Elm Analytics - Automotive Supply Chain Risk Digest #268 - March 25 - 31, 2022

EXPANDING

Continental is expanding its Memmingen and Neu-Ulm development campuses in Germany. The sites focus on designing AV systems.

HUMAN CAPITAL

GM reportedly keeps up production in Shanghai amid COVID lockdowns by asking workers to sleep on factory floors.

INDUSTRY DIRECTIONS

Continental is developing a new in-vehicle camera system that would allow drivers to see around the corner at city intersections.

MERGERS, VENTURES, ACQUISITIONS

Plastic Omnium has reached a deal to purchase Osram AG's lighting division AMS for $72M.

Hyundai is teaming with oil company Saudi Aramco to develop environmentally friendly fuel and engines for vehicles. The two-year project aims to verify the emissions cut using e-fuel in hybrid EVs.

OPENING

Vietnamese EV maker VinFast plans to invest over $4B into a new plant in Moncure, North Carolina. The plant will eventually reach a yearly capacity of over 200k vehicles and employ around 7.5k people by 2027.

ATC Drivetrain will open a new transmission and engine facility in Knoxville, Tennessee, within the next five years.

Magna is opening a $50M EV battery enclosure plant in Chatham, Ontario, Canada. The plant will employ around 150 people and make enclosures for the Ford F-150.

Spain's Nuadi Group is opening new facilities in Querétaro, Mexico, to produce brake parts.

Sweden's Anodox Energy will build two EV battery plants in Latvia. In the Port of Rīga, the first will be operating by the end of this year.

PRODUCTION DECREASE

Aptiv sent workers home from its Shanghai, China, wire harness facility this week due to a COVID-19 lockdown.

RECALLS

Volkswagen recalled over 100k plug-in hybrids globally due to an improperly insulated battery that can cause a fire.

REGULATION

NHTSA has reinstated fines for automakers that don't meet CAFE requirements.

President Biden will reportedly invoke Cold War powers to encourage the production of EV battery minerals in the US. The move would add materials such as nickel, graphite, cobalt, and manganese to the list of items covered by the 1950 Defense Production Act.

This week, the US Senate approved a bill to provide $52B in subsidies for semiconductor manufacturing in the US. The next step is for the House of Representatives to launch a formal "conference" where both chambers will seek an agreement on a compromised version.

RELOCATING

Nokian Tire is shifting production from Russia and Ukraine to Nokia, Finland, and Dayton, Tennessee. The company is uncertain of manufacturing consistency and capacity due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

SHUTDOWN

A non-semiconductor-related parts disruption halted production at Stellantis' Windsor, Canada, minivan plant.

GM is also shutting down its Lansing Grand River assembly plant next week due to a non-chip-related parts shortage. However, next week, Ford is suspending production at its Flat Rock plant related to the semiconductor disruptions.

GM is halting its assembly plant in Fort Wayne, Indiana, for two weeks next month due to the ongoing chip shortage. The plant will be closed during the weeks of April 4 and April 11.

Volkswagen shutdown its Shanghai, China plant from April 1-5 due to COVID lockdowns in the city. The shutdown reverses an earlier decision to maintain some production there.