Foley Automotive Report – Rail, Road & Cycling

Analysis by Julie Dautermann, Competitive Intelligence
Analyst

This report helps automotive suppliers inform their legal and
operational decisions to help address challenges and opportunities.
Contact your Foley relationship partner, or John R.
Trentacosta or Ann Marie Uetz, to follow up.

Key Developments

• Foley & Lardner will host a half-day
  Automotive Forum on Wednesday, September
  14, at the Detroit Athletic Club to coincide with the
  2022 North American International Auto Show.
  Register HERE to attend the morning forum and hear more
  about key business trends and legal issues impacting the automotive
  industry.




• LMC Automotive estimates U.S. new
  light-vehicle sales reached a cumulative total of just
  over 9 million units between January and August 2022, representing
  a decrease of 15% from the same period last year. Due to factors
  including economic uncertainty and ongoing supply constraints, LMC
  adjusted its full-year 2022 light-vehicle sales
  forecast to 13.8 million units, for a decline of
  7% from 2021 volumes.




• S&P Global Mobility revised its 2022 U.S. light-vehicle
  forecast to 14.1 million units, from a previous projection
  of 14.6 million units.




• Kelley Blue Book reports the new-vehicle average
  transaction price surpassed $48,000 in August 2022,
  representing an increase of approximately 11% compared to the same
  period one year ago.




• Foley & Lardner Partners shared highlights from their panel discussion at the
  OESA Mobility Supplier Forum held last month at
  SRI International on the campus of Stanford University in Palo
  Alto.




• The National Highway Traffic Safety
  Administration released Cybersecurity Best Practices for the Safety of
  Modern Vehicles, which updates voluntary guidance provided by
  the agency in 2016.




• Electric vehicles and low emissions
  technology:




• • The most recent article in Foley &
    Lardner‘s Supply Chain Disruption Series provides an
    overview of current issues affecting the production and supply of
    lithium-ion batteries . Click here to subscribe to the series.

  
  

  • Honda and LG Energy Solution
    will invest $4.4 billion to build an EV
    battery factory in the U.S., with the intent to start mass
    production by the end of 2025.

  
  

  • Toyota announced a $5.6 billion investment to expand
    electric-vehicle battery production in Japan and the U.S.,
    including $2.5 billion at a recently announced plant in North
    Carolina. Last year, the automaker announced plans to spend over $13 billion by 2030 to
    develop its battery supply chain.

  
  

  • The Federal Highway Administration is seeking
    comments on a proposal to temporarily waive certain
    Buy America requirements for electric
    vehicle chargers in order to “ensure delivery and
    meaningful results on EV charging projects using Federal-aid
    highway funds.”

  
  

  • Washington Gov. Jay Inslee expressed support for adopting
    California‘s requirement that all new cars sold be
    zero-emission vehicles by 2035.While over a dozen
    states have previously followed California’s vehicle emissions
    standards, a number of government and industry representatives pointed to potential
    challenges in mandating ZEVs, including increased costs and strain
    on the electric grid.

Market Trends and Regulatory

• J.D. Power‘s 2022 U.S. Tech Experience
  Index (TXI) Study ranked Hyundai’s Genesis brand highest
  both overall and among premium brands for adoption and execution of
  new technologies, followed by Cadillac and Mercedes-Benz.[Press
  release only, full report not publicly available]

OEMs/Suppliers

• Volkswagen is exploring an initial public
  offering for Porsche this fall, and the brand
  could be valued between €60 billion and €85 billion
  according to analysis in The Wall Street Journal.




• Bridgestone announced a $550 million expansion of its
  plant in Morrison, Tennessee, in order to increase the use of
  advanced technologies such as equipping all tires produced in the
  plant with RFID tags.




• Stellantis and the National Business
  League announced the launch of the National
  Black Supplier Development Program, intended to enhance
  business opportunities for selected participants across a range of
  disciplines. The program creators completed a pilot program earlier
  this year.




• Russia intends to invest billions in domestic
  automotive components production sufficient to meet the majority of
  its market demand by 2035, according to a report in
  Automotive Logistics. Sales of automobiles and light
  commercial vehicles in Russia were down by 62% in August compared
  to the same period one year ago, according to data from the
  Association of European Business excerpted in Bloomberg.




• A new report from Greenpeace predicts 44% of
  global automakers “face a high level of physical risk from
  climate change,” with the highest levels of risk
  attributed to Toyota due to the potential effects of heat, water
  supply and hurricanes/typhoons. The analysis is based on data from
  Moody’s ESG Solutions Database on Physical Risk.

Connected/Autonomous Vehicles and Mobility Services

• Waymo will begin testing autonomous Freightliner Cascadia
  models on public freeways between Dallas and Phoenix, as part of a
  collaboration with Daimler Truck North America
  first announced two years ago.




• Travel center operator Pilot will partner with automated technology
  developer Kodiak Robotics to develop autonomous
  truck services at Pilot and Flying J travel centers across the
  U.S., beginning with an autonomous truck port in Atlanta.

Electric Vehicles and Low Emissions Technology

• As part of the U.S. Department of the Interior’s request
  for input concerning U.S. mining laws, Ford urged
  the federal government to improve the permitting process for
  domestic critical mineral mining projects. The Detroit News reports the current
  permitting process can take as long as ten years, compared to two
  to three years in Canada and Australia.




• The U.S. needs to increase its capabilities in critical
  mineral mining and refining to support upcoming EV battery
  production, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.




• Bosch announced plans invest over $200 million to
  expand an existing facility in Anderson, South Carolina in order to
  build hydrogen fuel cells for electric
  trucks.




• Panasonic is considering locations for a $4
  billion EV battery plant in the U.S., according to unnamed sources
  in The Wall Street Journal. In July,
  Panasonic announced plans for a new battery plant in De Soto, Kansas.




• GM and LG Energy Solution
  began battery cell production at their Ultium Cells LLC joint venture site in Ohio.




• Global battery-recycling capacity could
  surpass the available scrap supply as soon as this year, and
  shortages could persist “well into the next decade” until
  significant volumes of EVs are ready for recycling, according to
  predictions from Circular Energy Storage referenced in Bloomberg.




• Mercedes-Benz and Rivian
  formed a strategic partnership to jointly produce large
  electric vans in Europe “starting in a few years.”




• California-based Harbinger Motors plans to introduce its electric medium-duty vehicles at
  the North American International Auto Show.




• Stellantis announced its Jeep brand will
  introduce four all-electric SUVs in North America and Europe by
  2025.




• Volkswagen‘s new CEO Oliver Blume
  expressed support for his predecessor’s EV strategy,
  while noting the automaker will likely produce “low-carbon
  combustion engines for many years to come.”




• As part of an effort to facilitate mass-market appeal,
  GM‘s upcoming 2024 electric Chevrolet Equinox SUV
  will be priced at approximately $30,000.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general
guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought
about your specific circumstances.