Stellantis shares rise on market debut; Audi furloughs over 10,000 workers

TOP NEWS IN AUTOMOTIVE

* French carmaker Peugeot and Italian-American carmaker Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV completed their 50/50 merger, creating the world's fourth-largest global car manufacturer Stellantis NV. Stellantis shares began trading on Euronext in Paris and the Mercato Telematico Azionario in Milan on Jan. 18. As of afternoon trading in Paris and Milan, Stellantis shares were up 4.91% at €14.18 apiece. The shares start trading on the NYSE on Jan. 19.

* Audi AG furloughed over 10,000 workers as a "massive" chip shortage has forced production delays, the Financial Times (London) reported, citing CEO Markus Duesmann. The executive said Audi will "do everything we can to keep it below 10,000 [fewer models produced] for the first quarter."

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CARMAKERS

* General Motors Co. will invest C$1 billion, or about $800 million, at its Canadian plant in Ingersoll, Ontario, for manufacturing its BrightDrop electric light commercial vehicle. GM, which plans to launch an electric delivery vehicle business BrightDrop, will revamp the CAMI plant to produce the BrightDrop EV600 by late 2021.

* Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. will regularize all 800 of its contractual workers in Japan from April as part of a ¥300 billion cost-cutting plan, the Japan Times (Tokyo) reported, citing spokesperson Azusa Momose. The Japanese automaker will also end its system of hiring workers on a contractual basis.

* Fitch Ratings affirmed the long-term issuer default rating of Stellantis at BBB- with a stable outlook. The rating reflects Stellantis' solid business characteristics, including large scale and broad diversification, while the stable outlook reflects Fitch's expectations that the COVID-19 impact on Stellantis will be limited after 2021.

* Volkswagen's Bentley Motors brand said it resumed production after a winter shutdown. The automaker plans to test all 1,800 manufacturing employees for COVID-19 before it returns to full production capacity.

ELECTRIC VEHICLES

* Volkswagen AG's Audi and China's FAW Jiefang Group Co. Ltd. will set up a new company to produce electric vehicles in China under the Audi brand. Under the joint venture, Audi and Volkswagen Group China will own 60% of the new cooperation company, which will manufacture fully electric Audi models based on the premium platform electric, co-developed with Porsche.

* Tesla Inc. began deliveries of its China-made Model Y electric SUV model. The Model Y is the second vehicle model being produced at its Shanghai gigafactory, after the Model 3 sedan.

* German carmaker Bayerische Motoren Werke AG said it plans to double the sales of its fully electric vehicles and boost the sales of its electrified units by more than 50% in 2021.

* Geely Automobile Holdings Ltd. and internet and tech services company Tencent said they agreed to develop intelligent vehicle cockpits, low-carbon and autonomous drive technologies. Earlier in January, Geely also reportedly agreed to form a venture with Chinese search engine Baidu to build electric vehicles.

* Electricité de France SA instructed investment bank Barclays to draw up plans for an IPO of its U.K.-based electric vehicle charging subsidiary Pod Point Ltd., Sky News reported Jan. 16, citing City of London sources. The French electric utility company bought a controlling stake in Pod Point in February 2020.

* Evergrande Auto, the vehicle arm of Chinese real estate company China Evergrande, is facing setbacks on the construction of its $4 billion plant and has yet to secure the government backing required to release vehicles, the Financial Times reported. Evergrande said construction of the factory in Lu'an is still on schedule, the report added.

POLICY, REGULATION AND SAFETY

* Stellantis' Vauxhall brand was hit with a class-action lawsuit alleging about 600,000 of its diesel vehicles were installed with emissions-cheating software, Business Green reported. A Vauxhall representative rejected the allegations, the report said.

AUTO PARTS AND EQUIPMENT

* German auto parts company Continental AG will ax 450 research and development jobs at a local plant in Babenhausen by 2023-end, MarketWatch reported, citing trade union IG Metall. Continental agreed to retain the plant until "at least 2028."

* Hyundai Motor Co. said its WIA subsidiary will begin mass production of its thermal management module, which can meet and regulate temperature requirements for electric-car battery parts and the vehicle's driveline through its coolant module, in 2023. Hyundai WIA plans to develop an integrated thermal system with cooling and air-conditioning functions by 2025.

* Battery company Britishvolt PLC said it will team up with tech services provider Siemens to use the latter's digital enterprise technology to ramp up the development and production of lithium-ion electric vehicles. Britishvolt plans to build a gigaplant in the northeast of England and begin production by 2023-end.

AUTOMOTIVE RETAIL

* The EU's vehicle registrations sank 23.7% to 9.9 million vehicles in 2020, marking "the biggest yearly drop in car demand since records began," the European Automobile Manufacturers Association said. Registrations dipped 3.3% year over year in December to 1 million vehicles.

* Zhejiang Geely Automobile Co. Ltd. said it sold over 2.1 million vehicles across its three brands, Geely Automobile Holdings Ltd., Volvo Car Group and Geely New Energy Commercial Vehicle Group, in 2020. Geely Auto sold 1.32 million vehicles while the Volvo Car Group sold 660,000 vehicles.

MARKETS

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