Hyundai's electrification dance stepped on a few toes but mostly just their own, so...
In December, Hyundai and Genesis saw a 22% year-over-year decline in plug-in car wholesale shipments, totaling 19,097 units.
All-electric car sales fell by 24% to 16,601, with Hyundai BEVs down by 23%.
Despite a challenging year, 2023's total shipments exceeded 309,000 units, a 29% increase, marking a record year for Hyundai's electrification efforts.
Hyundai aims to maintain its sales momentum into 2024 with a target of approximately 4,243,000 vehicles.
⚖️ At the time of writing, Hyundai Motor Co | US is unchanged in the market.
In sunny California, EVs are still increasing in popularity. The correlation to the approaching ICE ban may have something to do with it, but we're no experts on such matters.
In Q4 2023, California registered 105,095 new plug-in cars, accounting for 24.9% of the total market.
BEVs alone represented 21.3% of the market, with 89,933 registrations.
Throughout 2023, plug-in car registrations exceeded 440,616, nearly a quarter of all vehicles. Tesla dominated with the Model Y and Model 3 leading sales, securing a 60.5% market share in the BEV segment.
While Tesla is winning the California EV game, a judge in Delaware just told Musk his paycheck is too big.
A Delaware judge voided Elon Musk's $56B Tesla compensation, deeming it unfairly large for shareholders. The ruling, subject to appeal, could influence Tesla's governance amidst market concerns over slowing growth. Musk's package involved stock options significantly below Tesla's closing share price, highlighting the potential impact on the electric vehicle industry.
📉 At the time of writing, Tesla Inc | US is down 0.32% in the market.
Nissan is joining the EV fight on the side of affordability. Or at least it will be when its new LFP battery finishes charging (why'd they put the battlefield so far away?).
Nissan is set to adopt lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries to reduce EV costs by 20%-30%, targeting emerging markets by 2026.
Despite LFP batteries offering a shorter range than NCM batteries, Nissan sees potential in specific regions. With BYD leading the LFP market, Nissan's strategy includes launching 19 new EVs by 2030 to compete with low-cost Chinese models.
China's automakers are nipping at the heels of...well, pretty much everybody else's.
In 2023, Japan narrowly outpaced China in car exports, with China exporting 5.22M vehicles (predominantly gasoline-powered) to markets like Russia and Mexico.
China's new energy vehicle sales soared, reaching 40% of domestic sales.
While still not king of the automotive hill, Chinese firms are still climbing the driverless car tech tree, and that's also very tall. Wuhan has become a hub for autonomous driving tests in China, with a fleet of 500 robotaxis completing over 730,000 rides in 2023. China's cumulative autonomous vehicle testing reached 70M kilometers, matching the US.
📈 At the time of writing, Nissan Motor Co Ltd | US is up 1.60% in the market.
. . .
As the auto and tech worlds merge, the notion of competition between two dealers in the same town dissipates.
China, Tesla, driverless tech, and market preferences may sell anything directly to your customers, but they are catching some attention.
Where our minds go, our money seems to follow.