EVs in the Land of Harry, Joey and Billy
Affordability, Quality and Style
At no time in history has the lack of vision and leadership had such a potential impact on gainful employment as now.
“History is the only education; everything else is just training” ~ Brent Staples
American business thinking continues to be plagued by short-termism; a short-termism whereby Tesla and wealth are idolized in place of the collaboration between Edison and Morgan.
The Rush to Go Electric
A GMC Hummer EV truck at General Motors' Factory Zero in Detroit. PHOTO: BILL PUGLIANO / GETTY IMAGE
GM
WSJ: General Motors is mapping out a new path for its business as technology resets automotive supply chains. The Detroit auto maker plans to more than double its revenue by 2030, the WSJ’s Mike Colias reports, through an influx of new battery-electric models and services including a new offering to help delivery companies charge and manage electric-van fleets. GM is taking aim at rivals new and old. It plans to release an electric SUV with a $30,000 price tag, undercutting the cheapest version of Tesla’s Model 3 sedan. An electric Chevrolet Silverado truck would compete with Ford Motor’s F-150 Lightning electric pickup, and GM says a dedicated electric-truck plant is also in the works. Wall Street has been bullish on GM’s electrification plans. But the switch from combustion engines carries risk, from consumer concerns about finding places to charge to potential shortages of battery capacity in the rush to go electric.
CNBC: DETROIT –
Ford Motor and battery supplier SK Innovation plan to invest more than $11.4 billion in new U.S. facilities that will create nearly 11,000 jobs to produce electric vehicles and batteries.
Ford is building twin lithium-ion battery plants in central Kentucky through a joint venture with South Korea-based SK called BlueOvalSK as well as a massive 3,600-acre campus in west Tennessee, the automaker said Monday night. The campus will include another battery plant built with SK along with a supplier park, recycling center and a new assembly plant for electric F-Series trucks, Ford CEO Jim Farley told CNBC.
S.Korea
South Korea and France are hedging their bets on the global electrification of mobility. They are joint venturing with and investing in Plug Power with a vision of what now powers forklifts, which can also power vans and soon; autos.
China
Volvo announces $2.9 billion IPO as it looks to fund shift to electric cars and catch up with Tesla.
Volvo Car Group AB will look to raise at least 25 billion krona ($2.9 billion) in an initial public offering the company is forging ahead with despite the global chip shortage.
Proceeds will help the Swedish carmaker owned by China’s Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co. fund its shifts to fully electric cars and a direct-to-consumer sales and subscription model, the company said in a statement Monday. Geely intends to remain its largest shareholder with the first day of trading planned for this year.
“We have supported the transformation and growth of this iconic Swedish brand during a period of unprecedented change in our industry,” Geely Chairperson Eric Li said in the statement. “We will continue to support Volvo Cars as a majority shareholder in this ongoing global success story.”
Volvo’s listing plan got a boost from Polestar, the electric car company backed by the Swedish carmaker and Geely, which last month agreed to go public via a blank-check firm at a roughly $20 billion valuation. Once the deal is completed, Volvo expects to own close to 50% of the combined company.
The decision to list puts Volvo, founded in 1927 in Gothenburg, neck-and-neck with the four-year-old EV maker that will use the incumbent manufacturer’s production network. Volvo last year sold some 660,000 cars, and Polestar aims to deliver 29,000 vehicles in 2021 before adding new models to significantly grow its footprint.
“Volvo Cars is really making the transition, to the new way of owning as well as driving a car,” said Anders Oscarsson, head of equities at AMF, which intends to keep its holding in Volvo after the IPO. The carmaker is “open and transparent company that is full of innovations.”
The listing is set to be Sweden’s largest since telecommunications company Telia Co AB went public in 2000, raising $8.9 billion, and Europe’s second-biggest IPO so far this year after Poland’s InPost SA.
Financing
As part of raising fresh funds, Volvo targets boosting sales to 1.2 million vehicles by 2025, it said Monday. Operating returns are set to rise to between 8% to 10% by then, compared with 3.2% last year, when Covid-19 related shutdowns hampered sales across all carmakers.
Other EV-only carmakers like NIO Inc., selling few vehicles but free from legacy businesses like making combustion engines, have seen their valuations rocket past the likes of BMW AG or Ford Motor Co. in a wake-up call to larger manufacturers.
Previous Plan
Geely Holding previously pursued an IPO of Volvo Cars in 2018. It shelved the plans after investors balked at its proposed valuation of as much as $30 billion, people familiar with the matter said at the time.
Companies have raised $662 billion from IPOs globally during the first three quarters this year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That’s up from $447 billion over the same period last year, when the pandemic reduced the number of listings.
In the first nine months of the year, Volvo sold 530,649 cars, a 18% increase on a year ago, though the company warned supplier shutdowns and material shortages like the global chip crunch will hurt output during the second half.
This “will have an impact on revenue and profit, but Volvo Cars’ outlook for the full year 2021 still remains,” the carmaker said last month.
Russia
The lack of style of Kalashnikov’s EVs reflect the artless and boring nature of communism and the state planned and directed economy:
The economic transformation to electrified mobility will impact 1 million jobs in the U.S. alone. It is critically important that the transformation is effective!
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