TOP NEWS
* China slashed import tariffs on vehicles and auto parts in a bid to further open up its market, as trade tensions between the U.S. and China appear to be easing. The Ministry of Finance said it will cut the import duty on cars to 15% from 25% for most vehicles and from 20% for others, starting July 1. Tariffs for auto parts will be cut to 6% from mostly about 10%. Shares of Volkswagen AG; Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, or BMW Group; Tata Motors Ltd.; and Daimler AG jumped following the announcement.
* Petroleum giant BP PLC invested $20 million into StoreDot Ltd., an ultra fast-charging electric battery firm that is developing technology that will charge an electric car battery in 5 minutes. The Israeli startup, which reportedly got funding from German carmaker Daimler AG in September 2017, said it will begin early-2019 sales of its flash EV batteries for mobile devices.
CARMAKERS
* Aston Martin Lagonda Ltd, which swung to a pretax profit in 2017 after six years of losses, reported that its pretax profit for the first quarter fell by a little over half to £2.8 million due to a weaker dollar and investment on a series of model launches. Aston Martin CFO Mark Wilson said it is working on options to give shareholders "the most options available," and any final decision on an IPO would depend on the British luxury car maker's primary owners, including the Italian private equity fund Investindustrial and a consortium of Kuwaiti investors, Reuters reported. The company's public offer could be worth £4 billion, one source familiar with the matter reportedly said.
* Carmakers find South Africa's forecast to raise production chiefly for export to 1% of global output through 2035, or 1.5 million vehicles a year, for tax breaks to be overambitious, Bloomberg News reported, citing Nico Vermeulen, director of the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa, which includes Toyota Motor Corp., Ford Motor and BMW Group. Vermeulen also reportedly said a proposed government mandate to double automakers' workforce strength in the country to about 225,000 is "unrealistic."
ELECTRIC AND AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES
* U.S. consumer-focused magazine Consumer Reports refused to recommend Tesla Inc.'s Model 3 performance variant over "big flaws" in braking, dashboard controls and ride quality. During multiple tests, the magazine said the Model 3's average stopping distance of 152 feet from 60 mph is "far worse" than any car in the same category. CEO Elon Musk tweeted that the braking issue on Tesla's sedan can be fixed with a firmware update, which the electric car maker will be rolling out in a few days.
REGULATIONS AND SAFETY
* The U.S. Senate Commerce Committee pushed back to June, at the earliest, a vote to elect National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's proposed chief Heidi King over concerns that the move would not garner enough votes, Reuters reported. The committee previously held a hearing for King on a range of topics, including Takata recalls and autonomous cars.
* The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, a U.S. group representing major automakers like General Motors Co., Ford Motor Co. and Daimler AG, wrote to the White House that automotive companies "strongly support" having a common ground between federal emissions standards and those of states like California, Bloomberg News reported, citing a letter by David Schwietert, the industry body's executive vice president of federal government relations. The letter, which was made public May 21, was issued prior to a decision by the Trump administration to not consult California and other states before putting the draft emission norms for public review.
* Volkswagen AG-owned luxury car maker Audi voluntarily recalled 11,003 cars sold since 2017 in Russia due to a possible defect in the vehicles' emergency call systems, Reuters reported, citing the country's standards agency.
AUTO PARTS AND EQUIPMENT
* Advance Auto Parts Inc. reported an operating profit of $198.2 million for the first quarter of 2018, compared with $179.8 million a year earlier, and a quarterly diluted EPS of $1.84, from $1.46 per share for the same period in 2017, on higher margins and cost-cutting initiatives. The auto parts maker earned $224.1 million in adjusted operating income during the quarter ended April 21, from $204.9 million a year earlier, and a quarterly adjusted EPS of $2.10 that beat the mean consensus estimate of $1.96 compiled by S&P Capital IQ.
* Swedish auto parts maker Autoliv Inc. said it intends to provide total cash liquidity of about $1 billion to its electronics division Veoneer in relation with its planned spinoff of the company. The funding will be provided through new external funding and existing cash, according to an amendment to Veoneer's registration statement with the SEC.
AUTOMOTIVE RETAIL
* U.S. President Donald Trump officially signed a congressional resolution repealing the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's guidance warning of discrimination in indirect auto lending, Reuters reported. The repeal measure also bars the CFPB from issuing any substantially similar rules in the future. In a statement, Acting CFPB Director Mick Mulvaney said the agency will still "vigorously" enforce fair lending laws but criticized the indirect auto guidance as flawed.
Early morning futures indicators pointed to a higher opening for the U.S. market.
In Asia, the Nikkei 225 dropped 0.18% to 22,960.34.
In Europe, around midday, the FTSE 100 climbed 0.20% to 7,874.50, and the Euronext 100 gained 0.12% to 1,087.44.
On the macro front
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