Good morning! It’s Friday, August 23, 2024, and this is The Morning Shift, your daily roundup of the top automotive headlines from around the world, in one place. Here are the important stories you need to know.
1st Gear: Tesla Is Losing Its Sales And Technology Lead
Tesla is having quite the time of it these days, with rivals closing in on its crown as the electric vehicle sales king, profits falling and registrations slowing for new cars. Now, rival EV maker Lucid has claimed the dip in fortunes for Tesla is all because company boss Elon Musk is “distracted” by his other endeavors.
Lucid boss Peter Rawlinson claims that his company has now caught up and even overtaken Tesla when it comes to the technology you’ll find in electric vehicles, reports Autoblog. The CEO believes that Tesla has been “distracted” in recent years, allowing startups like Lucid as well as legacy automakers to catch up and surpass Tesla when it comes to EV range, battery capacity and motor efficiency. As Autoblog reports:
“We are considerably ahead of where Tesla is. We’ve taken that mantle. When I was at Tesla, Tesla was the tech leader. They’ve become distracted, and we have taken that place,” he said, referring to what he believes is Lucid’s tech advantage in batteries, software, and powertrain.
Rawlinson posted data on LinkedIn showing how far ahead of Tesla Lucid’s tech is, in terms of efficiency. Rawlinson mentioned Lucid vehicles have the capability to eke out 5 miles of distance in one kWh, which is remarkable when the industry average is around 3 to 4 miles, which is where Tesla stands.
Other manufacturers, like Aston Martin, for example, have inked technology licensing deals for Lucid tech, believing it to be best in class.
And it’s not just in terms of technology that Tesla’s lead may be waning, the company is also facing increased competition at the top of the EV sales tree. In China, EV maker BYD has come ever close to toppling Tesla as the world’s biggest electric vehicle maker, while across in Europe the automaker’s crown has already been taken.
According to the latest sales data for the trading bloc, Tesla is now playing second fiddle to BMW in terms of EV sales, reports Autocar. The German company sold 300 more electric car than Tesla managed in July thanks to new model launches and a dip in demand for Tesla’s Model 3 and Y cars. As the site explains:
The German brand delivered 14,869 new EVs in Europe last month, 308 more than its American rival.
Tesla experienced a slump in Europe in July, with registrations of its Model Y SUV falling by 16% to 9544 and those of its Model 3 saloon falling by 17% to 4694.
Despite the dip in demand, the Tesla Model Y remained the best-selling EV in Europe, closely followed by the Volvo EX30 and the Volkswagen ID 4.
2nd Gear: Italy Issued An Ultimatum For Stellantis’ Battery Plant
If Tesla is having a tough time in 2024, there’s maybe just one automaker having a worse time of it: Stellantis. After posting tumbling sales for the first half of the year, facing a lawsuit from shareholders annoyed about falling profits and even witnessing a death at one of its plants, the automaker is now facing off with the Italian government over its electric car plans.
Stellantis had initially planned to build three new battery plants to allow it to rapidly expand its EV offering. However, cooling demand for battery-powered models around the world led it to put some of those plans on pause, reports Reuters. Now, the Italian government is demanding answers over a proposed site in the country that was set to receive funding from the state. If Stellantis isn’t going to construct a new battery plant in Italy, the country wants to use those funds elsewhere:
ACC, a battery joint venture in which Stellantis is the largest investor, has plans for three gigafactories in Europe. But earlier this year it said it was putting on hold works on two of them, in Italy and Germany, as the company switches to lower cost batteries amid slowing demand for electric vehicles.
“Stellantis must give us a reply, and it must do so shortly,” Minister Adolfo Urso said during a conference in Rimini.
“If Stellantis does not give us a positive feedback within hours, we’ll move … funds elsewhere. We can’t afford to lose these funds because Stellantis is not sticking to its commitments.”
The investment in Italy could amount to as much as $2 billion, reports Reuters, and would create jobs across the country’s manufacturing sector. Stellantis claims that it is currently re-evaluating plans for the project, which would see it convert the engine-making plant in Termoli.
If the plant isn’t converted into a fully-electric facility, the company instead said it could be used to develop cells and other modules that would “be in line with the evolution of the market.”
3rd Gear: GM Recalls 1,200 Cruise Taxis To End Investigation
General Motors-backed autonomous taxi company Cruise has been working its way through a federal probe into safety concerns with its fleet of self-driving taxis for more than a year. Now, the probe has reached its conclusion and the company has been forced to recall more than 1,000 of its autonomous cars over braking issues.
Cruise will recall nearly 1,200 robotaxis over hard braking issues, reports the Detroit Free Press. The move was announced by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which said the recall brings its investigation into the company to a close, more than 18 months after it was opened:
The closing of the investigation is a significant step for Cruise as it works to reassure state and federal officials of the safety of its vehicles and eventually resume robotaxi operations without backup safety drivers, and to take on paying customers.
Cruise said it did not agree with the NHTSA’s conclusion that a recall was needed, but had agreed to do so to resolve the investigation.
“We are committed to building trust and increasing transparency with respect to autonomous vehicle technology,” a Cruise spokesperson said Thursday.
While announcing the recall, Cruise also shared details about its new collaboration with Uber, which sees its self-driving cars listed on the ride-sharing app. However, the tie-in hasn’t worked out too well for Uber just yet, with shares in the company dropping by around 4.4 percent following the announcement according to Bloomberg.
4th Gear: Automakers Face Fines For Missing EV Targets
Lawmakers around the world are looking at ways to encourage automakers to shift to cleaner options across their lineups. Whether that’s battery power, hydrogen options or hybrids, the switch to cleaner power is coming, but not at the rate lawmakers would like.
This means automakers such as Ford and Volkswagen could face hefty fines if they aren’t able to meet the strict CO2 emission goals enforced in places like Europe, reports Automotive News. The two companies may miss the EU’s strict CO2 goals as a result of cooling temperament towards EVs, meaning that they could face multi-million-dollar fines:
Automakers will have to sharply increase sales of full-electric and hybrid cars despite “market skepticism” for EVs to meet 2025 European Union CO2 emissions targets, according to a report from analyst company Dataforce.
The 2025 fleet average for new cars sold in the EU will be 93.6 grams of CO2 per km, compared with the 116 g/km limit that went into effect in 2021.
The EU will fine brands that miss their goal €95 per car per gram over the target. Automakers paid €550 million ($613 million) for missing the 2021 targets, although nearly all brands achieved their goals on time, Dataforce said.
As it stands, only two automakers have met the targets set out by the EU, Tesla and Geely. Toyota is close to the goal thanks to its focus on low-emission hybrid models, while BMW, Renault, Ford and VW all have their work cut out to avoid paying up.