The car industry was as terrified by the coup as everyone else

Yesterday was bad, Elon Musk may soon be the richest man in the world on paper and rhodium. All this and more in The Morning Shift for January 7, 2021.

I would say that yesterday was one of the dumbest days in American history, but everyone has said it already. It’s too much honor for a bunch of nobility anyway. Stay calm and drive, as they say.

1st gear: automatic people respond

GM CEO Mary Barra tweeted:

Ford CEO Jim Farley also tweeted:

The U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan (representing the UAW corruption scandal) also tweeted:

UAW President Rory Gamble made a statement:

The National Association of Manufacturers also weighed in because everyone was waiting for what the National Association of Manufacturers had to say:

It will soon be a distant memory, and you have the feeling that it would always end like this with a cheap and senseless crime that temporarily delayed the adults from performing their duties. Four people is now logged in death.

2nd gear: car sales are bad in Europe

The reason is the pandemic. Aside from a bunch of eagles storming the Capitol, we still have the pandemic to worry about.

Of Bloomberg:

According to industry associations and transport ministries, registrations fell by about 25% last year in Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Italy and Spain, the five largest car buying countries in Europe. The revival of Covid-19 has led several governments to reintroduce lock-in measures that are likely to land demand until early 2021.

Registrations for new cars in Germany fell by about 20% in 2020, based on preliminary data from the Federal Authority Transport Authority, which will post detailed numbers on Friday. According to figures released earlier this week, sales in Spain fell by 32%, 29% in the UK, 28% in Italy and 25% in France. The trading group of the British car industry said the country’s decline was the worst since 1943.

The data shows the large impact that the coronavirus had on the European car industry last year compared to China and the US, where car purchases were more resilient. Continued weak demand posed a risk to the euro area economy, which relied heavily on the manufacturing sector in the second half of last year.

“We are in a deep crisis,” Pierre-Louis Debar, head of statistics at French motor industry group CCFA, said in an interview. “It’s more extensive than anything we’ve seen in the past.”

3rd gear: Rhodium? Rhodium!

Rhodium is used in catalytic converters, and many countries these days are concerned about cleaning the air. This caused the price of rhodium to skyrocket.

Of The Financial Times:

Car companies in Europe and China are increasingly using rhodium to comply with strict clean air legislation, at the same time as the supply of South Africa, the largest producer, was interrupted by the distribution of Covid-19.

Assisted by the economic recovery in China, the world’s largest car market, standard rhodium prices reached a record $ 17,790 per ounce, rising more than 200 percent since their low in March 2020. That means one kilogram rhodium is worth almost half a million pounds.

“You’ve had a big scramble for metal” by car companies, said Nicholas Hops, co-manager of the Coronation Resources Fund. “If you do not have enough rhodium, you can not comply with the legislation on emissions, and we know how draconian the fines are.”

4th gear: Elon Musk

The value of Tesla on paper is huge, or more than $ 700 billion. The value of Ford, for context, is about $ 34 billion. On paper, Tesla CEO Eles Musk has almost the richest person in the world.

Of Bloomberg:

A 2.8% increase in the share price of the electric car maker on Wednesday raised Musk to $ 3 billion from Amazon.com Inc. founder Jeff Bezos, who currently holds the top spot in the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, a ranking of the 500 richest people in the world.

The South African-born engineer’s net worth was $ 181.1 billion on Wednesday, just shy of Bezos, who has held the top position since October 2017. As CEO of Space Exploration Technologies Corp., or SpaceX, Musk is also a competitor for Bezos. , owner of Blue Origin LLC, in the private space race.

The milestone reaches Musk an extraordinary twelve months. Its net worth has risen by more than $ 150 billion over the past year as possibly the fastest success of wealth creation in history. The rise in the shares was an unprecedented increase in Tesla’s share price, which rose 743% last year due to steady gains, inclusion in the S&P 500 index and enthusiasm from Wall Street and retail investors.

Elon’s payment is largely tied up in stock it may or may not materialize, depending on Tesla’s future. But it’s always nice to be the best of something.

5th gear: Model Y sales in China are big

There are waiting times for the car, which basically meets the expectations in terms of sales. The expectations were high.

Of Bloomberg:

Tesla’s website showed that a basic version of the electric vehicle now purchased will be delivered in the second quarter and a performance variant in the third quarter. When Tesla announced the price last week and began sales, deliveries say this month.

A strong start for the vehicle will be a blessing for Tesla as it wants to take its lead in the premium segment over competitors like Nio Inc. retained, Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, said that Model Y has the potential to sell out all other vehicles it manufactures, and the company has set the vehicle’s price under a few other markers to gain a competitive advantage. retain.

“Based on the order intake and our production schedule, we have adjusted the Model Y delivery time of the latest orders for the second quarter,” a Tesla representative said via WeChat on Thursday.

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