Just-in-time auto industry news and analysis
Over the past weeks, the BYD Qin has entertained China’s car-crazed population by beating the doors off supposedly powerful competition on a drag strip near Beijing. Car after car was left in the dust by a BYD Qin that previously was only known as a rather tame plug-in hybrid. Its fame lasted until the Qin finally met a faster car: A 555hp Twin Turbo V8 BMW. [ There is more … ]
From reading the press, one would think that Alan Mulally has the auto industry’s highest employee approval rating. Not so. Philippe Varin, CEO of French basked case PSA Peugeot Citroen is right at the top with 100% approval. He shares the spot with Suzuki’s octogenarian CEO Osamu Suzuki, Tata’s Tata, and a man who is largely unknown in the West, with Xu Ping, chief of China’s #2 automaker Donfeng. Let’s take a closer look. [ There is more … ]
Beginning in 2015, Tesla wants to “sell some 10,000 cars per year” in Germany, Elon Musk told Germany’s Welt. And they will be powered by sunlight. “By end of March 2014, half of Germany will be covered by Superchargers,” Musk promised. “By the end of 2014, the whole country will be covered. That’s 40 to 50 stations.”
The stations will be powered by solar panels. “A Tesla driver should need no more than sunlight,” Musk told the paper. He is a very optimistic man.
Germany is a 3 million unit car market, give or take a few. 10,000 Teslas would mean a market share of 0.3 percent. To assist Tesla in its projections, here some data on the German car market. [ There is more … ]
Go knock yourself out
If you have read any of the big car blogs in the last year, you’ve doubtless endured at least a few pieces on the “Millennial Question.” The role of youth in the automotive culture has so thoroughly captured the attention of car writers, hardly a day goes by in which at least one blog doesn’t add something to the debate. And no wonder: America’s much-vaunted “love affair with the automobile” has long relied heavily on a strong association between the youthful desire for freedom and the mobility that cars provide. If, as the data clearly shows, kids are less likely to buy cars than they used to be, it’s not just the auto industry that stands to be impacted… the very character of American culture is at stake.
Unfortunately, these high stakes have led to a more emotionalized discourse on the subject but not a better one. As I mentioned in my last Blind Spot on the subject, the conversation seems stuck between Baby Boomers trying to blame/shame Millennials for “giving up on cars,” and Millennials blaming Boomers for bequeathing them an economy with far less opportunity.
Regardless of which side you want to blame, it’s important to understand how complex this issue is. In the spirit of improving the discourse, here are a few issues that every writer should consider before launching into this divisive and far-more-interesting-than-you’d-think-by-reading-most-of-the-stories-on-it topic.
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When, in early 2012, GM bought seven percent of the moribund PSA Peugeot Citroen, with the intent of coupling it with its likewise moribund Opel, just about everybody who understood the car business developed deep lacerations from incessant head-scratching. Combining two sickos usually is not a recipe for health. Unimpressed by logic, the happy couple promised annual cost savings of $2 billion. Now, the deal is entering the terminal phase. [ There is more … ]
“A recent drop in teen driving likely comes down to simple economics,” says a new report from the Highway Loss Data Institute. “Young people today may want to drive just as much as they did a generation ago, but simply can’t afford it.” [ There is more … ]
