The auto industry, right now, by the numbers

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The auto industry, right now, by the numbers

Taycan world record

Here’s a snapshot of the industry, drawn from numbers in Monday’s issue:

680,350 Units of lost vehicle production globally because of the microchip shortage

1,321,701 Projected number of units that will be lost because of the microchip shortage

$1.5 billion $2 billion General Motors’ projected 2021 earnings hit because of the chip shortage

$50.9 billion Market cap of online used-car retailer Carvana

$20.4 billion Market cap of CarMax, the largest U.S. used-car retailer

200,561 Number of Teslas registered in the U.S. last year

4 Tesla’s rank in luxury-brand registrations

265,600 Number of Mercedes-Benzes registered in the U.S. last year

3 Mercedes’ rank in luxury-brand registrations

95,135 Number of Tesla Model 3’s registered in the U.S. last year

1 Model 3’s rank in U.S. EV registrations by model

19,664 Number of Chevrolet Bolts registered in the U.S. last year

3 Bolt’s rank in U.S. EV registrations by model

350 Percent increase in 2020 revenue reported by digital lidar maker Ouster

35,000 Ford Focus sales in China in 2020

392,000 Ford Focus sales in China in 2014

7.1 Percent increase in Toyota revenue in latest fiscal quarter

11 Percent decline in Nissan revenue in latest fiscal quarter

$19.37 billion Toyota’s forecast for operating profit in the fiscal year ending March 31

$2.8 billion GM’s Q4 2020 profit, during a pandemic

$194 million GM’s Q4 2019 loss, during a UAW strike

17,000 Number of investors the SEC claims were misled by GPB Capital Holdings, majority owner of Prime Automotive Group

102.6 mph Speed of a Porsche Taycan EV piloted by Leh Keen in setting a Guinness World Record for fastest vehicle driven indoors

Sources: Experian (registrations), Automotive News Data Center, AutoForecast Solutions (microchips), Yahoo Finance (market caps), China Passenger Car Alliance (Focus sales), companies.

Dave Versical

Volvo grille

Coming Monday in Automotive News:

Carvana

Excuse me, your market cap is what? The boom in online used-vehicle sales has led to a wave of unprofitable upstarts going public. Online used retailers Carvana, Vroom, Shift and CarLotz have raised billions of dollars to date, and much of that will be used to transform the traditional sales model and put pressure on traditional dealers. While Carvana’s stock has been climbing to new heights, dealers are scrambling to keep up with the new sales models or left scratching their heads. Sometimes both. Automotive News takes a look at the new normal and how traditional players are responding.

Weekend headlines

Mercedes-Benz recalls more than 1 million vehicles: The software design of the communication module may result in a failure to send the correct vehicle location for the emergency call system in the event of a crash and increase the risk of injury following a crash, the top U.S. auto safety regulator said.

Japan chipmaker Renesas halts Ibaraki plant operations on quake checks: The chipmaker has power and all utility equipment is functioning, but it decided to cancel Sunday’s production for detailed inspections of the clean rooms as a precaution.

Toyota logo

Toyota joins BEV crowd: After passing for years on the automaker EV rush, Toyota Motor North America now says it will introduce two battery-electric vehicles and another plug-in hybrid. The vehicles are expected to go on sale in the U.S. in 2022.

Audi E-tron

From big screen to showroom: The car Tony Stark drove in 2019’s Avengers: Endgame, the Audi E-tron GT, will be available for the first time off the screen when it finally arrives at U.S. dealerships this summer.

A selection from Shift and Daily Drive:

Feb. 11: DAILY DRIVE: Elevating the digital customer experience

 

Martin French, a longtime supplier executive who is now a consultant with Berylls Strategy Advisors, talks about digital retail strategies for automakers and dealers. He also explains why the physical dealership is still a key part of the car-buying process and how artificial intelligence can help retailers reduce their operating costs.

Listen to the Podcast >
 

Feb. 19, 2015: Yutaka Katayama, Nissan’s first U.S. president, who introduced the affordable Datsun Z sports car in the early 1970s, died in Tokyo at 105. Katayama, known as Mr. K, retired from Nissan in 1977, but his lingering presence as an elderly, spry and sometimes critical voice from the past continued to sustain U.S. brand interest in both Nissan’s Z cars and Nissan itself.