Gordon Stein, CFO of CleanTech Lithium, explains why CTL acquired the 23 Laguna Verde licenses. Watch the video here.
General Motors Company (NYSE:GM) has reported a robust performance in the first quarter of 2024, with CEO Mary Barra announcing raised full-year guidance based on the company's growth and profitability, particularly in its electric vehicle (EV) segment. GM's revenue reached $43 billion, with an EBIT adjusted of $3.9 billion and an adjusted automotive free cash flow of $1.1 billion. Notably, GM's EV business is expanding, with the Cadillac LYRIQ leading sales among European luxury brand EVs in Q1. The company is also progressing with Cruise, its autonomous vehicle subsidiary, and is exploring funding options, including potential outside investments.
h2 Key Takeaways/h2
https://m.uk.investing.com/news/stock-market-news/earnings-call-gm-raises-fullyear-guidance-amid-strong-ev-growth-93CH-3451889?ampMode=1
The BMW Group’s EV sales rose by an incredible 28% in the first quarter of 2024.
Rivals Tesla and Volkswagen struggled with weaker demand during the same period.
BMW EV deliveries of its i4, iX1, and i7 jumped 41% in Q1 of 2024.
The car-buying public has been wondering if EV industry leader Tesla’s first quarter of 2024 sales slump is indicative of a general slowdown in EV sales throughout the industry. While sales of rivals like Tesla and others slowed, a substantial increase in BMW EV sales came in Q1. The company’s sales of fully electric vehicles surged in the first quarter of 2024, outperforming rivals like Tesla and Volkswagen, both of which struggled to cope with lower demand during the same period.
The company said that “the increase in sales of fully-electric BMW vehicles benefitted from a balanced performance across all major regions of the world.”
https://electrifynews.com/news/auto/bmw-ev-sales-exploded-in-q1-2024-while-rivals-faltered/
The BMW Group continues to see strong demand coming its way for battery electric vehicles (BEVs). The company has delivered a total of 82,700 fully-electric BMW, Mini and Rolls-Royce vehicles to customers worldwide in the first three months of the year.
This represents year-on-year BEV growth of over 27.9% for the BMW Group. The EV penetration level is 14% comprising sales of 82,700 BEVs to total BMW Group sales of 594,671 units (up 1.1%) in the January-March 2024 period.
The increase in sales of fully-electric vehicles benefitted from a balanced performance across all major regions of the world. In India, BMW Group EVs maintained its leadership in the luxury vehicle segment into Q1 2024 by delivering 211 units (+26%).
According to the company, the BMW i7 claimed prime position as the largest selling EV, even as demand grew for the iX, i4, iX1 and Mini SE. BMW India plans to launch the i5 will soon and expand its EV portfolio. The i5 will be the fifth all-electric BMW in India, slotting between the i4 and i7. The electric sedan will have no direct rivals upon arrival, and prices are expected to touch the Rs 1 crore (ex-showroom) mark.
“The BMW Group is continuing on its BEV growth path. With the delivery of its one-millionth fully-electric vehicle since the market launch of the BMW i3, we have reached an important milestone that confirms the attractiveness of our product portfolio,” said Jochen Goller, member of the Board of Management of BMW AG responsible for Customer, Brands, Sales. Alongside fully-electric models, vehicles with highly-efficient combustion engines and plug-in hybrid technology remain important components of BMW Group’s drivetrain portfolio. “By providing a choice of drive train technologies and thanks to our high level of flexibility, the BMW Group is well-positioned to meet changing customer requirements. This strategy is now proving particularly effective in a dynamic market environment,” added Goller.
https://www.autocarpro.in/news-international/bmw-group-sells-82700-bevs-in-q1-2024-sees-growth-across-all-key-markets-120086?amp=1
I’ve heard it all now Cfp.
Who cares about cars on the road? Yeh sales in any company aren’t important.
Next 2/3 TPIs should show what’s going on in auto & fleet. April to June should be the good one with vw and bmw ramp up.
snippet
aim is******.
sure if on nasdaq may be double or treble already.
not many usa fund managers would bet a bean on aim iam sure. even mostly not allowed to. need this on a decent platform and stable over $500m mcap to wake up ppl
Buick unveiled the Enclave three-row SUV, which is set to start deliveries later this summer as a 2025 model. The third-generation Enclave adopts the new design language previewed by the Wildcat EV concept and will feature a new four-cylinder turbo engine. Larger inside and out, the all-new Enclave features an upgraded technology package, including the hands-free Super Cruise driver assistance package.
https://www.autoevolution.com/news/all-new-2025-buick-enclave-makes-debut-with-new-turbo-engine-hands-free-super-cruise-adas-232103.html
EVs will be the future but they need the range & the infrastructure. Be interesting when the accident repair centres start getting them in numbers as don’t seem to be the mechanics in numbers to handle them from speaking to garage owners I know.
2030 will become 2040 then 2050 Iam sure as oems will build to supply unless legislation changes things.
More interesting that as EVs started to push on the electric went through the roof.
The Ford Midsize Crossover That Outsells The Bronco Twins
BY
TYLER DUPONT
PUBLISHED 10 HOURS AGO
Discover why the Ford Explorer reigns suprem
Across all trim levels, though, the Explorer is getting a new front fascia, with a reworked grille, headlamps, and lower air inlets. The rear of the mid-size SUV features new tail lamps. BlueCruise, Ford’s hand-free driving feature, also gets added. On the inside, soft-touch materials upgrade comfort and the Explorer gets access to the Ford Digital Experience.
https://www.topspeed.com/ford-midsize-crossover-outsells-bronco-twins/
Patrick Nolan spoke to Qantas senior Training and Checking executives at their headquarters in Sydney recently to discuss the benefits of #eye-tracking technology and how they are using it to make #pilot #training more #efficient and effective. Watch the first of five short snippets below. #aviation #seeingmachines #simulator
Shows how hard it is….
Elon Musk Is Still Trying to Get Other Carmakers to License "Full Self-Driving," But Not a Single One Has Taken Him Up On It
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has been pushing his EV maker's so-called "Full Self-Driving" advanced driver assist software even harder than usual.
He's recently mandated all Tesla employees to install and demo the beta to new buyers, for instance, even though it's already led to plenty of close calls and collisions. The company also released a free demo of the $15,000 add-on to existing Tesla owners, leading to reports of rims scraping on curbs and other chaos.
And that isn't all. As Quartz reports, Musk has been trying to push the feature on other automakers as well — none of which have so far taken him up on the offer. (Tesla confirmed in January that it hadn't entered into any agreements.)
https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/elon-musk-still-trying-other-163524343.html
Redefining Driver Safety and Automation
indie is redefining perception-based vision processing by developing high-performance and differentiated semiconductor hardware and open software perception stacks. These solutions are designed to deliver scalable designs spanning internal driver and occupant monitoring systems (DMS, OMS) and high performance external computer vision systems while addressing the cost, power and form factor challenges that OEMs face.
https://indiesemi.com/redefining-driver-safety-and-automation/
With the debut of the i5, BMW’s electric vehicle fleet in the U.S. has expanded to four models. This strategic move paid off handsomely, with the brand experiencing an impressive 62.3% surge in EV sales compared to the same period last year.
In total, BMW moved 10,713 units of its i4s, i5s, i7s, and iXs during the first quarter of 2024. This translates to electric vehicles comprising an impressive 12.7% of the German carmaker’s total sales, with Americans snapping up 84,475 BMWs overall during that timeframe.
Read: BMW Thinks Its High-End EVs Are Immune To Electric Downturn
The inclusion of electric vehicles significantly contributed to BMW’s overall quarterly performance. Compared to Q1 2023, when it sold 82,466 vehicles, BMW saw a 2.4% increase in sales this year. BMW North America CEO Sebastian Mackensen credited this success to the brand’s diverse lineup, encompassing EVs, hybrids, and internal combustion vehicles.
Lots of requests suddenly about the suitability of the Magna International Seeing Machines #occupant #monitoring #mirror to meet Insurance Institute for Highway Safety / Highway Loss Data Institute tests for "hands on wheel" detection. In the image below, the steering wheel is detected and shown with the tag "STEERING WHEEL" highlighted in red. Body pose is shown by the yellow line, including body, arms and hands. The location of the left and right hand is shown in the blue boxes - and the system can even resolve down to individual finger position if the OEM wants that too (yes, I've tested that feature myself). The "hands on/off wheel" measurement is a combination of these signals. #Headpose and #eyegaze are also tracked, meeting the basic requirements of a "Good" rating by the 2024 IIHS tests.
These features are DMS 101, which is to see and understand human behavior as it applies to crash risk. The capability of state-of-the-art DMS is vastly beyond what OEMs have typically procured to date, with some DMS performance virtually indistinguishable from no DMS at all. IIHS is to be applauded for exposing that, and for setting performance minimums to remove poor "tick the box" DMS from the market altogether. This mirrors the foundational work of Euro NCAP - For Safer Cars, Vans & Trucks to incentivize the use of higher performance DMS to make roads and driving safer.
Euro NCAP might even add alcohol impairment and cognitive distraction to the 2026 DSM tests, which would not only mark a significant performance advance from the 2023 tests, but provide a clear pathway for National Highway Traffic Safety Administration NHTSA to follow. We are watching the development of the greatest safety advance in human driving since the seatbelt, and NCAP and IIHS are leading the way. Automakers need to pay close attention.
For institutional investors, family offices, and others seeking an expert third-party source to understand trends in the #DMS, #CMS and #OMS market, I can be booked for telephone-based consultancy via GLG, Guidepoint, and Third Bridge Group Limited. Just ask for me by name.
Is the glass 50% full or 50% empty though?
Interesting Colin saying this…
“Seeing Machines has reiterated profitability will be reached at the end of this fiscal year (in the current Apr-Jun quarter)”
With all the new models recently started SOP, bmw ramp up from march, vw sop march etc you would think the TPI to end march will be good & the April-June TPIs will be excellent.
After 11 yrs nearly Iam happy wait until seeing the next 2 TPIs & results before I invite Cfp Baxter & co for dinner to discuss their bad investments
For 2024, the
@Buick
Envision sees a new look inside and out!
Same 228 HP 2.0L turbo-4 but now with standard AWD. GM's Super Cruise driver assistance system is available, a first on a #Buick model.
The 2024 #Envision starts at $37,295 and will arrive in dealers this summer.
https://twitter.com/MotorWeek/status/1775554441434771681
One of only thing keeps me sane Colin’s updates
The history books will record 2024 as the year the #automotive #driver #monitoring #systems market reached a tipping point. Now confirmed with DMS (shown below located above the steering column) is the 2025 Ram Professional 1500 #pickup, and based on illumination patterns seen in the video, this points to another production start for Seeing Machines. Secondary research suggests the Ram 1500 reached #SoP at the Sterling Heights Assembly Plant (SHAP) on February 5th.
That looks to be BMW Group, Ford Motor Company, MINI, Lincoln Motor Company, Ram, and Volkswagen bringing models to SoP in the first half of 2024 with DMS from Seeing Machines. This could explain why the company has been practically silent from a PR perspective so far this year, is staying out of the "design wins" circus, and will instead demonstrate commercial success in the "cars on road" numbers released with the quarterly #KPIs. In 2024, leadership of the DMS market is established using metrics which cannot be gamed, such as delivery.
Seeing Machines has reiterated profitability will be reached at the end of this fiscal year (in the current Apr-Jun quarter), which should be evident either way from the preliminary results and KPIs to be released in August. The next set of KPIs (to be published in May) will likely signal a big clue of progress made.
Ram is a Stellantis brand, and Stellantis appears to be procuring DMS within each of its sub-brands. There are major differences in customer and regulatory requirements across the U.S. and Europe, and within Stellantis there are obviously North American focused brands (like Chrysler, Jeep, and Ram) and European focused brands (like Fiat, Opel, and PSA). Hence procurement at a brand level makes practical sense. The awards so far look to be shared across Seeing Machines and Smart Eye.
The Ram win also looks to be the production debut for Seeing Machines with Valeo as the tier-1. Valeo has come from almost nowhere to be one of the leading tier-1 suppliers for DMS and is often overlooked in the market, yet it has clear DMS wins both on the #ADAS and #infotainment sides, and is alongside Aptiv and Magna International at the top of the rankings. Valeo is assumed to also have a win with Seeing Machines for Renault Group (and maybe a technology transfer into Nissan Motor Corporation in Europe), also with BMW, and maybe with other Stellantis brands, such as Fiat.
Sales figures for new cars are out for the first quarter of 2024, and in “Murica, f-yeah” news, year-over-year quarterly sales of the GMC Hummer EV jumped by 83,000 percent to 1,668 units. Yep, that means GM only sold two in the first quarter of 2023, and this can largely be contributed to the fact that making cars is hard.
It’s no secret that General Motors has experienced substantial troubles rolling out its Ultium EV architecture. Up until recently, key battery pack assembly line equipment wasn’t, um, online, forcing GM to build Ultium battery packs by hand, as reported by Inside EVs. With a usable capacity of 212.7 kWh, the battery pack in the Hummer EV seems like it would take quite a while to assemble with the appendages many of us were born with, which helps explain how such a monumental backup of orders happened.