Honda, GM, Toyota Ramping Up U.S. Battery Production
Plans for new plants that will produce batteries for electric vehicles are at the heart of a flurry of announcements by Honda, General Motors, and Toyota, highlighting the vital role BEVs play in each company’s future product initiatives. Toyota says it is preparing to invest an additional $2.5 billion to expand battery-production capacity at its newest North American factory, Toyota Battery Mfg. in Liberty, NC. Toyota’s announcement brings its total investment in the Liberty plant to $3.8 billion and will add 350 jobs, bringing total employment to about 2,100. Scheduled to begin production in 2025, the plant will produce batteries for hybrid electric vehicles and BEVs. Wards reports LG Energy Solution is establishing a joint venture with Honda to produce lithium-ion batteries in the U.S. to power Honda and Acura BEVs for the North American market. Honda and LGES expect to invest $4.4 billion in a plant in the U.S., most likely near Honda’s manufacturing base in central Ohio. Construction is to begin in early 2023, with mass production of advanced lithium-ion battery cells targeted for the end of 2025. Click here for the full story.
Study: Large Dealership Groups Pulling Ahead in Web Responsiveness
The nation's largest dealer groups are pulling ahead of the pack in online customer service, a report out from retail service tracker Pied Piper found. Pied Piper used 20 best-practice behaviors to measure the internet lead effectiveness of 15 of the nation's largest dealership groups. These include speed and quality categories, making up 25 percent and 75 percent of a group's score, reports Automotive News. The firm evaluated every dealership in every group represented, with the exception of automotive management services, where a sample of 50 stores was used. Practices measured include how quickly a customer's text or email is responded to and if a "human" responds to customers when using chat functions on dealer websites. In Pied Piper's survey, 12 out of 15 groups scored higher than the industry average. Napleton Automotive Group, which ranks No. 13 on the Automotive News list of top 150 dealership groups based in the U.S., earned the highest marks, with a score of 74 out of 100. Click here to learn more about the study.
Experts Say California’s Timeline to Phase out Gas Cars Is ‘Not Practical’
Experts aren’t so sure that California’s plan to phase out gas-powered vehicles by 2035 is achievable and have signaled that the transition to EVs will be too expensive for customers. Last month, the California Air Resources Board approved a rule requiring 100 percent of all new-car sales to be zero emissions by 2035, reports CBT News. Other states have followed California’s example, as well as moves by both the European Parliament and Canada to reach similar goals. California Governor Gavin Newsom said the $10 billion investment from the state to help accelerate the transition will make it “easier and cheaper for all Californians to purchase electric cars.” Mark P. Mills, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and a faculty fellow at Northwestern University’s McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science, said the transition will be difficult and expensive for consumers, and the 2035 timeline is “not practical.” Mills said that because existing gas cars will be allowed to be driven and resold under the plan, used car prices are likely to skyrocket. Click here for the full story.
Vietnam's Vinfast Hands Over First Electric SUVs, Eyes U.S. Deliveries
Vietnamese carmaker VinFast on Saturday began handing its first batch of 100 all-electric SUVs to local customers, with U.S. deliveries of the vehicle due to begin as soon as December. VinFast, which began operations in 2019, is gearing up to expand in the U.S. market, where it hopes to compete with legacy automakers and startups with its two all-electric SUVs, the VF8 and VF9, including battery leasing to reduce the purchase price. "The first batch of 5,000 VF8 units will be for U.S. and North American markets. Mass production will start from next week," VinFast's global chief executive Le Thi Thu Thuy told Reuters on the sidelines of a delivery ceremony at its plant in Vietnam's northern province of Haiphong. VinFast, part of Vingroup will start shipping cars overseas in November and customers will have cars delivered as soon as December, Thuy said. The company has registered almost 65,000 reservations globally, and it expects to sell 750,000 EVs per year by 2026, starting with the VF8 and VF9 all-electric SUVs. Click here for the full story.
Automakers and Suppliers Explore Automated Purchasing
Relationships between automakers and suppliers have been put to the test in recent months as parts makers feel intense financial pressure from inflation and material shortages. Now some auto companies are moving to automate aspects of their parts purchasing processes in an attempt to allow their purchasing teams more time to manage increasingly complex supply chain issues. Automotive News reports Volkswagen is pushing for the "completely automated buying" of certain components, said Inga Von Seelen, chief procurement officer at VW Group of America. The company can set up approvals and target settings in advance, and those parts can then be "completely bought by a computer," she said. "This is a huge opportunity for our people to focus on the right topics," Von Seelen told an audience last month in Michigan. A spokesman for a large Tier 1 supplier who asked not to be identified given the sensitive nature of the topic said that all of the Detroit 3 are either moving to automate some buying procedures or discussing such a move. He said his own company is also moving toward automated processes "whenever possible." Click here for the full story.
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