Elm Analytics - Automotive Supply Chain Risk Digest #191 - October 2 - 8, 2020
Stay up to date on automotive manufacturers and suppliers affected by Hurricane Delta on Elm's free Impact of Severe Weather map:
BANKRUPTCY
Industry analysts believe there will be 50 to 100 new supplier bankruptcies in the next three quarters.
CHANGE IN MANAGEMENT
Former Volkswagen CEO Matthias Mueller has been named the new CEO of EV startup Piech Automotive. Piech was founded by former VW Chairman Ferdinand Piech's son Toni Piech.
HUMAN CAPITAL
Instrument cluster maker Visteon is cutting jobs as part of a $40M restructuring plan. The company has not revealed the exact number of job cuts planned.
INDUSTRY DIRECTIONS
CAR: The Transition to BEV Proves a Balancing Act
A new study suggests that the cost of maintaining an EV over the life of the vehicle could be around 50% less than a typical combustion engine vehicle.
Hyundai is planning a full lineup of flying cars within a decade. The automaker expects to enter the flying car marketing in 2028.
LITIGATION
Honda has confirmed the 17th US death related to a faulty airbag inflator made by now-defunct Takata. The driver of a 2002 Honda Civic was killed in an August 20th crash in Mesa, Arizona. The vehicle had been under a recall since December 2011, according to the automaker.
Hyundai recalled over 25k Kona EVs in South Korea over a possible short circuit that could cause a fire. The recall affects vehicles built between September 2017 and March 2020.
MERGERS, VENTURES, ACQUISITIONS
Angstrom Group acquired Vantec Inc, an injection molding supplier. The company will operate as Vantec LLC.
Tesla is acquiring Germany's ATW, a battery assembly line maker. ATW supplied BWM and Mercedes, but suffered financially due to the pandemic and was facing bankruptcy.
Continental is selling parts of its Vistesco Technologies and Contitech divisions. Vistesco produces powertrain systems, and Contitech focuses on rubber components. The divestment is part of Continental's $1.2B restructuring plan.
BorgWarner completed its purchase of Delphi Technologies late last week.
A Toyota-Panasonic JV will build lithium-ion batteries for hybrid vehicles at a Panasonic plant in Tokushima, Japan starting in 2022. The production line will have enough capacity to produce around 500,000 batteries per year.
GM tentatively agreed to purchase an 11% stake in Nikola, a revision after Nikola's stock price plummeted. GM would manufacture an electric pickup for Nikola and provide hydrogen fuel-cell technology.
Ford revealed it owns a 7.6% stake in Velodyne Lidar in an SEC filing.
PLANT OPENING
DURA Automotive has broken ground on its new plant in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. The $75M, 200k sf facility will be completed by April 2021 and employ around 279 full-time workers.
Faurecia has opened its R&D center for hydrogen storage systems in Bavans, France.
PLANT SHUTDOWN
Tesla warned workers that an employee was fired after they "maliciously sabotaged" part of its Fremont, California factory in September.
REGULATION
Toyota and Nissan will reportedly ask the UK to pay them back any customs charges leveled against their cars in the event of a "no-deal" Brexit.
BMW's CFO, Nicolas Peter, believes Brexit could cost the auto industry $13B without tariff-free trade.
RISK ANALYTICS
To cut battery costs in half, Tesla plans to produce a new type of battery cell at its Berlin Gigafactory. Elon Musk says it could be a "significant production risk."
