for automakers and vendors to traverse the country and set up shows in three different cities within such a limited timeframe. Read more here (Source: The Detroit News).
Musk Cautions Innovations at Tesla 'Battery Day' Won't Be Widespread Until 2022
Tesla plans to host its annual shareholder meeting, followed by a “battery technology day” presentation, on Tuesday, September 22, reports CNBC. Elon Musk’s electric car company is likely to disclose specifications for at least one new type of battery cell that the company has been developing, and may give an aspiring start-date for manufacturing its own cells at scale, too. As CNBC previously reported, Tesla has established a prototype manufacturing line for battery cells at their skunkworks lab in Fremont, California, near its U.S. car plant. However, on the day before the event, Musk took pains to downplay the short-term importance of the announcements coming at battery day. On Monday after the close of trading, Musk wrote on Twitter: “Important note about Tesla Battery Day unveil tomorrow. This affects long-term production, especially Semi, Cybertruck & Roadster, but what we announce will not reach serious high-volume production until 2022. We intend to increase, not reduce battery cell purchases from Panasonic, LG & CATL (possibly other partners too). However, even with our cell suppliers going at maximum speed, we still foresee significant shortages in 2022 & beyond unless we also take action ourselves.” Read more here (Source: CNBC).
Nikola Founder Resigns as Chairman Amid Allegations, SEC Probe
Nikola, the embattled electric-vehicle startup that recently partnered with General Motors, said its founder stepped down as executive chairman effective immediately, removing a target of critics but clouding Nikola’s future direction. Trevor Milton, the social-media-savvy public face of the company he founded in 2014, was replaced by board member Steve Girsky, whose title will be chairman, the company said in a statement late Sunday. The shakeup comes less than two weeks after the Phoenix-based company found itself in the crosshairs of a skeptical short seller that issued a highly critical report and whose claims are the subject of investigations by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and, reportedly, the Department of Justice. “Nikola is truly in my blood and always will be, and the focus should be on the company and its world-changing mission, not me,” Milton said in the statement. “So, I made the difficult decision to approach the board and step aside.” Read more here (Source: Automotive News).
CBO Downgrades Long-Term Projections of Economic Growth
The U.S. economy is likely to grow more slowly in coming decades and the public debt burden will increase more than previously forecast, due in large part to the coronavirus-induced recession, the Congressional Budget Office said Monday. According to The Wall Street Journal, the agency released new projections showing weaker growth and significantly more red ink over the next 30 years than it had previously forecast. The agency now anticipates average annual GDP growth of 1.6% from 2020 to 2050, roughly a full quarter percentage point less than it expected in June 2019, the last time it released long-term economic projections and before the coronavirus pandemic swept across the U.S., triggering a deep recession. Growth averaged 2.5% from 1990 to 2019. Debt as a share of gross domestic product is forecast to hit 195% by 2050, 45 percentage points higher than the CBO projected in June 2019. The increase is due in large part to surging outlays to combat the pandemic, followed in later years by rising interest costs and higher spending on safety-net programs such as Social Security and Medicare. Read more here (Source: The Wall Street Journal).
Webinar: Maintaining Your Sales Momentum
The last few months have seen some respectable new and used car sales results. Join former dealer and Google for Automotive Team Member Lane Fortinberry on Tuesday, September 29th at 2:00pm EDT for some modern online tips on maintaining the sales momentum, including:
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Driving Digital sales through effective Online Retailing practices
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A look at other "brick and mortar" industries that have leaned in to eCommerce, what can we learn?
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New and cutting edge digital opportunities to increase sales
Around the Web
12 Electric Cars to Look Forward to in 2021 [Rolling Stone]
Best New Cars for Car Seats [Cars.com]
More Than 50% of Cars are Black or White. Here's Why. [CarScoops]
