Good morning! It’s Thursday, August 1, 2024, and this is The Morning Shift, your daily roundup of the top automotive headlines from around the world, in one place. Here are the important stories you need to know.
1st Gear: U.S. Pushes For Recall Of 51 Million Faulty Airbag Inflators
Automakers around the world have spent years recalling and replacing deadly Takata airbag inflators, only for experts in the U.S. to warn that millions of cars may have had faulty inflators replaced with other defective parts. Now, there’s another airbag scandal facing the U.S. as regulators are proposing a recall of more faulty inflators that could impact as many as 49 million cars across the country.
The National Highway Safety Administration issued a warning this week that there could be up to 51 million defective airbag inflators installed in cars across the U.S., reports Bloomberg. The inflators were sourced from manufacturers ARC Automotive Inc. and Delphi Automotive Systems LLC, and have so far been linked to two deaths on American soil:
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on Wednesday issued a “supplemental initial decision” saying it considers the parts defective after a lengthy comment period and industry pushback.
NHTSA said it’s giving interested parties an 30 additional days to comment on its latest action. The air bags involved have been used by at least a dozen car manufacturers, including General Motors Co., Stellantis NV, Volkswagen AG and Hyundai Motor Co. GM recalled in May almost 1 million vehicles from 2014 to 2017 that are equipped with ARC inflators.
NHTSA has said it identified at least nine cases of ruptured air bag inflators that led to injuries, including two deaths, dating from 2009 to as recently as March of last year.
This isn’t the first time ARC Automotive has faced calls for a recall of its products. In March 2023, the parts supplier refused to recall millions of its inflators after they were linked to injuries on America’s roads.
The recall has worrying similarities to the Takata airbag inflator recall that shook the automotive industry for years. In total, more than 40 million vehicles have so far been recalled after faulty airbag inflators were found to be exploding when they go off. The issue killed 27 people in America and injured more than 400.
2nd Gear: Toyota Sold A Million Electrified Models In Q2
After facing production slowdowns at its plants and scandals relating to vehicle safety certificates, Toyota is having a slightly better day today after it announced its latest vehicles sales and profit figures. According to the results, profits for the Japanese automaker were up 17 percent and the company reported that sales of its electrified models were up by almost a quarter.
Toyota’s lineup of electrified vehicles includes hybrid models like the Prius and fully-electric cars such as the BZ4X. Over the three month period between April and June 2024, the automaker shifted more than a million electrified cars for the first time, reports Automotive News:
In the April-June fiscal first quarter, electrified vehicle sales – including standard and plug-in hybrids as well as pure electric vehicles – climbed 24 percent to 1.075 million vehicles.
Standard hybrids, exemplified by the Prius, shot up 24 percent to 998,000 vehicles.
Electrified vehicles accounted for 43 percent of the company’s global retail sales in the quarter, up from 34 percent a year earlier. Total global retail sales at Toyota Motor Corp. dropped 4.2 percent to 2.636 million vehicles in the quarter.
Increased demand for hybrid models helped bolster Toyota’s profit for the period, which was up 17 percent to 1.31 trillion yen – equivalent to about $8.15 billion. Sales weren’t the only thing to boost Toyota’s balance sheet though, and Automotive News added that the Japanese automaker was on the receiving end of a 370 billion yen ($2.3 billion) foreign exchange windfall during the period, which actually provided most of the profit boost for the brand.
3rd Gear: UAW Endorses Harris For President
It’s been a hectic few weeks in American politics as the fight for the White House heats up. Now, after reluctantly endorsing Joe Biden for a return to power, the United Auto Workers union has thrown its weight behind Kamala Harris after the current president dropped out of the race.
The United Auto Workers union, which represents workers at plants from General Motors to Stellantis, pledged support for Harris on Wednesday, reports NBC News. The move wasn’t much of a surprise, after UAW Chief Shawn Fain was widely critical of her rival in the race, Donald Trump:
Fain’s criticism of Trump continued when endorsing Harris.
“Our job in this election is to defeat Donald Trump and elect Kamala Harris to build on her proven track record of delivering for the working class,” Fain said in a statement. “We can put a billionaire back in office who stands against everything our union stands for, or we can elect Kamala Harris who will stand shoulder to shoulder with us in our war on corporate greed.”
Fain and Trump have been at odds — publicly trading remarks — since the union leader was elected early last year. Trump called for Fain to be fired during a speech earlier this month at the Republican National Convention.
The UAW even went so far as to brand Trump a “scab and a billionaire,” according to NBC News.
The union’s support for Harris follows a legion of industry bosses across America, who pledged support for her campaign yesterday. On Trump’s side of the table, you’ll find Tesla boss Elon Musk, who said he was backing the convicted felon in his bid for the White House in 95 days.
4th Gear: BMW Group EV Sales Up 25 percent
German automaker BMW has reported its latest sales figures covering the first half of 2024 and things are looking good for that company’s electric vehicle strategy. Across the BMW, Mini and Rolls-Royce brands, sales of fully electric models was up by a quarter compared with the same period last year, reports Reuters.
BMW’s lineup of electric models includes the i7 and iX, while Mini has an electric version of its iconic hatch and Rolls-Royce has the six-figure Spectre. With the expanding lineup of EVs, BMW is beginning to notice a bump in sales, which hit 190,000 for the first six months of the year. As Reuters explains:
BMW, whose heavy investment in model revamps also weighed on second-quarter results, is seeing strong demand for its all-electric models, setting the company apart from its rivals.
“In our view, e-mobility will continue to be the core drive technology of the future and our primary growth driver,” CEO Oliver Zipse said in a speech to investors, adding that BMW was the world’s third-largest e-car manufacturer.
BMW and its smaller brands Mini and Rolls-Royce increased sales of purely electric cars by a quarter to just over 190,000 in the first half of 2024.
It wasn’t all good news for the German automaker, however, and growth for its EVs wasn’t quite enough to offset struggles it’s facing around the world. The automaker’s sales in China were down by four percent as it faced stiff competition across the market. This had a knock on effect on profits, which were down from 9.2 percent in 2023 to 8.4 percent this year.
