Elm Analytics - Automotive Supply Chain Risk Digest #226 - June 4 - 10, 2021

CHANGE IN MANAGEMENT

According to a regulatory filing, Jerome Guillen, one of four top executives at Tesla, has left the company. Guillen joined the company in 2010 and continues the high turnover trend at Tesla.

Apple hired former BMW and Canoo executive Ulrich Kranz for its Project Titan initiative.

EXPANDING

Huntsman Corporation will expand its Conroe, Texas facility to increase its production of ethylene carbonate. The material is a key component in lithium-ion EV batteries.

Garrett Motion will expand its Wuhan, China, facility, adding a new production line for turbochargers.

LABOR DISPUTE

At Volvo's plant in Dublin, Virginia, UAW employees have rejected yet another tentative labor agreement and have resumed striking this week.

Malaysia's Industrial Court sided with foreign workers in a labor dispute against Goodyear.

LITIGATION

French investigators have charged Renault with emissions deceit regarding vehicles from 2009-2011 and 2013-2017. The automaker must make a $24M bail payment and provide a $60M euro bank guarantee to cover potential damages, fines, and compensation for losses.

MERGERS, VENTURES, ACQUISITIONS

BorgWarner has completed its takeover of German battery maker Akasol. The company will operate as an independently operated subsidiary.

Renault's new ElectriCity EV arm aims to produce 400k vehicles/year by 2025.

Goodyear has completed its acquisition of Cooper Tire that was first made public in February.

Apple is meeting with CATL to supply EV batteries. The White House confirmed that Apple plans to build EV battery facilities in the US. CATL has been reluctant to construct a US factory due to strained US-China relations.

OPENING

Bosch opened its new $1.2B chip plant in Dresden, Germany, this week. The plant will start making chips for power tools in July, with automotive chip production beginning in September.

PRODUCTION INCREASE

Daimler's Beijing Benz Automotive Co will increase production by 45% at two Beijing plants.

REGULATION

The Biden administration will target China with a new "strike force" to combat unfair trade practices.

GM this week came out in support of the emissions deal that California reached with other major automakers in 2019. Still, they are asking the federal government to make changes to speed the adoption of EVs.

The New Jersey legislature passed a bill late last week to allow consumers to purchase new vehicles entirely online. The bill would enable buyers to sign purchase and registration documents digitally.

RISK ANALYTICS

Analysts are weighing automaker EV strategies. They've noted that GM is only replacing 14% of its annual sales volume with new models. This "all-in bet" is a short-term risk to foot the bill for investing in EVs. Meanwhile, Toyota and Honda focus on new gas-powered models to boost short-term cash and count on a longer-term transition to EVs.

VW anticipates the semiconductor shortage to ease the third quarter of 2021 but expects bottlenecks to continue in the long term.

SHUTDOWN

ZF Steering Gear has shut down its Pithampur, India plant until June 20 due to excess inventory and lack of demand.

SUPPLY CHAIN

Nissan is delaying the planned summer launch of its first 100% electric vehicle to the winter due to the ongoing chip shortage.