Banger 💥 (My Car Week)
BMW 1 Series. Tesla Numbers. Fisker is Dead.
Hey!
There we are again. You, me, the newsletter … Hope you can grab a nice coffee (or tea, whatever you like more) and take some time to read through. I brought opinions, numbers and a death-story.
Enjoy!
In this mail
New BMW 1 Series…?!
No Happy Times For The Industry
The End of Fisker
Service Announcement – I will take a little holiday break at the beginning of July & use the time to move this newsletter to a new service (Beehive; which also is compliant to GDPR). Just so you know …
The New BMW 1 Series Looks Like A Kia, According To The Internet
BMW’s relationship with its older fans is a bit bumpy at the moment, given that the car brand can’t launch any production car without receiving a wave of negative comments on design. On the other hand, the designers can’t get things that wrong since BMW is selling more and more cars each year … So, someone seem to like it.
The new BMW 1 Series is based on the old architecture but comes with a fresh design, new tech and a style that fans feel is more like Kia Ceed, Ford Focus or Skoda Fabia. That, though, would not be a bad thing since they all sell well …
Nevermind. Here are the facts. And in regards of design: it still comes with a BMW badge, so it is still a BMW, no!? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ / Instagram & BMW PressClub
🚮 Delta, Volkswagen, ExxonMobil, and others have purchased millions of carbon credits from climate friendly projects that are “likely junk” or worthless when it comes to offsetting their greenhouse gas emissions / Guardian
In Germany, There Were More Rolls-Royce Delivered in May Than Nio
💥 Whoopsie
Tesla Sales Germany: -64% in May YoY, -41.4% YTD.
Tesla Sales Norway: -71,8% in May YoY, and -49% YTD.
Tesla cuts Model Y production in Shanghai as demand weakens.
Sales espc. for EVs are down in May – everywhere in Europe. Tesla is hit the hardest. In Germany, electric vehicle sales have dropped by a significant 30.6 percent compared to May 2023.
In regards of Chinese brands in Germany: BYD only sold 210 cars in May, GWM 268, Ssangyong 198, and Nio only 35. Polestar made 414. Compare it to Rolls-Royce (42!), Aston Martin (28), Bentley (63) Ferrari (179), and Lamborghini (88). The biggest Chinese brand in Germany is MG Roewe with 2,699 cars sold, which is even more than MINI (1,943). Tesla sold 1,896 cars in May.
No surprise: SUVs remained the dominant body style.
/ CarScoops & OFV.NO & Fastcompany
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⚡️ German government is lowering its own goals on bringing 15 Million electric cars on the roads until 2030. / heise (German)
At the same time, government decided that larger petrol station chains must set up a fast-charging infrastructure by the beginning of 2028. / heise (German)
Cloudy With A Chance For Layoffs: Bad Mood In The Industry
The situation in the industry will remain tense in the medium term. This is what Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares expects. He has warned repeatedly in recent months, and he is not wrong; he is also one of the CEOs who oppose the EU's ban on new registrations of combustion engines from 2035.
Tavares believes that cost pressures in the industry will continue to rise, leading to a shift away from production in Europe in particular. Labour and energy costs in the EU are too high to compete with Chinese manufacturers. This in turn could lead to a huge wave of redundancies. / Merkur.de (German)
🇪🇺 The Chinese car manufacturer Great Wall Motor (GWM) will close its European headquarters in Munich on 1 August 2024. All employees will be made redundant. GWM is selling the Ora 03 in Germany. Even though the HQ is closing, sales points and services will stay operative. / Elektroauto-News (German)
Inside EV Startup Fisker’s Collapse
Dust in the wind: Fisker did lay-off basically all of its teams, meaning the company stops working for now. For Henrik Fisker this is the second time his idea to become his own car-manufacturer dies.
Over the past eight years Fisker suggested his electric vehicle startup would deliver lots, but actually only build a few cars.
TechCrunch has the story of how the company failed; having spoken with employees who blame the whole company rests on the shoulders of two people: the husband-and-wife team whose name is on the hood. / TechCrunch
🔌 Honda has started building America’s first plug-in hydrogen fuel cell vehicle – the car can run on both hydrogen and — to a degree — electricity. / QZ
That’s all folks!
– Thomas