Elm Analytics - Automotive Supply Chain Risk Digest #241 - September 17 - 23, 2021
BANKRUPTCY
China's Evergrande has problems beyond its real-estate debt issues. It poured $7.7B into developing EVs as Evergrande New Energy Vehicle Group. In August, it said it would delay manufacturing without new funding. These setbacks are on top of missing trial production targets for September 2020.
CHANGE IN MANAGEMENT
Mike Manley stepped down from his role as Head of Americas at Stellantis to become AutoNation's CEO.
HUMAN CAPITAL
Renault will cut up to 2K engineering and support jobs in France in its transition to producing EVs.
LABOR DISPUTE
Hundreds of workers at Ford's Gujarat, India plant protested this week over the automaker's plans to close the plant. The workers are asking Ford to either keep the plant open or provide other jobs.
LITIGATION
US auto safety investigators have opened a new probe into 30M vehicles from 2001-2019 with potentially defective Takata airbag inflators.
German environmental group Deutsche Umwelthilfe is suing BMW Daimler over their carbon emissions targets. The group is asking the automakers to commit to ceasing fossil fuel vehicle production by 2030.
MERGERS, VENTURES, ACQUISITIONS
GM will invest $300M in Momenta. SAIC, Toyota, and Daimler also back the Chinese autonomous driving technology company. Momenta is one of the few companies to have a permit to gather HD maps in China.
Ford and Redwood partnered to form an EV battery "circular supply chain." The companies will recycle EV battery materials and refine them back into battery components.
Tesla and Samsung are reportedly in talks to produce Tesla's 4th generation of AV hardware. Samsung currently makes the 3rd generation for Tesla.
Continental Structural Plastics, Inapal Plásticos, Benet Automotive, CSP Victall and Teijin Automotive Center Europe are combining to form Teijin Automotive Technologies.
LG will spend $30M to acquire a 4.8% stake in China's Greatpower Nickel and Cobalt Materials Co. LG says it has secured 20k tonnes of nickel from Greatpower over six years starting in 2023.
OPENING
GM will reopen its Wentzville, Missouri plant next week. The factory, shut down on September 6th, produces mid-size trucks and full-size vans.
GM's Lansing Delta Township Assembly will restart on October 4th. The mid-size SUV plant closed on July 19th.
Tesla broke ground on its "Megafactory" battery system production facility in Lathrop, California.
Volkswagen Group China started building a battery system plant in Hefei, China. The factory will have an initial capacity of 180k battery systems per year for the nearby VW Anhui EV facility.
PRODUCTION DECREASE
Global automakers will lose $210B in revenue in 2021 due to supply chain disruptions. AlixPartners expects a production loss of 7.7M vehicles, doubling its predictions from May 2021.
Honda says its production in Japan is only operating at 40% of its planned Aug-Sep capacity due to chip shortages and shipment delays.
REGULATION
The US Commerce Department is pushing to address the semiconductor shortage. They will put out a request for information this week to "increase transparency so we can try to identify where the bottlenecks (are) and then predict challenges." Companies are to provide information on inventory, ordering, and customer sales in the next 45 days.
The creation of jobs is driving economic policies around electric vehicles. These policies will drastically shape the future locations of automotive supply chains. NYT explores this in: What Will It Take for Electric Vehicles to Create Jobs, Not Cut Them?
RISK ANALYTICS
IHS Markit has cut its light-vehicle production forecast by 9.3% (8.4M vehicles) for 2022. It now estimates output at 75.8M vehicles this year and 82.6M next.
SHUTDOWN
Stellantis' Jefferson North Assembly Plant in Detroit will shut down for a second week. Production at Stellantis' Saltillo Truck Assembly Plant in Mexico and Brampton Assembly Plant in Ontario also will halt. However, Stellantis' Windsor, Ontario Minivan Assembly Plant will reopen next week.
SUPPLY CHAIN
GM is seeking direct relationships with semiconductor manufacturers for longer-term solutions to shortages.