Could Stellantis abandon one or more of its 14 automotive brands? In light of the automaker’s weak second-quarter earnings, that is a distinct possibility, warned CEO Carlos Tavares. But which of those marques are the most endangered? Headlight.News takes a closer look and a few seem ripe for the chopping block.
It will be up to a California court to determine the outcome of a long-running suit pitting two EV manufacturers, Tesla and Rivian. The bigger of the two has accused its rival of stealing trade secrets and a judge has ruled the case will have to go to trial after Rivian filed to get it dismissed earlier this week.
It wasn’t expected to be a good quarter for Ford Motor Co. Even then, the automaker’s second-quarter earnings managed to fall short of Wall Street’s expectations. That sent Ford shares tumbling by 11%, even though company leaders tried to assure investors they’re “on track” to deliver a full-year profit. More from Headlight.News.
Tesla’s second quarter results reflected the tough times the EV maker’s experiencing now that there is more competition and other issues impacting sales. While the company’s overall revenue rise slightly, its net income and automotive operations revenue took massive hits. Moreover, CEO Elon Musk doesn’t seem too bothered by the numbers. Get details at Headlight.News.
EV maker Tesla reported its overall revenue increased slightly in the second quarter, but it wasn’t because of its automotive operations, which fell 7%. The company reported net income and adjusted earnings were down year-over-year as well. Get the details at Headlight.News.
General Motors officials offered good news with the company’s second quarter earnings report, with revenue and profits up for the quarter as well as the first half of the year. In fact, the results were good enough for the company to revise its full-year earnings expectations upward. Find out more at Headlight.News.
The high cost of today’s EVs has slowed demand. But there’s one model now priced at just $14,000, making it one of the lowest-priced vehicles on the market. But there is one catch: those 3,000 Fisker Ocean SUVs are being liquidated as part of the automaker’s bankruptcy. Whether you’ll be able to get parts and service going forward is far from certain.
Vietnamese EV start-up VinFast announced a “prudent,” 3-year delay in the opening of its first U.S. assembly plant. It’s the latest in a series of setbacks for the automaker which suffered a wave of harsh reviews for its initial offering, the VF 8 crossover.
Things are back to normal at 15,000 U.S. showrooms after a hack that brought operations nearly to a halt last month. Data processing firm CDK apparently paid a $25 million ransom to regain control of software controlling everything from sales prospects to payroll. But the damage has topped $1 billion in lost sales and other issues.
It’s been four decades since Honda started building Accords at a new plant in Marysville, Ohio. Today, foreign-owned manufacturers are producing more vehicles in the U.S. than Detroit’s Big Three. And the gap is only expected to widen, in part due to local production mandates covering battery-electric vehicles, reports Headlight.News.
It’s been a tough year for EV start-ups, Fisker filing for bankruptcy, and several others expected to follow. But there have been a few glimmers of hope. Price cuts helped Lucid outperform sales expectations during the second quarter, buying it time to bring a second product line to market later this year. But with Wall Street still skeptical, the California manufacturer remains critically dependent on cash from the Saudis, Lucid’s largest investor.
This week’s edition of the Headlight.News podcast focuses on rebounding car sales including EV sales beating analyst predictions. We also find out which brand has the best quality and talk about recently announced job cuts at Stellantis. A look at This Week in...