Elm Analytics - Automotive Supply Chain Risk Digest #239 - September 3 - 9, 2021

CHANGE IN MANAGEMENT

Stellantis has named former Ford and Honeywell executive Christine Feuell as the new CEO of the Chrysler brand. Feuell will start next week.

Doug Field is leaving Apple, returning to Ford as its "chief advanced technology and embedded systems officer". Field worked at Segway, helped launch Tesla's Model 3, and was involved in Apple's secretive vehicle project.

CLOSING

Ford is closing its assembly plants in Chennai and Sanand, India, effectively ending all vehicle production in the country. The shutdowns will cost the automaker around $2B.

Stellantis' JV with Chinese automaker GAC will close its plant in Guangzhou, China, by March 2022. Despite a capacity of 328k vehicles, the JV only sold 12k in the first seven months of this year.

EARNING DIP

UK car sales dropped by 22% in August due to the ongoing chip shortage.

EXPANDING

Toyota will spend $13.5B on solid-state EV battery R&D, supply chains, and production by 2030.

LABOR DISPUTE

ZF workers at the Marysville, Michigan Axle Plant are on strike after ZF did not recognize the workers' UAW representation. ZF took over operations of the plant from Stellantis in 2019.

MERGERS, VENTURES, ACQUISITIONS

Honda has partnered with GM to develop midsize vehicles on the same EV platform. These vehicles will share over 50% of the same components but have different exterior and interior designs. The costs of the ICE to BEV transition have pushed automakers to collaborate.

OPENING

Solid-state battery developer Solid Power is building a new plant in Louisville, Colorado, to supply batteries to Ford and BMW. The first cells will go to the automakers in early 2022 to be production-ready by the latter half of the decade.

Chinese chipmaker Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. will invest $8.87B into a new plant outside Shanghai. The plant will focus on more mature technology of 28 nanometers or older.

PRODUCTION DECREASE

Japanese automakers expect to further cut October production due to parts disruptions.

PRODUCTION INCREASE

Intel is dedicating its semiconductor plant in Ireland to produce other companies' designs for the auto industry.

RAW MATERIALS

A military junta seized control of Guinea on September 5. Guinea is the globe's primary source of aluminum, with the world's largest reserves of bauxite. Fears of global supply disruption spiked prices of aluminum to a 10-year high two days later.

REGULATION

US and Mexican officials resumed high-level talks in Washington this week regarding regional content requirements in the USMCA trade deal. Mexico and Canada favor a more flexible interpretation of the rules than the one taken by US officials.

New York signed a new law with a goal of "100% of in-state sales by 2035." California enacted a similar plan last year.

RISK ANALYTICS

An industry forecast from AutoForecast Solutions suggests that the chip shortage is getting worse. The forecaster believes that the global auto industry will lose over 8.5M vehicles from its production plans before the deficit ends.

SHUTDOWN

The Toyota Mississippi assembly plant began a three-week shut down this past Monday.

Following a gas leak late last week, Ford has extended the shutdown of its Mustang plant in Flat Rock, Michigan. The gas contaminated the city's sewer system and prompted the evacuation of hundreds of residents near the plant.

Unisem will shut down its Ipoh semiconductor packaging and testing facility in Malaysia for a week. Three employees died recently due to Covid-19.

SUPPLY CHAIN

Industry Week: Get Out and Talk to Your Suppliers, I Beg of You