Good morning! It’s Monday, Might 20, 2024, and that is The Morning Shift, your day by day roundup of the highest automotive headlines from around the globe, in a single place. Listed below are the essential tales you have to know.
1st Gear: Tesla ‘Harm-Management’ Begins In Order To Win Again Rental Giants
If you happen to’re out there for an electrical automobile, then Tesla’s barrage of value cuts in current months may need been the welcome push you wanted to go all in on battery energy. However when you’re a rental agency that plowed tens of millions into electrifying your fleet, just for its worth to be slashed by such value cuts, then Tesla won’t be your favourite firm proper now.
Due to repeated value cuts made by Tesla, rental EV fleets at the moment are value a fraction of the worth paid once they have been new, reviews Reuters. This makes offloading the electrical fashions at an honest value a lot more durable for rental corporations, who’re additionally complaining about poor service and costly repairs over the lifetime of the automobiles they purchased from Tesla. Now, the American firm is in damage-control mode to attempt to restore its ruined repute amongst renters. As Reuters reviews:
The efforts embrace unofficial reductions on purchases of recent automobiles if they’re in inventory and efforts to handle widespread service, restore and ordering complaints after years wherein fleet managers and leasing companies say Tesla has ignored these issues, in response to Reuters interviews with 9 executives from main leasing and rental-car companies, together with a few dozen company fleet managers.
Tesla’s retail value cuts aimed to bolster gross sales in response to softening electric-vehicle demand globally and rising competitors, particularly from Chinese language EV makers corresponding to BYD. However that broken the underside strains of its greatest clients in Europe — the place fleet purchases characterize almost half of auto gross sales.
Leasing corporations purchase new automobiles and organize leases calculated on how a lot they imagine they’ll promote them for on the finish of the lease. Sudden drops in value undercut these residual values, costing leasing companies cash.
Regardless of its efforts, one skilled Reuters spoke with warned that the measures could also be too little, too late. This might spell bother for the EV maker, as its gross sales have begun slowing in current months as different automakers enter the EV house, the second hand market begins rising and patrons contemplate hybrids as a substitute.
If Tesla can’t get rental corporations again on facet, cupboard space at its services in California, Texas and Europe might quickly start piling up with unsold fashions.
2nd Gear: UAW Loses Key Vote To Unionize Mercedes
The United Auto Employees union is on a excessive proper now, after profitable report contracts for employees throughout Stellantis, Ford and Common Motors final 12 months. Now, it’s focusing on enlargement into services run by different automakers, however it simply confronted its first setback at Mercedes-Benz.
Employees at Mercedes’ Alabama meeting plant have been final week requested to vote on becoming a member of the UAW, reviews the Detroit Free Press. Nevertheless, employees got here down in opposition to becoming a member of the union, with 56 p.c of these polled voting in opposition to membership. As the Free Press explains:
Voting wrapped up Friday morning and the unofficial tally — 2,642 in opposition to to 2,045 in favor — was launched within the afternoon by the Nationwide Labor Relations Board. The UAW loss means 1000’s of full- and part-time employees at Mercedes-Benz meeting and electrical automobile battery crops in Vance and Woodstock, Alabama, east of Tuscaloosa, will stay with out union illustration.
The union marketing campaign had come underneath assault by politicians, together with Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey, as an effort by exterior forces that may damage the state’s auto business, and the corporate had been accused of union busting, which it denied.
Union supporters stated they have been intent on ending the “Alabama low cost,” the concept that corporations profit from decrease wages within the state.
The vote adopted a profitable marketing campaign for unionization at a VW plant right here in America and got here because the union ramped up its actions at Hyundai crops as properly. Regardless of the setback, the momentum to unionize extra American auto crops has “slowed” however continues. One skilled the Free Press spoke with predicted that it might imply delays to a vote at Hyundai crops in Alabama, however added that the union might maintain a observe up poll in a 12 months’s time.
third Gear: Polestar Dangers Being Kicked Off The Inventory Market
Tesla’s struggles retaining renters on facet isn’t the one concern the electrical automobile world is dealing with proper now. Struggling startups throughout the sector aren’t promoting automobiles on the price they anticipated, and that is main traders to lose religion. Now, it appears like Swedish startup Polestar might be heading for tough waters because it’s been threatened with delisting from the U.S. inventory market, reviews Reuters.
The Geely-backed firm has been notified by the NASDAQ that it dangers being delisted after failing to fulfill the exchanges itemizing guidelines, reviews Reuters. The corporate reportedly did not file its annual reviews with the U.S. securities regulator in a “well timed” method. As Reuters explains:
The corporate stated it’s working to file its annual report for the fiscal 12 months ended Dec. 31 and to report its first-quarter monetary outcomes of 2024.
Polestar has 60 days from the date of the discover to submit a plan of compliance to Nasdaq, it stated in an announcement.
A deficiency discover from Nasdaq is a proper alert despatched to an organization that isn’t assembly the minimal requirements for continued itemizing. It serves as a warning to rectify the problems or face potential delisting.
The warning got here after Polestar introduced plans to delay publication of its fourth-quarter outcomes for 2023, in addition to the full-year outcomes, for a second time. The corporate is now projected to share the outcomes on Might 23, when it should share additional particulars of what number of automobiles it offered in 2023.
The corporate at present solely markets the Polestar 2 within the U.S., however the brand new all-electrical Polestar 3 SUV and Polestar 4 are rolling out this 12 months and may present bump to the automaker’s gross sales.
4th Gear: Dodge Boss Tim Kuniskis Retires
After 32 years with the corporate, the top of Dodge and Ram is stepping apart at Stellantis on the finish of this month. From June 1 2024, Tim Kuniskis will likely be changed by Matt McAlear CEO of Stellantis’ Dodge and Ram manufacturers, reviews Automotive Information.
McAlear, who has been working to steer gross sales operations at Dodge up till now, will take management of Dodge, whereas the administration of Ram will likely be dealt with by Chrysler CEO Christine Feuell. As Automotive Information reviews:
“I wish to take the chance to warmly thank Tim for his ardour, dedication and contributions to Stellantis and in defining the imaginative and prescient of the longer term electrified Ram and Dodge manufacturers. I want him properly in his retirement,” Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares stated in an announcement. “I’m assured that Chris will proceed the work of Tim in main the long-lasting Ram model. Matt will carry a contemporary perspective, whereas persevering with to attract on the heritage of our iconic Dodge model and main the transition of the model towards a sustainable future.”
Kuniskis has headed Dodge since January 2021 and Ram since July 2023. Beneath Fiat Chrysler Cars, his roles included overseeing passenger automobiles and the Jeep model in North America and heading Maserati and Alfa Romeo globally.
With Kuniskis on the helm, Dodge and Ram have undergone a raft of adjustments lately, most notably with the killing off of Dodge’s V8 engines in favor of excessive efficiency by way of electrification. This has included the rollout of the 2 manufacturers’ first EVs, with the Charger EV and the Ram 1500 REV pickup set to launch later this 12 months.
