TOP NEWS
* Volkswagen AG plans to temporarily halt productions at its main factory in Wolfsburg, Germany, in the third quarter to prevent a backlog of cars as it shifts to the new European emission test cycle, Worldwide Harmonized Light Vehicle Test Procedure, according to a June 6 company release. In his address to the company's staff, Volkswagen CEO Herbert Diess referred to the switch to the WLTP as a challenge, adding that after the work holidays in Wolfsburg, the facility will only produce vehicles that meet the new standards.
* General Motors Co.'s luxury car unit Cadillac will expand its Super Cruise hands-free driver assistance feature on all of its models beginning 2020 and across all other GM models after 2020. Cadillac will introduce V2X communication, an extension of its vehicle-to-vehicle communications system to roadway infrastructures and other roadway users such as cyclists and pedestrians, in a high-volume crossover by 2023.
CARMAKERS
* Geely Automobile Holdings Ltd.-owned Volvo Cars expects to generate half of all sales annually from fully electric cars, a third of all cars sold to be autonomous driving cars and half of all cars it offers to customers from its subscription service by 2025. Volvo Cars, which in 2017 recorded global sales of 571,577 cars, also seeks to obtain "over 5 million direct consumers relationships," as it seeks out new sources of recurring revenue. Volvo Cars said it expects to benefit from lower procurement costs, shared development costs and economies of scale alongside Polestar, its premium performance electric car brand, and Geely's LYNK & CO, the new electric car brand in which Volvo Cars owns a 30% stake.
* Mazda Motor Corp. will continue to develop diesel-powered vehicles in the future amid cutbacks by other automakers as diesel technology is the Japanese automaker's "strength," the Nikkei Asian Review reported, quoting Kiyoshi Fujiwara, Mazda's senior managing executive officer overseeing research and development.
* BAIC Motor Corp. Ltd Chairman Heyi Xu predicted that at least a third of the country's about 70 automotive companies will be "out of the game" at some time between 2020 and 2022 following China opening up its automotive industry to foreign players, Bloomberg News reported. Xu reportedly said the company, which partners with Daimler AG in China, is exploring other big joint ventures, and news about a new carmaking JV could come "really soon." BAIC's electric vehicle unit Beijing Electric Vehicle Co. also will start trading as a separate, listed entity on the Shanghai stock exchange in two months, he told Bloomberg.
ELECTRIC AND AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES
* Tesla Inc. shares surged April 6 following the annual shareholders meeting, where CEO Elon Musk said the company is "quite likely" to hit its delayed production target for its mass-market Model 3 sedan. The shares were trading up 9.74% at $319.50 a share at market close.
* Japan's Suzuki Motor Corp. expects to make about 35,000 electric vehicles annually in India, beginning fiscal 2020-2021, India's Mint reported, citing two people familiar with the matter. The carmaker, already in talks with Toyota Motor Corp. to build Suzuki cars in India, reportedly will get the powertrain technology from Toyota and DENSO Corp. Suzuki also has partnered with the two companies to build a lithium-ion battery plant in the state of Gujarat.
* A move away from combustion engines to full-electric cars will hurt sales of Daimler AG's Smart brand initially, but it will turn around "pretty soon" because "cities will promote electric cars for sure," Smart CEO Annette Winkler told the Automotive News Europe Congress.
* The majority of more than 500 people who made a deposit on Polestar's debut model, the 600-hp Polestar 1 plug-in hybrid 2+2 coupe, are in the North American market, Thomas Ingenlath, CEO of the Volvo Cars' high-performance electrified car brand, told the Automotive News Europe Congress.
REGULATIONS AND SAFETY
* Ford Motor Co.'s and Daimler AG-owned Daimler Trucks' South Korean units issued voluntary recalls of 1,631 vehicles across three different models, Yonhap News Agency reported, citing a release from the country's land, infrastructure and transport ministry. The models include Ford Sales Service Korea's Ford Mondeo midsize sedan, being recalled due to a malfunctioning powertrain control module, and Daimler Trucks Korea's Arocs truck over a faulty propeller shaft, the news agency said.
AUTO PARTS AND EQUIPMENT
* Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd., or CATL, is looking at a site in Thuringia province, Germany, for its first European car battery plant, Bloomberg News reported, citing people familiar with the matter. The company reportedly also is considering alternatives in Poland and at least one other country in the region.
AUTOMOTIVE RETAIL
* Dan Ammann, the president of General Motors Co., left the board of Lyft Inc., a position he took January 2016 after GM invested $500 million into the ride-share company, Bloomberg News reported. A spokesman for the Detroit carmaker Dave Roman reportedly said Ammann's resignation "has no impact" on GM's Lyft investment. Lyft said it appointed former Frontier Communications Corp. CEO Maggie Wilderotter to its board.
* Daimler AG-owned Mercedes-Benz posted global sales in May of 198,187 cars, up 2.3% year over year, helped by an increased demand in China and an all-time-high sale of its sport utility vehicle models. Sales in the Asia-Pacific region soared 10.2% year over year to 79,481 cars, about 56,066 of which were sold to Chinese customers, the company said June 6. SUV sales also increased 4.3% year over year globally to 69,340 units in the month, the highest-ever in May, according to the release.
TRUCKS AND MOTORCYCLES
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* Daimler Trucks CEO Martin Daum said any spinoff and a subsequent public listing of the unit is up to the shareholders and "not so much an issue of management," Bloomberg News reported.
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UPDATE: Europe targets €2.8B of US products, including bourbon, steel
The day ahead
In Asia, the Hang Seng was up 0.81% to 31,512.63, while the Nikkei 225 rose 0.87% to 22,823.26.
In Europe, around midday, the FTSE 100 fell 0.09% to 7,705.22, and the Euronext 100 rose 0.18% to 1,061.99.
On the macro front
The jobless claims report, the quarterly services survey, the EIA natural gas report, the consumer credit report, the Fed balance sheet and the money supply report are due out today.
