Nissan may have rounded the corner, Volvo wants 2021 to be epic and Honda. All this and more in The morning shift for February 9, 2021.
1st gear: Nissan is seeing results
Nissan’s history over the past one or two years is inextricably linked to the story of former CEO Carlos Ghosn, for understandable reasons, since this story involves a former Green Beret, private jets and boxes of musical instruments. MeMeanwhile, those still at Nissan are trying to save what’s left, which includes a vast reduction in Nissan’s strategy under Ghosn, which was all about volume.
They are starting to see results.
From Bloomberg:
Japan’s second-largest automaker has forecast a net loss of 530 billion yen ($ 5.1 billion) for the year through March, less than the 615 billion yen previously expected. Nissan posted an operating profit of 27.1 billion yen in the three months to December. Analysts, on average, predicted a loss of 46.8 billion yen.
The last quarter saw a recovery for the global automotive market as a whole, with retail sales reaching the levels of the previous year in the US and surpassing them in China, said Nissan chief operating officer Ashwani Gupta in an interview on Tuesday -market. “We are gaining momentum,” he said.
Nissan has been on an aggressive recovery plan for about nine months, which involves reducing its global production capacity by about a fifth and producing 12 new models in the 18 months to November to renew its aging line and spark stagnant consumer interest.
Sales of new models such as the Rogue SUV, which debuted in the United States in October, increased, limiting Nissan’s overall sales drop to less than 10% from the previous year in November and December, compared to more than 30% in the first half of 2020.
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As much fun as Ghosn’s story was, I prefer Nissan to do what it does best, which is every 10 years or more doing something interesting.
2nd gear: Volvo is taking a big turn in 2021
Volvo sold 661,713 cars last year, which is almost double the number of cars sold in 2010. That number is less than the 800,000 Volvo originally expected to sell in 2020 before the pandemic happened, but those aspirations were only postponed until this year.
From Automotive News:
[Volvo Cars CEO Hakan Samuelsson] is optimistic because Volvo had the best second half in its 93-year history, selling 391,751 vehicles worldwide during the final six months of 2020.
It started 2021 having its best January ever, with global monthly sales of up to 30 percent, for 59,588 vehicles in strong demand from Europe (+9 percent), USA (+32 percent) and China (+91 percent). The big increase in China occurred because Volvo sales in January 2020 were stunted by the outbreak of COVID-19 in the country.
When asked whether 2021 would also be the year that Volvo would achieve its long-standing goal of 800,000 global sales, Samuelsson was a little more cautious.
“We are looking at strong continuous growth and we will see where we land,” he said.
For context, Tesla delivered nearly 500,000 cars last year, while Toyota, the world’s largest car manufacturer by volume, delivered 9.5 million.
3rd gear: Honda also expects a big 2021
Things are getting back to normal. I mean “normal”. I mean “normal”.
From Reuters:
Honda reported a profit increase of 67 percent in the last quarter on higher demand and cost reductions.
Operating profit for the three months through December 31 was 277.7 billion yen ($ 2.65 billion), Honda said in a statement on Tuesday.
“The results of car sales have surpassed the same period last year since October, mainly due to the launch of the new N-ONE,” Seiji Kuraishi, Honda’s chief operating officer, said at a press conference, referring to the launch of the micro company’s urban car in Japan in November.
Honda increased its profit forecast for the entire fiscal year to 520 billion yen ($ 5 billion), up from the 420 billion yen it predicted three months ago.
The N-One, if you’re not familiar, completely rules.
4th gear: I’m really tired of reading about this damn chip shortage
Reuters says that the chip shortage it will cost Honda and Nissan 250,000 cars this year.
But Honda reduced its sales target by 100,000 vehicles, or 2.2%, on Tuesday, to 4.5 million cars, while Nissan reduced its target by 150,000 vehicles, or 3.6%, to 4.015 million units, since the lack of chips forced the two companies to reduce production.
“Popular models that sell well have been hit hard by the scarcity of semiconductors,” said Seiji Kuraishi, Honda’s chief operating officer, during an online press conference. “We needed to change and adjust the production plans. But that was not enough, ”he added.
The global automotive industry has struggled with a chip shortage since the end of last year, which in some cases has been exacerbated by the former U.S. government’s sanctions on Chinese chip factories.
That part of the chip shortage can be directly mapped to former President Donald Trump is the least surprising thing.
5th gear: more about Apple and Hyundai
Bloomberg has an interesting story on the second day on the ramifications of Apple and Hyundai’s agreement to build a car apparently falling apart. Ultimately, Bloomberg concludes, this could be the best.
While it is a lesson on how to play in the big leagues, the Apple car experience could end up being a good thing for Chung and Hyundai, by redirecting their ambitions, according to Kim Jin-woo, an analyst at Korea Investment & Securities Co. , which classifies Hyundai as a purchase.
“Hyundai has the know-how on how to manage supply chains with its experience of more than four decades,” said Kim. “Apple’s news could have become a catalyst for stock prices, but Hyundai has developed its own designs for future mobility.”
Investors have already started listening. Hyundai Motor’s shares jumped nearly 60 percent in 2020, while Kia’s shares rose 41 percent – an impressive result in a year that many automakers would rather forget while the coronavirus pandemic weighed on sales. Hyundai gained 2 percent on Tuesday, bringing gains since January to 24.5 percent.
Last month, Kia reformulated the brand with a new, more elegant logo, removing its oval-shaped emblem and announcing a new slogan ‘Movement that inspires’ to replace its old mantra ‘Power to surprise’.
“Hyundai’s ultimate goal is not to become an Apple car supplier,” said Kim Joon-sung, an analyst at Meritz Securities Co. in Seoul, which also evaluates Hyundai as a purchase. “He would like to be the next Tesla.”
A partnership with Apple sounds good on paper and can provide a short-term increase in stock prices, but the real job of doing the damn thing looks like a big lift when you could spend that time doing your own thing.
Reverse: there was a war
Neutral: how are you?
I can’t find a clip that can be used online my whole life, but the mood today is very George Clooney getting into a taxi at the end of Michael Clayton.
“Just drive.”