Stellantis Doubles China Sales, Bolsters and Consolidates Aftermarket as Jeep Sales Plunge

Posted on 28 January 2022 by Ken Zino

Stellantis improved its business in China during 2021 calling it a solid foundation for long-term expansion. In an announcement that foreshadows details on Stellantis’ plan for the Chinese market that will be announced as part of a global strategic plan on 1 March 2022, the French conglomerate said Dongfeng Motor* sold more than 100,000 vehicles in 2021. This doubled the annual sales volume of 2020. Of these more than 100,000 Dongfeng Peugeot-Citroën derived vehicles, about 9,300 New Energy Vehicles (NEV) were sold, which has made DPCA a net contributor of NEV and CAFC (Corporate Average Fuel Consumption) credits of Stellantis in China.

It also noted that the Jeep brand’s Wrangler had record sales in 2021 but neglected to mention that overall Jeep sales of 20,357 (-49%) declined for the fourth straight year. The Jeep product lineup, however, was recognized as No. 1 in APEAL and Vehicle Dependability (VDS) and No.2 in Initial Quality (IQS) by JD Power’s study among mainstream brands in China. Continue reading →

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January US New Vehicle Sales to Decline. Profits, Prices Up

Posted on 28 January 2022 by Ken Zino
Ken Zino of AutoInformed.com on January US New Vehicle Sales to Decline. Profits, Prices Up

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New-vehicle retail sales for January 2022 are predicted to decline when compared with January 2021, according to a joint forecast from J.D. Power and LMC Automotive. Retail sales of new vehicles this month are expected to reach 828,900 units, an 8.3% decrease compared with January 2021*. Total new-vehicle sales for January 2022, including retail and non-retail transactions, are projected to reach 932,100 units, a -15.6% decrease from January 2021. The seasonally adjusted annualized rate (SAAR) for total new-vehicle sales is expected to be 14.1 million units, a drop of 2.6 million units from 2021. Continue reading →

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Late to the Daytona Grid – Ford to Run in GT3 in 2024

Posted on 28 January 2022 by Ken Zino

Ford Performance said today in Daytona that an  all-new Mustang GT3 race car will compete in the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) 2024 race season, including the 24 Hours of Daytona. The new Mustang effort, announced in advance of this weekend’s Rolex 24 at Daytona, will be a joint program between Ford Performance and racing collaborator Multimatic Motorsports.  This will mean Ford will race against Porsche 911s and Mercedes AMG GTs, among others. Ford has been endurance racing for 58 years of global endurance, including NASCAR and Australian Supercars today. Lately on this side of the pond, it’s more involved with personal and commercial-use trucks. Continue reading →

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Stellantis to Repay Early €6.3B Fiat Credit Facility

Posted on 28 January 2022 by Ken Zino

Stellantis N.V. announced today that FCA Italy S.p.A., a wholly owned subsidiary, and Stellantis’ other Italian subsidiaries, have repaid the €6.3 billion credit facility to Intesa Sanpaolo. The credit facility, entered into in June 2020, was structured to support the restart and “transformation of Italy’s automotive sector” after the COVID-19 outbreak rocked the automotive world and its establishment.

By providing badly needed liquidity to the FCA’s businesses in Italy and to its Italian suppliers. The facility was helpful in the restart of industrial production. Stellantis also said it provided continuity for key investment projects to provide a sustainable future for the automotive sector in Italy.

Stellantis is “now in a position to repay the facility” in advance of its original maturity date of March 2023 while continuing its investment projects. The facility was 80% guaranteed by SACE, Italy’s Export Credit Agency, under the Italian Government’s Liquidity Decree (“Decreto Liquidità”), as overseen by the Ministry of Economy and Finance – MEF, and the Ministry of Economic Development – MISE.

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Ford Pro Using Lightning EVs in Pilot Farming Study

Posted on 27 January 2022 by Ken Zino
Ken Zino of AutoInformed.com on Ford Pro Using Lightning EVs in Pilot Farming Study

Some vehicles log 50,000 miles a year.

Ford Pro is participating in a pilot program that will supply three Sonoma County farms in California with so-called Ford Pro solutions, including F-150 Lightning Pro pickups and E-Transit cargo vans to their business.

Pilot program farms are being outfitted with Ford Pro charging stations to complement the solar power  in use since 2014 that has been a part of a search for sustainability by the Sonoma County Winegrowers, a group of more than 1,800 grape farmers. (Read AutoInformed on Ford Buys Electriphi to Provide Ford Pro Commercial Customers with Charging and Energy Management; GM’s Ultium Charge 360 Fleet Customers Can Now Access Preferred Electric Vehicle Charging Providers; GM Debuts New Business Elite Program for Fleet Customers)

The pilot program is launching with Bevill Vineyard Management and Vino Farms in Healdsburg, and Dutton Ranch in Sebastopol, which collectively represent about 4,000 acres in the vineyard-rich Russian River Valley. Wanda Young, Ford Pro global chief marketing officer, anticipates the program will expand in the coming months to include other farming operations in the county. Continue reading →

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First Mazda CX-50 off line at Toyota JV in Alabama

Posted on 26 January 2022 by Ken Zino
Ken Zino of AutoInformed.com on First Mazda CX-50 off line at Toyota JV in Alabama

What’s missing in this picture? Hint, look for a union label.

Mazda North American Operations (MNAO) produced the first 2023 Mazda CX-50 at Mazda’s new Huntsville, Alabama plant. Mazda Toyota Manufacturing (MTM) is a $2.3 billion joint venture between Mazda Motor and Toyota. The CX-50 is made for the North American market. (AutoInformed – Mazda, Toyota Building 2022 Corolla Cross in Alabama)

MTM began operation in September 2021 and can produce 300,000 vehicles annually – 150,000 units each for both Toyota and Mazda. The plant will employ up to 4,000 workers. Several thousand workers are expected to be employed by suppliers in non-union shops. Alabama, aside from its history of racism and white supremacy, is a right to work*” (for less?) state, which means workers don’t have to be unionized.** Continue reading →

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Corvette Racing at Daytona – Same or Different?

Posted on 26 January 2022 by Ken Zino
Ken Zino of AutoInformed.com on Corvette Racing at Daytona - Same or Different?

Corvette Racing returns to Daytona after a 1-2 finish in the 2021 24-hour race.

Corvette Racing begins its 24th season of competition this weekend with the Rolex 24 at Daytona to start the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. It’s the same race – twice ‘round the clock with the toughest, longest race of the season as the opener. Not for the faint hearted. However, this year is different. The racing ‘Vette C8.R GTD is built to new specifications. (AutoInformed – Corvette Racing Entering Two C8.Rs for Daytona Rolex 24; Corvette Racing Goes Global – IMSA, FIA WEC in 2022)

“It’s a single event for our side of the garage before we go off to the WEC. But Daytona still has that big atmosphere and big levels of anticipation of what’s coming and what’s ahead of you,” said Nick Tandy, no. 4 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C8.R. Continue reading →

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Kia America – EV6 Starts at $33,400 with Taxpayer Funding

Posted on 25 January 2022 by Ken Zino
Ken Zino of AutoInformed.com on Kia America - 2022 EV6 Starts at $33,400 with Taxpayer Funding

Kia EV6 delivers up to an estimated 300-miles of all-electric range.

Kia America today said the 2022 EV6 starts at $33,400 after the $7,500 federal vehicle tax credit. In addition, the EV6 may also qualify for various state incentives, including single rider carpool lane access in California. These exclude a destination charge of $1215. Prices range  up to, gulp, $55,900. EV6 comes in three trim levels: Light, Wind and GT-Line. The Light trim will be offered in rear-wheel drive. Wind and sporty GT-Line variants will be available in rear-wheel drive and Dual Motor e-AWD configurations.

The first dedicated Kia battery-electric vehicle comes to the US in a few weeks after a global reveal last March. EV6 goes on sale in all 50 states, but the performance GT version won’t be available until late 2022. So much for Kia’s original positioning as the sporty brand within the Hyundai Korean auto conglomerate.
 Continue reading →

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EVs – at $7B GM Makes Largest Announcement in History

Posted on 25 January 2022 by Ken Zino

Ultium Cells Lansing is GM’s third Ultium battery cell site in the US, after two battery cell plants being constructed in Ohio and Tennessee.

General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) announced today an investment of $7 billion in four Michigan manufacturing sites, “creating 4,000 new jobs and retaining 1,000, and significantly increasing battery cell and electric truck manufacturing capacity. This is the single largest investment announcement in GM history.” Michigan taxpayers contributed to the plan.*

The investment includes construction of a new Ultium Cells battery cell plant in Lansing and the conversion of GM’s assembly plant in Orion Township for production of the Chevrolet Silverado EV and the electric GMC Sierra. Orion is GM’s second assembly plant scheduled to build full-size electric pickups, which translates to 600,000 full-size electric pickups in the U.S. annually. Consider Ford an increasingly threatened leader in full-size pickup truck sales: Ford is now increasing the production planning target for its electric F-150 to only 150,000 a year. (AutoInformed.com on Chevrolet Introduces 2024 Silverado EV ; Biden Bets on Detroit, Union Workers at GM’s EV Factory ZERO; Washington Diddles. India Puts Billions into Securing EV Jobs) Continue reading →

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Daytona This Weekend Starts 2022 IMSA Racing Season

Posted on 25 January 2022 by Ken Zino
Ken Zino of AutoInformed.com on Daytona Starts 2022 IMSA Sports Car Racing Season

On the Pole is a good start, but there are 24 hours of racing remaining…

The 2022 IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge season-starting four-hour race at Daytona International Speedway this weekend on January 28 is the warmup act for the next day’s 60th Rolex 24 at Daytona. The longer endurance race starts at 1:40 pm EST on Saturday, January 29, with live coverage.* For the second straight year, five classes will be racing when the green flag drops. Thus far the covid status of drivers and teams appear unaffected, but since this in an international sport with commensurate travel between venues – particularly Covid virus saturated Europe – nothing is certain until the green flag drops. It looks to be Sixty-One Cars and 230-Plus Drivers racing. IMSA media relations hasn’t posted the complete grid as of this writing. (AutoInformed – IMSA Rolex 24 at Daytona – 61 Cars Entered) Continue reading →

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Corvette Anniversary Money – 70 Years Means New Editions

Posted on 24 January 2022 by Ken Zino
Ken Zino of AutoInformed.com on Corvette 70th Anniversary Edition packages

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Since 2023 marks the 70th anniversary of Corvette, there will be Corvette Stingray and Z06 special Anniversary Edition packages. There are two unique colors – White Pearl Metallic Tri-coat or Carbon Flash Metallic. Optional stripes await in complementing colors – Satin Gray with the White; Satin Black with the Carbon. (AutoInformed Corvette Racing Entering Two C8.Rs for Daytona Rolex 24; IMSA Petit Le Mans Sees Cadillac, Corvette, Win Season Titles ; Special Edition 2022 Corvette Stingray Debuts in Detroit) Per the well-worn marketing-race playbook, 70th Anniversary Edition Corvettes have distinct wheels with commemorative wheel center caps. Stingray and Z06 each have separate wheel designs but share a similar dark finish and Edge Red stripe. Inside are two-tone Ceramic leather GT2 or Competition Sport seats, red stitching throughout, red seatbelts, and suede microfiber seat inserts and steering wheel. Continue reading →

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Second Shift at GM Oshawa Assembly is Half Women

Posted on 24 January 2022 by Ken Zino
Ken Zino of AutoInformed.com on Second Shift at GM Oshawa Assembly is Half Women

Inclusive culture, another long-standing resentment for fading white males?

Two months after the first Chevrolet Silverado rolled off the line at the reopened Oshawa Plant, second shift production has begun. In November, GM announced the hiring and training of 1,800 new jobs for two-shifts of production and the plant continues its launch acceleration. For the first time in the plant’s history, more than half of Oshawa’s new production hires are women. GM’s says this is consistent with its commitment to be the most inclusive company in the world.

Pickups trucks are GM’s largest and currently the most important market segment in North America. The Oshawa plant  – once doomed only a couple of years ago as GM prepared to abandon it because of NAFTA and archaic attitudes toward labor, will help GM meet demand for trucks. Oshawa Assembly is now one of the most flexible and advanced of its kind in the industry, GM claims. Oshawa began shipping trucks to dealers in December 2021.  Continue reading →

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GM Lockport Components Plant to Build EV Stators

Posted on 21 January 2022 by Ken Zino
Ken Zino of AutoInformed.com on GM Lockport Components plant to Build EV Stators

Latest step in the EV sourcing wars underway at all automakers.

General Motors announced today plans to invest ~$154 million in its Western New York Lockport Components plant to renovate the facility and purchase and install new machinery and equipment used in the production of the stator module. Stators are key components in an electric motor. Electric motors will be used in a variety – currently 30 – of GM’s future Ultium Platform-based electric trucks and SUVs. Facility renovations begin immediately.

EV production – particularly final assembly is a huge concern for unions globally. “It’s pretty easy to build an EV since there are fewer components, and there are no EPA requirements or fluids,” Joe McCabe the CEO of AutoForecast Solutions told AutoInformed at a meeting of the International Motor Press Association earlier this week. Robots or non-skilled labor can do most of the work. (read AutoInformed on GM Cuts More Deals on Materials, Factories for EV Motors) Continue reading →

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Cadillac V-Series Line Adds 2023 Escalade

Posted on 21 January 2022 by Ken Zino
Ken Zino of AutoInformed.com on Cadillac V-Series Line Adds 2023 Escalade

Another nail in the US sedan coffin?

In what it hopes is a pre-emptive marketing move against competitors, Cadillac said today that its V-series line will be expanded to include Escalade in the spring of 2022. No interior shots were released. More information about the 2023 Cadillac Escalade V-Series, including full vehicle specs, will be released in spring 2022.

AutoInformed guesses that it will have the supercharged 6.2-liter V8 engine as the new CT5-V Blackwing. Installed there, it is rated at 668 horsepower and 649 lb.-ft. of torque. The existing Escalade is rated at 420 horsepower, 460 lb.-ft. torque. Next hunch – 10-speed automatic transmission and all-wheel drive. Continue reading →

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Automated Driving – Mercedes to Work with Luminar on Lidar

Posted on 20 January 2022 by Ken Zino
Ken Zino of Auto Informed.com on Mercedes EQS All-Electric Sedan

By 2030, the subsidiary of Daimler – belatedly? – wants more than half the cars it sells to have electric drive systems – including all-electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids, areas it has been slow to embrace.

Mercedes-Benz and Luminar Technologies today announced a partnership to accelerate development of future automated driving technologies for passenger cars through the use of Lidar. This is optical sensing used to determine the position, velocity, or other characteristics of distant objects by analysis of pulsed laser light reflected from their surfaces. It’s radar with light beams instead of radio waves. The goal is to industrialize and integrate Lidar into upcoming mass-production Mercedes-Benz vehicles. “By shortening development cycles and strengthening technology partnerships Mercedes-Benz seeks to ensure that its vehicles have the most up-to-date technologies,” the German automaker said. (Read AutoInformed on First Look: Mercedes EQS All-Electric Sedan)

With the so-called “DRIVE PILOT,” Mercedes-Benz will offer conditionally automated driving at SAE Level 3 where a driver does not need to monitor the driving situations constantly but must take back control when the system requests.) In December 2021 Mercedes-Benz was the first automotive manufacturer globally to secure an internationally valid system approval for conditionally automated driving (SAE Level 3) – marking a milestone in automotive development. The company’s DRIVE PILOT automated driving system will enter series production in the S-Class and EQS this year. (Read AutoInformed on Stellantis on SAE Level 3 Public Road Autonomous Driving; Dangerous Marketing Tower of Babble: The Actual Meaning and Real Performance of Driver Assist and Autonomous Vehicles) Continue reading →

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