Hot Topics From C.A.R (Center For Automotive Research)

Feb 7, 2022

On a bi-weekly basis, CAR welcomes our audience to decompress with our President and CEO, Carla Bailo, as she covers and shares her thoughts on the latest Hot Topics happening in the automotive industry. While the biweekly newsletter primarily covers four topics, this feature story previews two of the topics covered on February 4, 2022. If you would like access to the full newsletter for better insights into critical industry issues you and your organization are facing, sign up for our mailing list here.

 

HOT TOPICS 1/31/2022 – 2/4/2022

 

Q4 Reports

• Key takeaways from GM’s Q4 results and 2022 guidance
• Ford Q4 net income surges to $12.3 billion on Rivian investment gain
• Tesla (TSLA) releases Q4 2021 financial results: beat expectations with over $2 billion in profit
• Mitsubishi UFJ Financial ADR Earnings, Revenue Beat in Q4
• Jaguar Land Rover posts $12M loss in latest quarterly earnings report. Here’s why

Carla’s thoughts:

Despite the lack of vehicles in the dealerships, the automakers’ financial results are nothing less than awesome. With an average sales price of $47K for a new vehicle, profit is made quite readily. Virtually no incentives on the hood add to this profit margin. Combine this with significantly reduced expenses in terms of office overhead, travel, and other supplies; the bottom line is darn good.

The key for 2022 is the number of people who will continue to have disposable income to purchase a new vehicle and the threat of continued inflation. The GDP grew at an excellent rate in Dec 2021 – will this continue as the year progresses? As the Feds increase interest rates, what will happen to building and home loans? The housing market has been hot but is slowing significantly due to the cost of new builds. We know this has a significant impact on truck buying and replenishing fleets.

I’m cautiously optimistic as we start 2022, and CAR will watch consumer appetite, parts shortages, and other headwinds as we go month by month.

 

Safety and Regulations

• Autonomous vehicles need stricter rules -U.S. safety group, labor unions
• Self-driving car companies zoom ahead, leaving U.S. regulators behind
• Biden’s pick for top auto safety chief one step closer after Senate panel approval
• Pedestrian crash avoidance falters at night
• Traffic deaths jumped 12 percent through last fall, continuing pandemic surge, new data show

Carla’s thoughts:

I sure have noticed super-fast and sometimes crazy driving on the roadways these days, and it’s not just expressways but side streets as well. This kind of behavior endangers the driver and all those around thae vehicle. ADAS systems will help prevent accidents and pile-ups from this erratic behavior, but not completely eradicate it, as a human still needs to do something.

For quite some time, the word has been that “autonomous” vehicles will take care of this “safety” issue, but without rules and regulations in terms of operational bounds, this is starting like the wild, wild west. When automakers can program a vehicle to do something illegal (such as Tesla’s rolling stop), there is something wrong with our development methodology. Maybe this one case slipped through the cracks, but without a clear standard by which to certify an autonomous vehicle, it’s up to each company’s best judgment.

As an industry, we need to jump on this quickly and together. We can’t wait for NHTSA, IIHS, or anyone else to set the standards starting with ADAS and moving to autonomous. Without this, we leave the customer confused, and it will delay trust and implementation for a system that is indeed safer and more efficient.

 

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