Tavares Muses About Customers Being Priced Out of Market

No one reading this should be surprised by the news it’s more expensive than ever to find one’s way into a new car. All kinds of external forces have driven average purchase prices through the roof, and strife halfway around the world is currently playing a role in driving up the cost of fuel.

CEOs of the world’s automotive companies have taken note, of course. Late last week, during a virtual roundtable discussion with industry wonks, Stellantis boss Carlos Tavares expressed his opinions on the matter – and spoke of his concerns.

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A Side of Chips: Analysts Worsen Outlook for '22, Remain Better Than '21 Levels

It seems this calendar year will improve in terms of supply chain challenges for many auto manufacturers, with a general consensus that new chip sources will alleviate some of last year’s snarls. Still, one forward-looking group of analysts have peered into a crystal ball and determined all hands might not be out of the woods quite yet.

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Will Intel's Ohio Chip Plants Fix Automotive Supply Chains?

Intel has announced a $20 billion investment to transform a 1,000-acre plot in New Albany, Ohio, into the latest addition to its U.S. chip-manufacturing hub. Construction is scheduled to commence later this year with operations starting in 2025. But everyone’s wondering if it is going to be enough to rectify the pathetic state in which domestic vehicle production currently finds itself.

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Chips Ahoy: BMW Inks Deal With New Supplier

While we’re sure the vast majority of our readers think of Ponch and Jon when they hear the word ‘chips’, there’s no denying the world’s automakers would probably rather never hear the term again as it relates to car parts. After weathering a severe shortage of the things, BMW thinks it has a solution: Shacking up with a semiconductor manufacturer and a semiconductor foundry.

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Report: Biden Admin May Link Semiconductor Subsidies to Unions

Despite the semiconductor shortage having encouraged the automotive sector to repeatedly idle factories, word on the ground is that things are becoming more stable. Companies are seeing less production downtime overall and workers are reporting more reliable working conditions across the board. However, several automakers have continued to express concerns (e.g. Volvo), alleging that chip shortages could stretch deep into 2022, while the U.S. government ponders how to advance chip production in-country and become less dependent on Asian suppliers.

Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo has been touring Michigan, meeting with union members and industry heads, and plans to urge Congress to move on a $52 billion in funding bill aimed at boosting domestic production. We’ve questioned the efficacy of the CHIPS Act before, primarily in relation to how the subsidies would be allocated. But there are new concerns that the plan will mimic the Biden administration’s EV subsidies by spending heaps of taxpayer money and giving union-backed organizations a larger cut.

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Rumor Mill Pegs Rivian Opening Second Assembly Facility

Fresh off its megabucks IPO in which the company’s fortunes skyrocketed like your author’s blood pressure after a meal of fried foods, rumors are floating that Rivian is planning another factory. Suggested as being located in Georgia, it would play partner to the existing facility in Illinois.

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Cold Comfort: GM Binning Heated Seats & Steering Wheel in Some Models

While this news initially surfaced late Friday, we feel it is a significant move by General Motors, one which warrants a bit of discussion even after umpteen different car blogs parroted this news over the weekend.

At issue? The current level of global supply chain disruption, of course. With the only chips in Detroit apparently being of the salt & vinegar kind, car companies have been forced to make some tough decisions – but yoinking heated seats is a very substantial change.

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Rivian Sets IPO at $78, Stonks to the Moon

While no one around this neck of the woods would call themselves experts in finer points of the stock market, we do know how to add. Talking heads at the Wall Street Journal are reporting Rivian has set an initial share price of $78 for its IPO, a heady sum to be sure. What drives this story to another dimension is they’ve allegedly sold 153 million shares at this price.

For those keeping track, that means they raised nearly $12 billion – making RIVN the biggest listing so far in 2021.

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Ford, GM Earnings Reports Will Tell the Chip Shortage Tale

Ford and General Motors are both slated to show their third-quarter earnings reports on Thursday.

Reports suggest that despite the negative impacts of the global semiconductor chip shortage, there may be positives for the companies, as well.

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Will Chip Shortage Dethrone GM's Sales Dominance?

Ninety years. That’s the amount of time that General Motors has led the sales charts in the U.S.

That may change this year, according to industry bible Automotive News, because of the ongoing microchip shortage.

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Ford to Build Blue Oval City for EV Production

Ford has grand plans for building EVs and batteries, and the Blue Oval brand laid out those plans earlier this week.

Welcome to Blue Oval City

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Automakers Accused of Chip Hoarding, U.S. Considers Defense Production Act

Despite the occasional media report claiming that the semiconductor shortage is nearly over, reality looks quite a bit different. Some manufacturers have managed to temporarily stabilize supply chains, even though others have continued announcing work stoppages as they run out of chips. Wait times for the electronic components have also increased by about 61 percent since the beginning of 2021. Meanwhile, a recent Kelly Blue Book survey had 48 percent of respondents saying they were going to postpone buying a new automobile until shortages end, prices come down, and they can actually find the vehicles they’re looking for. But even those that were willing to buy now expressed a surprising level of acceptance to abandon brand loyalty or their preferred body style just to get a fairer deal on an automobile.

With the United States fairing worse than other regions in regard to chip availability, the White House has been under pressure to solve the problem all year. Thus far, government strategy has focused on encouraging investments for new semiconductor production. But there’s a new gambit being proposed that would invoke a Cold War-era national security law that would force manufacturers to furnish information pertaining to semiconductor supply lines and chip sales.

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More Ford Delay Woes: Chip Shortage Slows Mach-E Deliveries

If today’s news regarding production delays at Ford was a game of Clue, the first victim would be Bronco, caused by hardtops. Now it’s Mach-E, with lack of chips being the weapon.

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Ford Bronco Hardtops to Be Replaced, Delays Continue

Ford is continuing to have hard-top issues with the Bronco. So much so, that according to Bronco6G via Autoblog, the company will replace all the molded-in-color hardtops it has built up to now.

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Off the Rails: Train Crash Damages New Ford F-150 Pickups

As if Ford didn’t have enough headaches in terms of pickup truck supply, the derailment of a train carrying a load of the things has thrown the automaker even further off track. According to local media, a freight train ran into trouble while hauling the things through Missouri, creating a stack of metal that Blue Oval suits certainly could do without seeing right now.

Here’s the good news: no injuries or environmental damage was reported, save for the new pair of pants that was surely required for the train’s operator.

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  • Slavuta Inflation creation act... 2 thoughts1, Are you saying Biden admin goes on the Trump's MAGA program?2, Protectionism rephrased: "Act incentivizes automakers to source materials from free-trade-compliant countries and build EVs in North America"Question: can non-free-trade country be a member of WTO?
  • EBFlex China can F right off.
  • MrIcky And tbh, this is why I don't mind a little subsidization of our battery industry. If the American or at least free trade companies don't get some sort of good start, they'll never be able to float long enough to become competitive.
  • SCE to AUX Does the WTO have any teeth? Seems like countries just flail it at each other like a soft rubber stick for internal political purposes.
  • Peter You know we’ve entered the age of self driving vehicles When KIAs go from being stolen to rolling away by themselves.